On Wednesday, 2nd October Sir Simon Jenkins, British Author, Newspaper columnist and editor will be the Whitehall Groups guest speaker. During lunch Sir Simon will be discussing ‘The Free Market – the making or breaking of London’s development’.
Sir Simon has always been an outspoken commentator on a wide range of political and social issues. Not least when he was Editor for The Times and Chairman of the National Trust. He is a fierce critic of Brexit about which he has written freely in The Guardian where he is a regular columnist.
As an author he has an abiding interest in the built environment having written important books on the London private estates, on England’s Churches and recently on how the market economy will affect the future of London’s property development marke
If you would be interested in further information about the Whitehall Group or interested in attending this Whitehall Group event (which is subject to availability and charges may apply) please contact Fiona Jones, the Whitehall Group Secretary for further information. (fionajones.wg@culandsoc.com)
Sir Simon Jenkins
British Author and Newspaper Columnist / Editor
Sir Simon Jenkins FSA FRSL is a British author, newspaper columnist and editor. Sir Simon was editor of the Evening Standard from 1976 to 1978 and of The Times from 1990 to 1992. In 1998 he received the ‘What the Papers Say’ Journalist of the Year award. He was Chairman of the National Trust from 2008 to 2014. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and the Evening Standard. Sir Simon read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St. John’s College, Oxford.
Jenkins has written several books on the politics, history and architecture of England, including England’s Thousand Best Churches and England’s Thousand Best Houses. More recently in his A Short History of England, he argues that the British Empire was a remarkable institution that dismantled itself in good order.”] He wrote that England is “the most remarkable country in European history.”
Jenkins served on the boards of British Rail 1979–1990 and London Transport 1984–86. He was a member of the Millennium Commission from February 1994 to December 2000, and has also sat on the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation. From 1985 to 1990, he was deputy chairman of English Heritage.
In July 2008, it was announced that he had been chosen as the new chairman of the National Trust; Jenkins who had, in the past, been critical of some aspects of the National Trust’s work, held the post of chairman until November 2014. During this time Jenkins campaigned vociferously against the building of new houses, although according to then housing minister Nick Boles he himself owned “at least two homes”.
Jenkins was appointed a Knight Bachelor for services to journalism in the 2004 New Year honours.
