Tony Benn: Labour's Lost Leader

He was once described by the press as the most dangerous man in

Britain. The Viscount's son, the public schoolboy, who became a

champion of the working-class. The establishment was scared of him,

Here was a guy, perfect manners and charm, public school, and he still

wanted to do things for people at the bottom. A politician devoted to

his party, but whose socialist vision nearly tore it apart. He

managed to become an instrument of and a leader of some of the most

destructive forces in the Labour Party. I think he will be remembered

as one of the most significant figures the Labour has ever

produced. His refusal to compromise on his political beliefs infuriated

his colleagues. But having lost the argument he was left on the

sidelines. He had been a fixer, an operator, there was no doubt he

would have been Prime Minister. When Tony Benn left parliament it was, he

said, to spend more time politics, and he never gave up fighting.

Ultimately becoming something of a national treasure sure. Comrades

this is a very remarkable achievement. I have no regretted

whatsoever, I made mistakes, they were mistakes made because I

believed what I was saying at the time, not because I was manoeuvring

and manipulating for some position for myself.

Anthony Neil wedge wedge Benn was born in 1925 to a family steeped in

the tradition of radical non-conformism. His playground was

Westminster, and from the start his life was intensely political. His

grandfather was Sir John Benn, a preacher's son who became a liberal

MP, and Tony's father, William Wedgwood Benn was a liberal until

switching to Labour. This political ancestry was reinforced by his

mother, herself the daughter of a liberal MP. The family was raised at

home in Millbank, just a stone's throw from Westminster. A remarkable

political childhood, included encounters with Oswald Mosley,

Mahatma Gandhi, and McDonald. In 1929 when Tony was four his father

became a member of McDonald's cabinet. Mr Wedgwood Benn, he is one

of the young men. He is having also a task of the very greatest

importance. He is to be the Secretary of State for India. Tony

Benn was very unusual in British politicians, who I quite often think

are hoesorically minded. But the political compost out of which he

came he was very aware of and was eloquent about it. Meeting Ramsey

McDonald as a boy. And the non-conformist descent is just as

crucial as any version of British Associationism, it was the interplay

between the two that made him so fascinating.

Holidays spent at the family home on the River Blackwater in Essex were

Hick particularly happy. Tony had a younger brother and elder brother.

He was very close to his father, who taught them the words of a

non-conformist hymn. Dare To Be A Daniel. It was something his dad

said to him, it was dare to be a Daniel and dare to stand alone. I

think he rather thought very often that message was coming through from

the past to him. And if you thought it was right and proper you should

stand up and say it. Benn went to Westminster School in 1938, he

wasn't a top sol larks but was certainly a top debater, not

surprisingly world affairs, appeasment and the imminent war were

dominant themes. While at Westminster he learned his father

had accepted a hereditary peerage, becoming Viscount Stansgate, an act

that would profoundly affect Tony's life and career. After a year at

Oxford he followed his brother into the RAF. By 1943 he was sent to

train in in Rhodiasia, he was posted to Egypt. That was after a

devastating event in the family as life. They were dealt a cruel blow

in June 1944 when Michael, the eldest son was killed in a flying

accident at an airbase in Sussex. After the war Benn returned to New

College Oxford, now the heir to his father's title. His charisma and

skill at public speaking saw him elected President of the Union. At

times of war the Government creates an unlimited demand for weapons of

destruction, for guns, stinks, aircraft and ships, and yet in times

of peace when human needs are to be met, needs of food, clothing and

shelter, it is possible for the economy to be thrown into one of

these paradoxes of misery and poverty. He was one of those elder

statesmen which you achieve the position of when you are about 24 in

our old universities, and he was of that group. He was charming,

eloquent, able. Much admired. In the summer of 1948 Benn met Caroline

DeKamp, an American student attending a course at Oxford. He

said he fell in love with a girl as soon as he saw her. She was a highly

intelligent and rather attractive woman. I think he proposed within

three weeks of their meeting. She accepted him. He bought the park

bench on which he and she were sitting when he proposed. He has a

sentimental side to him. That was a very interesting aspect of his

character, which was not generally perceived. You are attuned to the

general overseas service of the BBC. In 1949 Tony Benn began his career

in the BBC, where he did just about everything from interviewing George

Bernard Shaw to providing commentary at Wimbledon. Not very exciting

tennis on this court at this particular moment! But at the age of

just 25, Benn's career changed tack. He swapped the BBC for the Labour

Party. He stood for the seat of Bristol south-east. His collection

in November 1950 was the first day of a parliamentary career that would

span over half a century. Right from the start, the newly elected MP knew

that he could inherent his father's title at any moment. As a Viscount

he would no longer be able to work as an MP. As Britain began to

modernise Benn was just what the Labour Party needed. A clever,

fluent performer with broadcasting experience.

