Hugh Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Putney

Hugh Gater Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Putney, (27 July 1908 – 26 January 2004) was a British Labour politician, campaigner and member of Parliament (MP) and the House of Lords.

Jenkins was MP for Putney and served as Arts Minister from 1974 to 1976. He was the Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) between 1979 and 1981, succeeded by Joan Ruddock.

His private papers are held at the London School of Economics.

Before politics

Jenkins was born in Enfield, Middlesex, into a 'modest' family, his parents being a dairyman and a butcher's daughter. He attended every day at the House of Lords when it was in session and he was in good health. Jenkins was highly active in the House of Lords. So skilfully did he exploit the informal procedures of the Upper House that a limit had to be imposed on the number of questions a peer could ask each day. He circumvented the government's ban on the publication of Spycatcher by reading lengthy extracts from it to ensure it was on public record in Hansard. His anti-nuclear activities before the formation of CND led to rightwingers within the Labour Party attempting to block him as a parliamentary candidate. He was CND Chair from 1979 to 1981 and vice-chair from 1981. As a Member of the House of Lords, he was chair of the Lords CND group. This was the period in which CND underwent a major revival known as the 'Second Wave'.