Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge

The Right Honourable The Baroness Lee of Asheridge PC
Minister for the Arts
In office 20 October 1964 – 19 June 1970
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	David Eccles
Member of Parliament for Cannock
In office 5 July 1945 – 18 June 1970
Preceded by	William Murdoch Adamson
Succeeded by	Patrick Cormack
Member of Parliament for North Lanarkshire
In office 21 March 1929 – 27 October 1931
Preceded by	Alexander Sprot
Succeeded by	William Anstruther-Gray
Personal details
Born	Janet Lee (1904-11-03)3 November 1904 Fife, Scotland
Died	16 November 1988(1988-11-16) (aged 84)
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Aneurin Bevan
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh

Jennie Lee, Baroness Lee of Asheridge PC (3 November 1904 – 16 November 1988) was a British socialist politician. Born Janet Lee in Lochgelly, in Fife, Scotland, to James Lee, a miner (who later gave up work in the mines to run a hotel), and Euphemia Grieg, she inherited her father's socialist inclinations, and like him joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP).^[1] She later joined the Labour Party, and served as an MP from 1929 to 1931 and from 1945 to 1970.

First term as MP

Lee graduated from the University of Edinburgh and worked as a teacher in Cowdenbeath before being adopted the ILP candidate for the North Lanarkshire constituency, which she won at a 1929 by-election and at the subsequent 1929 general election, becoming the youngest member of the House of Commons. Immediately she was in conflict with the Labour Party's leadership in the commons. She insisted on being sponsored by Robert Smillie and her old friend James Maxton to be introduced to the Commons, rather than by the leadership's preferred choice of sponsors.

Lee's first speech was an attack on the budget proposals of Winston Churchill and met even with his approval, with him offering his congratulations after their exchange in the Commons. Lee forged a parliamentary reputation as a left-winger, allying herself to Maxton and the other ILP members. She was totally opposed to Ramsay MacDonald's decision to form a coalition National Government, and in the 1931 general election lost her seat in parliament to Unionist candidate William Anstruther-Gray.

Out of the Commons

In her private life at the time she had formed a close relationship with fellow Labour MP Edward Frank Wise, a married man who considered divorcing his wife for Lee, but who did not do so in the end. Wise died in 1933 and the following year Lee married the left-wing Welsh Labour MP Aneurin Bevan, with whom she remained until his death in 1960.

Despite being out of the Commons Lee remained active politically, trying to secure British support for the Spanish Popular Front government under threat from Francisco Franco 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 her husband's approval. She attempted re-election in North Lanarkshire at the 1935 general election, coming second behind Anstruther-Gray but ahead of the Labour Party's candidate. She similarly unsuccessfully sought to re-enter Parliament as an "Independent Labour" candidate in a 1943 by-election at Bristol Central, being defeated by the Conservative Lady Apsley.

Re-election

She later returned to the Labour Party from the ILP, and at the 1945 general election she was once again elected to the Commons, this time to represent the Cannock constituency in Staffordshire. She remained a convinced left-winger, and this brought her sometimes into opposition with even her own husband, with whom she usually agreed politically. Lee was critical of Bevan for his support of the UK acquiring a nuclear deterrent, something she did not support.

She was appointed Minister for the Arts in Harold Wilson's government of 1964 and played a key role in the formation of the Open University, an act described by Wilson as the greatest of his time in government. Lee renewed the charter of the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1967 which saw an expansion of its work in the regions as well of the creation of the new arts institutions at London's South Bank Centre. She also introduced the only UK White Paper for the Arts and following the 1967 reshuffle was promoted to Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science after two years as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State. Between 1964 and 1965 Lee had been Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

Retirement and later life

Lee was defeated at the 1970 election in Cannock by the Conservative candidate Patrick Cormack. She retired from front-line politics when she was made Baroness Lee of Asheridge, of the City of Westminster on 5 November 1970.^[2]

She died in 1988 from natural causes at the age of 84.

Jennie Lee bequeathed her personal papers to the Open University.^[3]

Memorials

A community resource centre in Wednesfield, which formed part of Lee's Cannock constituency, was named the "Jennie Lee Centre" in her honour. It opened in a former secondary school in 1989, the year after Lee's death, and closed in 2013.^[4]

In 2005, the Students' Association of the newly created Adam Smith College in Kirkcaldy, Fife refused to name themselves after Adam Smith, and instead chose the name "Jennie Lee Students' Association". The Association claimed Adam Smith is synonymous with "exploitation and greed" and stated "Jennie Lee would be an excellent role model for the students because of the courage and conviction she showed in achieving the aims she believed passionately in".^[5]

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Jennie Lee

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Alexander Sprot	Member of Parliament for North Lanarkshire 1929–1931	Succeeded by William Anstruther-Gray
Preceded by William Murdoch Adamson	Member of Parliament for Cannock 1945–1970	Succeeded by Patrick Cormack
Political offices
Preceded by New Post	Minister for the Arts 1964–1970	Succeeded by David Eccles, 1st Viscount Eccles