Good evening, this is our television operations room. Throughout the

campaign the leaders of the Labour Party will be speaking directly from

here. As Benn's career took off, he and Carl line started their own

family -- Caroline started their own family, eventually having four

children. But the event that Benn dreaded happened in November 1960

when his father died. Benn felt the loss keenly. But he was also

determined that his career in the elected chamber would not end. He

hated the idea that because of blood you could be in a position to shape

legislation. He couldn't stand it, he thought it is an axe crowism, he

thought an outrage, that fuelled it. The day after his father's death the

Speaker ordered that Benn be barred from the House of Commons. But when

the inevitable by-election was called, Benn defiantly fought to

retain his seat. On what grounds are you fighting the by-election? Well I

think two grounds really, first of all the ground of personal freedom.

Freedom for me to give up a title I don't want, and freedom for my

constituents to choose their own member of parliament. It was

fantastic triumph, he won with a huge majority and created a

constitutional crisis. Despite all the threats and pressures that have

been put upon you here in Bristol South East, you have remained

absolutely firm to your right to choose your own member of

parliament. That wasn't how the authorities saw it, the door keepers

at the Commons had been told to prevent him attending, by force if

necessary. So Benn's case was heard by the electoral court. The judgment

went against him. His title was said to be a fixed in the blood, and his

Conservative opponent was given the seat. But Benn refused to sit back

and accept the ruling. It showed extraordinary persistence and

courage, he fought back time and again. Each time he was turned down

and he just went on. I think it was impressive. That's the kind that

Tony Benn was extremely impressive about. That kind of terribly

complete determination coupled with chum. Eventually the Conservative

Government accepted the need for change. In 1963 the Peerage Bill was

passed which allowed Benn to renounce his title. The experience

had radicalised him, as he signalled on the night of his second

by-election win. Anthony kneel Wedgwood Benn, 20,300, defeating the

Tory cabinet. You have defeated the House of Lords, you have defeated

the courts, you have changed the constitution of this country by your

own power. The mood in the country was changing, Labour was back in

office after a 13-year gap, and Prime Minister Harold Wilson

appointed Benn Post Master General. Benn was in charge in late 1965 when

the ultra modern Post Office Tower was opened by the Queen. Tony Benn

in the 60s was clear-eyed, idealistic, something of a Boy Scout

in the Labour movement. Very open and on the whole fairly content to

live within the limitations that Government imposes. This is the

Ministry of Technology, according to its boss, Tony Benn. The object of

technology is to get more out of it, not less. He's a politician ready

for the new era of change and development. A man who relishes the

opportunities his job gives him. He was a technological enthusiast and

whizzkid. Part of that was wedded to his temporary enthusiasm for Europe.

Technological projects like Concorde were possible with European

assistance. He believed it would develop best with European

co-operation, and Concorde seemed to be the very image of anglo-French

development. He wave the impression of whizzkidry as Ministry of

Technology. The labour-intensive nature of the post-war recovery in

western Europe was a fleeting thing, and unless the state controlled the

application of technology it would crush people it was feared. The ship

builders of the upper Clyde were just one group paying the price of

technological change. It is here in Britain's decaying industrial

heartlands that Benn's enduring political purpose began to emerge.

You would think back a number of years ago, the finest ship builders

in the world. Yet today we are all here begging for money off the

Government. So in my opinion it could be management, it is

definitely not the men. As minister for technology Benn was forced to

talk about the difficult choices that lay ahead. Do you bring a

message of hope? It is a moment of truth today because we have some

harsh realities to face, I have come as a friend and not hatchet man.

Sure enough Benn ended up pumping in lots of money to keep things going.

Comrades most of all thank you very much for your warm welcome. I see

all the banners about the fears of redonnedcy. My position as Minister

For Technology drove me to think about how people could fight back

against big organisations. Although I was involved in all sorts of

complicated things one dealt with as a minister, my real interest was

developing a political system that allowed people to control their own

lives against big international companies. He always said he moved

to the left when in office. A lot of people were thinking where is this

man going politically. Is he really of the left, is he just pretending.

