Jennie Lee - 1904 – 1988
November 2020
Jennie Lee was radical and rebellious, an MP before she was old enough to vote, served as Minister for the Arts, founded the Open University and was a speaker at the Durham Miners’ Gala.
Janet (“Jennie”) Lee, later Baroness Lee of Asheridge was born on 3rd November 1904 in Lochgelly, Fife. Her father was a miner who held the post of fire and safety officer. Jennie inherited her father's socialist inclinations, and like him joined the Scottish Independent Labour Party (ILP).
At university she joined the Labour Club, the Edinburgh University Women’s Union and the editorial board of the student newspaper. One of her first campaigns was to elect Bertrand Russell as Rector of the University. Jennie graduated from Edinburgh University in 1927 and became a schoolteacher.
First term as an MP
Lee was adopted as the ILP candidate for the North Lanarkshire constituency, which she won at a 1929 by-election, becoming the youngest woman member of the House of Commons. At the time of the by-election, women under the age of 30 were not yet able to vote ( for more on this, see https://www.madsmeds.org/voting-rights ). She was re-elected at the subsequent 1929 general election.
Lee's first speech was an attack on the budget proposals of Winston Churchill accusing him of 'cant, corruption, and incompetence'. It was said that her gestures were more fitting to the storming of platforms than the measured tones expected from a young MP in the house. At any rate, her attack impressed Churchill himself and met with his approval. He even offered his congratulations to Jennie after their exchange in the Commons. Lee forged a parliamentary reputation as a left-winger, allying herself to James Maxton (Leader of the ILP) and the other ILP members. She was totally opposed to Ramsay MacDonald’s decision to form a coalition National Government, and subsequently lost her seat in the 1931 general election.
Life outside of Parliament
Jennie had formed a close relationship with fellow Labour MP Edward Frank Wise, but Wise died in 1933. The following year Lee married the left-wing Welsh Labour MP Aneurin (Nye) Bevan, with whom she remained until his death in 1960.
Jennie tried to secure British support for the Spanish Popular Front government which was under threat from Franco’s Nationalist faction in the Spanish Civil War. She also remained active inside the ILP and took their side in their split from the Labour Party, a decision that did not meet with Nye Bevan’s approval. She unsuccessfully stood in North Lanarkshire at the 1935 general election. Lee went to Spain in 1937 to report as a war journalist and travelled in Aragon and Barcelona with George Orwell. Lee attended a torchlit parade of the British Battalion of the International Brigades volunteers at Modejar with Clem Attlee and others in the Labour Party, during the war. She was again unsuccessful in seeking re-election as an "Independent Labour" candidate in a 1943 by-election in Bristol Central. She also worked as a journalist for the Daily Mirror.
Re-elected as an MP
Lee returned to the Labour Party from the ILP, and at the 1945 general election was elected as an MP to the Cannock constituency in Staffordshire. She remained a convinced left-winger. Sometimes this brought her into opposition with her husband, with whom she usually agreed politically, for example, Lee was critical of Bevan for his support of the UK acquiring a nuclear deterrent, something she did not support.
The Open University
Jennie was appointed as the first Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson’s government of 1964 where she played a key role in the formation of The Open University.
The Open University was based on the idea of a 'University of the Air' as lectures for the courses would be broadcast on television and radio.
Prime minister Harold Wilson was an enthusiastic supporter because he envisioned The Open University as a major marker in the Labour Party's commitment to modernising British society. He believed that it would help build a more competitive economy while also promoting greater equality of opportunity and social mobility.
The university was granted its Royal Charter on 23 April 1969. Applications opened in 1970 and the first students began their studies in 1971.
In 1973, Jennie laid the foundation stone for the first Open University library. Jennie described the University as: “a great independent university which does not insult any man or any women whatever their background by offering them the second best, nothing but the best is good enough.”
Wilson later described The Open University as one of the greatest acts of his time in government. This was a great tribute especially when you consider some of the other socially transformative legislation that was passed by Labour in the 1960s and 1970s. (See https://www.madsmeds.org/womans-place-2 )
Jennie Lee building at The Open university campus at Milton Keynes
Retirement and later life
Lee was defeated at the 1970 general election. She retired from front-line politics when she was made Baroness Lee of Asheridge, of the City of Westminster on 5 November 1970.
She wrote four books: New Day, 1939; Our Ally, Russia, 1941; This Great Journey, 1963; My Life with Nye, 1980.
In 1974 she received an Honorary LLD (Doctor of Law) from the University of Cambridge, and in 1981 an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Academy.
Jennie died in 1988 from natural causes at the age of 84. Nye Bevan had died in 1960. Jennie bequeathed her personal papers to The Open University which now holds them as the Jennie Lee Collection.
Solidarity
Brian Madican
November 2020
