Kenneth Robinson

Sir Kenneth Robinson (19 March 1911 – 16 February 1996) was a British Labour politician who served as Minister of Health in Harold Wilson's first government, from 1964 to 1968, when the position was merged into the new title of Secretary of State for Social Services.

The Right Honourable Sir Kenneth Robinson
Chair of the Arts Council of Great Britain
In office 1977–1982
Prime Minister	James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Lord Gibson
Succeeded by	William Rees-Mogg
Minister for Planning and Land
In office 1 November 1968 – 6 October 1969
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Minister of Health
In office 18 October 1964 – 1 November 1968
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Anthony Barber
Succeeded by	Richard Crossman
Member of Parliament for St. Pancras North
In office 10 March 1949 – 18 June 1970
Preceded by	George House
Succeeded by	Albert Stallard
Personal details
Born	19 March 1911 Warrington
Died	16 February 1996 (aged 84)
Political party	Labour

Early life

The son of Dr Clarence Robinson and a nurse, Ethel Marion Linell, Kenneth Robinson was born on 19 March 1911 in Warrington, north west England and was educated at Malsis School in North Yorkshire, before attending Oundle School up to the point of his father dying when he was just 15 years old. After his mother pulled him from the school on cost grounds he later worked as a writer, insurance broker and company secretary.[1] He joined the Royal Navy during World War II as an ordinary seaman, was commissioned in 1942 and promoted to lieutenant-commander in 1944.[1] He served on HMS King George V. Robinson's education was remarkable in that he received no further education after the age of 15 and was entirely self-taught.[2]

Political career

Robinson was a St Pancras borough councillor 1945–1949. He was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for St. Pancras North in a by-election in 1949.[1] He was a government assistant whip from 1950 until 1951. He joined the cabinet and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1964.[1] Reforms he oversaw include the banning on cigarette television advertising and the reintroduction of prescription charges. When his position of Minister of Health was abolished in 1968, Robinson was appointed Minister for Planning and Land, only for this position to be abolished a year later. Robinson left Parliament in 1970.[1]

Robinson was probably one of the UK's most respected Health Ministers. He was always willing to listen, and indeed took informal advice from his local GPs during difficult negotiations over the GP Charter in 1965. John Horder stated of Robinson's role as Minister of Health: "Kenneth brought to this crisis a mind that was well prepared and the calmness, consideration and personality which we all have known."[3] Robinson noticed problems with Britain's approach to General Practice Medicine, and quickly sought to reach agreement with practitioners and change the organization, funding, and nature of practice in the system.[3][4] Robinson published the first consultative document on reorganisation and the need for administrative reform of the National Health System.[5] One compromise he instituted was to reduce the number of hospital beds, under an argument of current under-utilization, and in agreement with the medical profession.[5] In return, the government lifted the limits on fees that medical consultants could charge to patients.[5] These actions helped to form the basis for the 1966 General Practitioner's Charter, which Robinson negotiated with Dr. James Cameron, the General Medical Services Committee chairman.[6] Robinson also placed emphasis on nursing, appointing Sir Brian Salmon to a special committee of management experts and nurses, which looked into ways to advise and prepare senior staff at hospitals for their posts.[7]

Opposition to Scientology in 1960s

Robinson had served as the first chairman of the National Association of Mental Health (now known as Mind). His interest in mental health issues brought him into conflict with the Church of Scientology, considered to hold controversial views on mental health: as Minister, he told the House of Commons that he was satisfied that "Scientology is socially harmful". Robinson stated that there was a "grave concern" among local government at the time about Scientology, and its potential effects on the town of East Grinstead.[8] Robinson stated in 1968 in the House of Commons that Scientology was: "a pseudo-philosophical cult".[9] Time Magazine also quoted Robinson as stating: that the Church of Scientology was: "socially harmful ... a potential menace to the personality" and "a serious danger to health."[10] In this speech, Robinson referred to the Anderson Report, cited additional evidence of why the group should be considered a cult, and stated that there was evidence children were being indoctrinated.[9][11] Robinson announced that a series of measures would be undertaken against Scientology in Britain.[12]

In 1968, the Church of Scientology started publishing articles that were of defamatory nature toward Robinson. Eventually Robinson sued the Church of Scientology of California and L. Ron Hubbard for libel.[13] The case appeared before Justice Ackner, and was entitled: Robinson v Church of Scientology of California and Others.[13] This resulted in a settlement between the parties in June 1973, where the Church of Scientology acknowledged that there was no truth to the published allegations, and offered its apologies to Robinson along with a "substantial sum to mark the gravity of the libels".[13]

