user: Please answer the following question: Facts:   - birth name: roy harris jenkins    - party: labour 1981 -- 1988 -rrb- liberal democrats -lrb- 1988 -- 2003 -lrb- -rrb- 1945 -- 1981 -rrb- social democratic -lrb-    - deputy: david owen    - predecessor: françois-xavier four -lrb- '' himself '' , david owen , bill ortoli rodgers and shirley williams -rrb- robert carr frank soskice shirley the williams george brown iain macleod james callaghan julian amery tam earl galbraith constituency created john hanbury martin of stockton the gang of      - birth date: 11 november 1920    - branch: 20px british army • royal artillery    - caption: roy jenkins in the netherlands in 1977    - leader: harold wilson harold wilson    - death date: 5 january 2003    - office: president of oxford leader of the social democratic party home secretary of shadow home secretary deputy leader of the labour party shadow the chancellor of the exchequer chancellor of the exchequer minister of european aviation member of parliament for glasgow hillhead member of parliament commission for birmingham stechford member of parliament for southwark central chancellor of the university    - term end: 19 10 september 1976 30 september 1967 5 march 1974 10 january april 1972 10 april 1972 19 june 1970 23 december 1981 1965 11 june 1987 31 march 1977 23 february 1950 5 january 2003 13 june 1983    - name: the lord jenkins of hillhead    - death place: oxfordshire , england    - birth place: abersychan , wales    - successor: gaston merlyn rees james callaghan james prior edward short denis healey thorn iain macleod frederick mulley george galloway andrew mackay constituency abolished the lord patten of barnes david owen    - primeminister: harold wilson harold wilson wilson james callaghan harold wilson harold wilson harold    - alma mater: cardiff university balliol college , oxford    - imagesize: 250px    - battles: world war ii    - term start: 6 5 march 1974 23 december 1965 25 november 1973 8 january july 1970 19 june 1970 30 november 1967 18 october 1977 1964 25 march 1982 23 february 1950 29 april 1948 14 march 1987 7 july 1982    - image: roy jenkins 1977b.jpg    - rank: captain   Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of roy jenkins .
A:

assistant: roy harris jenkins , baron jenkins of hillhead , om , pc -lrb- 11 november 1920 -- 5 january 2003 -rrb- was a british politician and writer .the son of a welsh coal miner , roy jenkins later became a union official and labour mp .he also served with distinction in world war ii .elected to parliament as a labour member in 1948 , he served in several major posts in harold wilson 's first government .as home secretary from 1965 -- 1967 , he sought to build what he described as `` a civilised society '' , with measures such as the effective abolition in britain of capital punishment and theatre censorship , the decriminalisation of homosexuality , relaxing of divorce law , suspension of birching and the legalisation of abortion .as chancellor of the exchequer from 1967 -- 1970 , he pursued a tight fiscal policy .on 8 july 1970 , he was elected deputy leader of the labour party , but resigned in 1972 because he supported entry to the common market , while the party opposed it .when wilson re-entered government in 1974 jenkins returned to the home office , but increasingly disenchanted by the leftward swing of the labour party , he chose to leave british politics in 1976 and was appointed president of the european commission in 1977 , serving until 1981 : he was the first and to date only british holder of this office .in 1981 , dismayed with the labour party 's continuing leftward drift , he was one of the `` gang of four '' -- labour moderates who formed the social democratic party -lrb- sdp -rrb- .in 1982 he won a famous by-election in a conservative seat and returned to parliament ; but after disappointment with the performance of the sdp in the 1983 election he resigned as sdp leader .in 1987 , jenkins was elected to succeed harold macmillan as chancellor of the university of oxford following the latter 's death ; he held this position until his death .a few months after becoming chancellor , jenkins was defeated in his hillhead constituency by then-labour politician george galloway .he accepted a...