Plenty of cynics said he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and

went to all the best schools and all the rest of it. And this was

political posturing and positioning. When Labour unexpectedly lost the

election of 1970, for Tony Benn this was Wilson's punishment for

betraying the party's ideals. The disappointments of the Wilson

Government he felt acutely. Unlike some in that Government he didn't

therefore move to the centre and say we must get a progressive centre

left consensus and not be too radical about it. He thought the

best of the left dissenting traditions had been stifled by the

managerial-minded Harold. And Tony, the romantic, came to the fore.

Those two then stayed the predominant ones for the rest of his

life. Benn's chance came in 1971 when thousands marched through the

streets of Glasgow at the decision to end the supsidies to the Clyde

ship builders. When the workers took over the shipyards Benn offered his

support. We have a great speaker, a man who needs no introduction, Tony

Wedgwood Benn! Our Our task, if we want a responsible society, is to

give responsibility to ordinary people. And take away the privilege

from a minority who have dominated this country for too many centuries,

good luck comrades thank you for inviting me. That experience was a

revelation, and it was, by anybody's measure a noble struggle. He

actually then saw workerism applied and courageously asserted. I think

the romantic in him met the politician in him and the result was

that the Tony Benn of the 1970s and 80s that everybody remembers. What a

transformation it was, always Tony Benn, no more "Anthony Wedgwood" and

plenty of tea with the workers. He believed the working-class wanted

him to drink out of a big mug. If possible wear a cloth cap. That's

because he went through life immensely embarrassed by

Westminster, New College, son of a peer, millionaire. We heard very

little of that during his lifetime. His enemies throw that at him as if

he didn't care or think about the lives of ordinary people. His

background wasn't his fault. But as Nye Bevan said it is not where you

have come from, it is where you are going. Tony and Caroline lived by

the values they espoused. All their kids went to comprehensive schools.

There was no critical double standard, other people can send

their kids to commencive school and mine is to the best independent

school, that wasn't there. Car role was his -- Carol was his rock, she

was a strong woman. Academic in her own right. Maybe even stuffer than

Tony. Their relationship was fundamental to his ability to carry

on doing what he was doing, in a time when a lot of the political

world and the media world was against him. K Benn's political

journey to the left was encouraged every step by his wife. As Party

Chairman he grew for radical, championing worker control and

public ownership of industry. State intervention on a massive scale. We

must gain democratic control over the huge and remote centres of

irresponsible and managerial power created by the latest Industrial

Revolution, including the multinational company. The first

general election of 1974 saw Labour to return to office. With no

majority it was almost powerless and Harold Wilson wanted no trouble.

Wilson who always throughout in chess-like terms, made Tony Benn

Minister for Industry, in the hope that the harsh realities of the

economy would compel Tony into a more "realistic" position, Wilson's

quote, what he would see as "moralistic position". But it didn't

work that way, Tony saw the answer to the problems as lying greater and

greater in state control, and planning agreements with all the

major companies which would mean the Government was in the driving seat.

Benn drew up a far-reaching industry bill which he believed would stop

the rot. These 30 pages contain the most radical plan to alter British

society attempted by any Government since the war. Will this bill damage

the industry or bring about change. This is Tony's pitch, to grab

Britain's economic decline by the throat, turn it round and wrench it

in a new direction. He's just like Mrs Thatcher in this. They both

believe out of catastrophe could come regeneration, if only people

were bold enough to give a lead and they had confidence in theritish

people. But the press had no confidence in Tony Benn. The

reaction was ferocious, and not much better in cabinet. He fought very

hard by every method he knew how to get his industry policy through.

