George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe - Cabinet Minister and Resignation

Cabinet Minister and Resignation

In Ted Heath's administration he was Minister in charge for the Civil Service Department (CSD), Lord Privy Seal (as such he was eighth on the Roll of The Lords) and Leader of the House of Lords from 20 June 1970 until 24 May 1973 when he admitted, "some casual affairs" with call girls (from Mayfair Escorts) and resigned (thus ending his third career in government service) in the wake of an unfortunate accidental confusion with Lord Lambton's different issue. The name Jellicoe seems to have emerged as a result of a connection between Lambton, the madame Norma Levy, and a tenement house or community hall in Somers Town in the London district of St. Pancras called Jellicoe Hall or House, after Basil Jellicoe (1899–1935) the housing reformer, and priest. The word Jellicoe was seen in Levy's notebook, and a connection was assumed to the Minister rather than the building; a structure named after the earl's distant cousin, and one that may have been opened by the Admiral himself in June 1928.

Having earlier re-established relations with the miners' union leaders in February 1972, Heath appointed Jellicoe "energy supremo" to restore power supplies around the time of the Three-Day Week and had him set up and chair a Civil Contingencies Unit, which was, when an internal crisis arose, to operate through "COBRA" (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms).

In June 1972 Jellicoe was sent to lead Concorde's first sales expedition. As Alan Trengove in My Lord, the super salesman, in the Australian The Sun of 22 June 1972 put it,

There has probably never been a sales team quite like the aristocratic British contingent that is trying to sell the Anglo-French supersonic Concorde to Qantas... The earl is an astute salesman who has obviously done his homework... He has the stamina to address a couple of press conferences each day as well as make daily speeches... cultivate politicians, DCA personnel and Qantas bosses. At fifty-four, the earl looks a rugged character. He has a strong broad chin and speaks with a directness that appeals to Australians... Inevitably, he is beginning to be known in Australia as 'Aeroplane Jellicoe'. If he can land the Concorde deal with Qantas, they may soon be singing in Britain:

I like Aeroplane Jellicoe

Aeroplane Jellicoe for me.

I like it for dinner, like it for tea,

Aeroplane Jellicoe has goodness for me.

Trengove considered Sir George Edwards and Sir Geoffrey Tuttle "equally impressive members of the sales team". (Supersonic flights were on the prototype Concorde G-BSST, certificate signed by Brian Trubshaw, and dated 15 June 1972). Jellicoe, with the help of his very experienced Chief Whip, the second Earl St. Aldwyn), steered the European Communities Act (1972) through the Lords, allowing no amendments. The Industrial Relations Act was another legislative highlight. After the resignation (over his marginal involvement in a minor indiscretion) Richard Crossman, writing in The Times, 30 May 1973 (page 18), described Jellicoe as:

... among the bravest, ablest, most decent members of the Heath Government... ut need the Prime Minister have got rid of Lord Jellicoe in such peremptory style? Could he not have refused his resignation until all the facts were available?

On return from the Whitsun recess fulsome tributes were paid in the Lords to their departed leader: The (Labour Party) Opposition leader and Jellicoe's predecessor as Lord Privy Seal, Lord Shackleton said:

Lord Jellicoe... has been as good a leader of this House as we have known .. I don't think we can let him go -though happily this is not an epitaph- without expressing our very deep sorrow to the House and to the country ...with immense thoroughness, patience and personal sensitivity Lord Jellicoe fulfilled his role as Leader of your Lordships House ... we found him an admirable open-minded and wise colleague; my Lords, I believe that we and the country have suffered a grievous loss... (Hansard, 5 June 1973, and The Times, 6 June 1973, for the cheers)

Lord Byers for the Liberal Party added:

we regret bitterly his resignation... He was a reforming innovator and the House owes a great deal more than it probably knows to the interest he took in this House and to his initiatives. (Hansard, 5 June 1973)

From the Cross-Benches Lord Strang added:

To some of us it had been a comfort to have had Lord Jellicoe as Leader. I doubt whether he realises how much we shall miss him. We have been deeply saddened by what has happened. The outstanding record of his achievements will not be dimmed; our warm regard for him will remain. (Hansard, 5 June 1973)

William Kendall, general secretary of the Civil and Public Services Association said:

In our union we respected him as a tough, capable and fair negotiator (quoted from The Times, 25 May 1973, page 2); or, as Daniel McGeachie (of The Daily Express) reported on 25 May 1973, He was a man in the Macmillan mould... e gave the impression of a solid and straightforward approach to life, to the cut and thrust of debate-but at the same time he was an extraordinarlily subtle person.

In July 1973 the Diplock Commission, which had been set up to look into the security implications of Lambton and Jellicoe's adventures, concluded its section on Jellicoe (paragraph 24): ... it was Lord Jellicoe's misfortune that his use of 'call girls' happened to come to light at the particular moment that it did, when the attention of the Press was focused on the private conduct of Ministers in connection with the entirely separate case of Lord Lambton.