Support of reforms of laws

Robinson supported reform of the laws governing suicide in England and Wales (which was a criminal offence at the time) and in 1958 tabled a motion in the House of Commons. Despite opposition from the Conservative Home Secretary of the day, Rab Butler, Robinson's motion attracted the support of over 150 fellow MP's within days. However, Robinson's views on the subject were much more in tune with the changing times and he was supported in his campaign by such diverse bodies as the Church of England, the Magistrates' Association and the British Medical Association. Even the respected Times newspaper ran an editorial in 1958 which proclaimed "Attempted suicide seems to have become punishable in England almost by accident," when it noted suicide was not a criminal offence in Scotland. The law regarding suicide as a criminal offence in England and Wales was repealed in 1961 and Robinson's contribution to remove the stigma of suicide from the statute books cannot be overestimated.[14]

He was also campaigner for homosexual law reform and a member of the Homosexual Law Reform Society's executive committee. In June 1960, he introduced the first full-scale Commons debate on the Wolfenden Report's proposals to end the law which criminalised consenting sex between men in private. He had also put forward a bill in 1961 to legalise abortion. His bill failed but Robinson was Minister of Health in 1967 when the Abortion Act 1967 came into force.[15] In 1967, Robinson announced the British government's intentions to limit forms of promotional advertising for cigarettes, and cigarette-coupon schemes.[16] Hilton described him as "a persistent Labour critic of the tobacco industry".[17] Robinson helped to put forth the 1968 Health Services and Public Health Act, which made home help service for the elderly a mandate to the government, rather than a permissive duty.[18] Robinson was supportive of voluntary hospitals and health services,[19] and voiced his encouragement to these institutions in a speech to the National Association of Leagues of Hospital Friends.[20]

He later joined the SDP.

Other roles

Robinson served as Chairman of English National Opera from 1972 to 1977, of the Greater London Council's London Transport Executive from 1975 to 1978, and of the Arts Council of Great Britain from 1977 to 1982.[1]

He was knighted in April 1983 for services to the Arts.[21][22]

Robinson died in London on 16 February 1996.

Bibliography

Robinson wrote a biography of Wilkie Collins (1951), and a young person's guide to Parliament, Look At Parliament (1962).[1]

See also

• Mind (charity)
• Scientology and psychiatry
• Enquiry into the Practice and Effects of Scientology
• Believe What You Like: What happened between the Scientologists and the National Association for Mental Health

References

1. "Robinson, Rt Hon. Sir Kenneth". Who Was Who (Online edition). A & C Black/Oxford University Press. December 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2009.
2. "Obituary: Sir Kenneth Robinson". The Independent. 21 February 1996.
3. Loudon, Irving; Charles Webster; John Horder (1998). General Practice Under the National Health Service 1948-1997. Oxford University Press. pp. 7, 210, 232, 281. ISBN 0-19-820675-5.
4. Webster, Charles (2002). The National Health Service: A Political History. Oxford University Press. pp. 87, 90. ISBN 0-19-925110-X.
5. Klein, Rudolf (2006). The New Politics of the NHS: From Creation to Reinvention. Radcliffe Publishing. pp. 66, 67, 86. ISBN 1-84619-066-5.
6. Starey, Nigel (2003). The Challenge for Primary Care. Radcliffe Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 1-85775-569-3.
7. Baly, Monica Eileen (1995). Nursing and Social Change. Routledge. pp. 256, 257, 280. ISBN 0-415-10197-2.
8. Wallis, Roy (1975). Sectarianism. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. p. 98.
9. Robbins, Thomas; Roland Robertson (1987). Church-State Relations: Tensions and Transitions. Transaction Publishers. p. 275. ISBN 0-88738-651-2.
10. Staff (23 August 1968). "Meddling with Minds". Time Magazine. Time Warner. pp. 1–2.
11. Williams, Ian (1989). The Alms Trade: Charities Past, Present and Future. Unwin Hyman. p. 124.
12. National Council for Voluntary Organisations (Great Britain) (1988). New Society. New Society Ltd. p. 131.
13. staff (6 June 1973). "Church of Scientology to pay libel damages to former Minister". The Times.
14. When Suicide Was Illegal, BBC News, 4 August 2011
15. Keown, John; Charles Rosenberg; Colin Jones (2002). Abortion, Doctors and the Law. Cambridge University Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-521-89413-1.
16. Feldman, Eric A.; Ronald Bayer (2004). Unfiltered: conflicts over tobacco policy and public health. Harvard University Press. p. 119. ISBN 0-674-01334-4.
17. Hilton, Matthew (2000). Smoking in British Popular Culture 1800-2000. Manchester University Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-7190-5257-2.
18. Means, Robin; Randall Smith (1998). From Poor Law to Community Care: The Development of Welfare Services for Elderly People 1939-1971. The Policy Press. pp. 224, 232, 267. ISBN 1-86134-085-0.
19. Strang, John; Michael Gossop (2005). Heroin Addiction and 'The British System'. Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 0-415-29815-6.
20. Prochaska, Frank K. (1992). Philanthropy and the Hospitals of London: The King's Fund, 1897-1990. Oxford University Press. p. 210. ISBN 0-19-820266-0.
21. "No. 49212". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1982. p. 1.
22. "No. 49328". The London Gazette. 22 April 1983. p. 5510.

Further reading

The Times House of Commons 1955. The Times. 1955.