Despite the fact it was clear the Government was not enthusiastic

about the idea of massive public ownership and planning agreements

across the rest of the economy. The continual coming forward for public

money to save industries that were almost certainly not viable began to

irritate the cabinet. It took a lot of opposition by most of the rest of

the cabinet to blunt it, to narrow it down. Benn also had problems

selling the policy to his own civil servant. The Permanent Secretary,

Sir Anthony Part was especially unhappy. Some of the policies that

he was suggesting were pretty radical but we slogged it out

between us. You say you slogged it out, in what way do you slog it out

to the minister? I would say it is nonsense and I would say that is the

way to have it. I would say OK you are the Secretary of State you want

it that way you have it that way. He would come in storming, he would

want to do something and have a plan for the steel industry or something,

and he would come in and say Wilson has stopped, it, I have been to the

cabinet today, and it's marked what he has done, the Cabinet Office has

rung up Anthony Park what do you think of this, and he has said it is

rubbish and Wilson would stop T The civil servants were said to be

scared of Benn's reforming zeal. He loved to tell the Tory of a mix-up

with his briefing documents. -- the story of a mix up with his briefing

documents. There were three briefs, one for a Conservative victory that

didn't occur, and the other one for the Industry Minister they hoped

for, and one for Mr Benn and they sent me the wrong brief. So I got an

idea of what my successor would be advised to do in order to bypass the

Mr Benn who had been Secretary of State for Industry from March 7th to

4th October. You couldn't have a clearer example, if you like, of why

manipulation, and somebody forgot to cross it off and gave the wrong

copy. The establishment was scared of him. Here was a guy with perfect

manners and charm, grown up with a background of politics, he had grown

up public school and still wanted to do things for people at the bottom.

It was rather like a disciple might have been in the Bible. And the

Messiah, and they thought of him in that way. In the Bible they were

very worried about prophets who turned up and got the people's

support. Harold Wilson was the man who controlled Tony Benn's

ministerial progress, but their relationship was increasingly

different. Benn came to dismice Wilson's manipulative style of

leadership. Tony was more confident than Wilson, because he was of the

purple this rich compost. His detractors would say it was an

aristocratic arrogance, I don't think it was. It was self-confidence

as if he was voicing the long British tradition that went back to

the 17th century, Protestant and the levellers, those who went into power

trouble throughout history. I think Harold Wilson thought Tony Benn was

his natural successor. Howard represented the new Britain and Tony

Benn in anything he did and said represented new Britain as well.

Tony was what we call in Yorkshire, awkward, he was not a team player,

he was difficult with Harold. Harold became more dispairing of him and

began the demigration of him, making him into a joke. He is an ageing

perennial youth. He immatures with age! He certainly does, he was

terribly sensible when he was a young minister for the first time in

the Post Office. Wilson decided to rein him in, he was backed by senior

cabinet colleagues, and they all demanded that Benn give an

undertaking in writing that he would stick to collective responsibility.

An extraordinary letter in the Prime Minister's files dated November 6th

1974, and it is Tony Benn to Harold Wilson, as part of his running row

about collectsive responsibility. Just listen. "Dear Prime Minister I

made it clear in my last letter that I accept the principle of collective

responsibility as applying to all ministers. And all the requirements

that flow from it. Yours Tony Benn". That is the minimum of what he could

have said to satisfied Wilson. You can feel the resentment, it bursts

out from this built of paper and it sings volumes, how he hated it.

The rift grew wider, Britain had joined the Common Market two years

earlier, now Benn led the cause for a referendum on whether to stay in,

he got his way. Labour was bitterly divided and Wilson tried to limit

the damage, cleverly, by allowing minister to do what they liked and

campaign according to their consciences. Benn's journey to the

left had involved a re-think on Europe. He now saw the E. C as

deeply undemocratic, and an enemy of socialism. Wherever you look you

find British manufacturing industry in decline. You find our capacity to

sell our goods abroad threatened by more powerful continental

manufacturers who have been able to get investment in their plant,

denied to British workers in this country. He knew the European Union

rules would stop any control of industry which he was in very much

favour of. He campaigned against going into Europe, and he didn't

have a chance the press wanted him to go into Europe and it became a

vote for and against Benn. He has been described as "dangerous" as

"devious" as "evil" as "unscrupulous" as "fanatical" as

"lunatic" that is hardly a single word in the book that hasn't been

thrown at him. It is the vilist campaign of misrepresentation

against any politician that has been seen. They were vile to him and it

scarred him. He saw it as organised by rich owners against working

people of Britain and the Democratic Left condition. The yes campaign

scored a massive victory on polling day. In the aftermath Benn's

relations with his boss worsened. Wilson was determined to block his

progress without upsetting the left. It was so obvious that Benn would

highly likely to be the next Prime Minister of the Labour Party, or at

least if we went into opposition the next leader and Wilson was

determined to stop him. He couldn't do anything until the referendum was

over. As soon as the referendum was over, he said he would clip his

wings and he did, shoved him to energy. Benn did think about

resigning but he decided to carry on, inheriting another set of civil

servants. I got a telephone call late at night to say that I would be

getting a new minister, and I was going to get Tony Benn. And I just

laughed and laughed. You might say it was a form of hysteria. I don't

think it was hysterical laughing. I wondered what I had done to deserve

this I knew his reputation. I'm really surprised he took the job, he

was so badly shaken up. Benn's prospects changed when Harold Wilson

resigned, prompting a leadership election. Tony Benn offered a

radical and uncompromising socialist programme. As a candidate I must

make clear if anyone votes for me there will be a stronger national

enterprise board, planning agreements with major companies.

