In 1971, he was the leader of the 69 Labour rebels who braved the wrath of their colleagues by voting in the Commons with Ted Heath’s Conservatives to back a policy for the EEC.And he in effect cost himself the chance of succeeding Harold Wilson as premier by resigning as deputy leader over Europe.Though often characterised by mutual suspicion, his relationship with Lord Wilson was complex. Lord Jenkins knew he got more out of the relationship than their curious shared obsession with political trivia and railway timetables.For he recognised that, in some ways, he fared better under Lord Wilson than he would have under Hugh Gaitskell, who could afford to take him for granted as an ally.He dared to refuse the first cabinet post Lord Wilson offered, but was rewarded when he made him Home Secretary, then sent him to the Treasury when Jim Callaghan resigned over devaluation in 1967.What didn’t stand up was the accusation that he was a dilettante ­ fuelled by Lord Wilson’s famous gibe that he always seemed to manage to get out for dinner when he was at the Treasury. Rather, Lord Jenkins divided his life into compartments of equal worth with skill. Be it politics, writing or relationships, he excelled in all.Giles Radice, in his recent book Friends and Rivals, used an extract from his own diary to record a typical Lord Jenkins day at the age of 80: “Roy’s energy is phenomenal.

He is up early and by breakfast has already written 700 words of his Independent article… After breakfast, we go to Lincoln Cathedral before driving back for lunch at which Roy drinks liberally. He then finishes his Independent article …” And then more of the same, writes Radice.He was a wholly enlivening ­ and moderately indiscreet ­ lunch companion for a journalist. For example, during his time in Brussels he would revel in recounting a derogatory remark made on a car journey by Helmut Kohl about Margaret Thatcher. He would stress, in a very Jenkinsish touch, the significance lay in the fact that the German Chancellor had made his remark in front of his “dwiver”.And, interviewed by The Independent last September, he was in sparkling form.

He offered a stiff whisky at 5pm to make the process more enjoyable, then went on to denounce Donald Rumsfeld for daring to compare himself to Churchill, warn Gordon Brown against being a “tail-end Charlie” successor to Tony Blair and insist on checking his own quotes ­ though not the judgements surrounding them ­ with all the punctiliousness of a textual critic.At his 80th birthday dinner two years ago, postponed because of his heart bypass operation the previous autumn, he said he no longer minded not becoming Prime Minister.That was no doubt true. He had his great disappointments, even if, as an old man, he could hardly have worn them more lightly.If he, Denis Healey and his closest friend at Oxford, Tony Crosland, had been able to work more closely together, he might well have become an outstanding leader.But he declined to strike when 100 MPs were ready to back him in 1968, judging that a coup would not succeed.The SDP was a heady adventure that failed. His hopes that Tony Blair, to whom he had been a mentor, would reverse the split between Liberalism and the Labour Party, which he believed had made the 20th century a largely Tory one, were not realised. But he was a fine Home Secretary who, by backing the liberalisation of abortion, homosexuality and divorce, could lay claim to the most lasting and civilising legacy of the Wilson era. He was probably the most successful Labour Chancellor until the arrival of Gordon Brown.And he was also the leading political biographer of his era; his book on Churchill was a breathtaking achievement for a man in his eighties.He was entitled to believe, as he himself put it, that the Labour Party would “not have been dragged back from the wilder shores of lunacy” without the creation of the SDP.He had a long and fulfilling marriage And he had a seemingly limitless capacity to enjoy life. As an occasional if benign brake on the Blair tendency to a right-leaning populism, he will be especially missed.Ten years after the death of Hugh Gaitskell he wrote of his hero and fellow revisionist that “he had purpose and direction courage and humanity He was a man for raising the sights of politics …

He was that rare phenomenon, a great politician who was also an unusually agreeable man.” Words that would not do badly as an epitaph for Lord Jenkins himself.. The Speaker of the Commons could be given new powers to recall Parliament to debate national emergencies under proposals to be investigated by a powerful committee of MPs. Hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent in recalling Parliament for one day when a similar cost would have covered two days.”The committee will also consider restoring evening sittings in the Commons for debates on select committee reports and private members Bills. Other possible reforms include increasing the power of opposition frontbenchers and government backbenchers.MODERNISED COMMONS AGENDA MONDAY: Commons will sit 2.30pm to 10.30pmTUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY: Commons will sit 11.30am to 7.30pm.Question time will run from 11.30am to 12.30pm on Wednesdays, followed by ministerial statements, if any, and any 10-minute-rule Bills.Main business will start at 12.30pm, with debates continuing until 7pm.