Government-financed investment to reequip Britain, otherwise this

country, which built its strength on manufacturing industry, will bleed

to death. Look at this one, sent us a bunch of heather. Despite high

hopes, Benn came a disappointing fourth in the first ballot and crew

withdrew from the contest. We had a meeting afterwards and everyone said

you did well. I said what do we have to do, why won't they vote for me.

And I said it was because he took more risks, and the party were

choosing. He said we will change the rules. Under the ruse of the day it

was James Callaghan who stepped into Downing Street. Callaghan did all

the things Benn hated, relying on monetary policies, rather than

increased state planning. Before long the unions were up in arms.

About 1978 with Jim Callaghan as leader and Michael Foot as deputy

leader. And with no majorit Tony Benn was acting on the basis that

Labour would be defeated at the next election and he would be September

to the leadership. By a Labour movement that insisted of having the

determining right to decide who led the party. Although Benn was

appalled that Britain had elected the most right-wing Tory leader in

living memory, he found opposition surprisingly liberated. Politician

Tony Benn, is signing copies of his latest book, arguments for

socialism. He had resigned from the Shadow Cabinet immediately after the

election, and enjoyed the freedom to speak and write about Labour's

internal democracy, not least the excessive power of the party leader

and the rejection of policies voted for by the party conference. I feel

strongly that the degree of centralisation of power in the

Labour Party, with the patronage put into the hand of one man is in

ompatible with parliamentary democracy and unless the Labour

Party is able to end personal patronage and introduce greater

accountability, it wouldn't be able to fulfil its historic role as

democratic party within a parliamentary democracy. Tony deeply

believed in the idea of the accountability of Government to the

party. Although I say he wasn't a communist, and he wasn't. That is

fundamentally the Marxist belief that the Government is responsible

to the party. My fundamental concept was that the Government is

responsible to the people. So his whole pull was towards putting the

parliamentary Labour Party under the control and authority of the

National Executive Committee, which would have meant a party pushed well

to the left, because that is where the NEC stood. The great showdown

came in 1980 at the Labour conference, when the party debated

Benn's plans to change the constitution. It turned tout to be

an immensely bitter gathering. The atmosphere in the party was poison,

people who used to go for a pint after the meeting wouldn't talk to

each other. Everything was blamed on Benn. They said Tony for God's sake

stop tingering with the party -- tinkering with the party, stop

changing the rules, we don't care about the rule book or how many

angels can dance on the pin. For God's sake tackle Thatcher, she's

shutting the pits, attack her, don't waste time fiddling while Rome burns

in rewriting the book of the Labour Party. Because Tony, that is not

what we want. He still kept on doing it. In what he considered the best

speech of his life, he listed all the promises the Labour Government

had broken between 1974 and 1979. He went on to itemise the policies

proposed by the trades unions which James Callaghan had allegedly

refused to put into the party's election manifesto. Reflayings of

public sector service spending ruled out, substantial cut in arms

expenditure, ruled out, the immediate introduction of a wealth

tax, ruled out. The imposition of selective import controls, ruled

out. He was undoubtedly carried forward, to some extent, by the

sheer excitement of his own capacity of to arouse tremendous popular

feeling within the Labour Government among the activists. There was a

kind of interplay between Tony and the activists. He communicated

brilliantly, they responded emotionally and fiercely, and

sometimes even aggressively. I think the thing drove him on. The

sentiments that mobilised in his favour exists in the Labour Party

and had been reinforced and remenished by interests from

Trotskite elements. If he hadn't been there with his talent and

background and his resolute course of action to articulate what they

wanted and to give it respectability then it might have provoked some

difficulties. It would have had to be dealt with, but it never would

have become a source of potential disaster for the Labour Party. It is

nonsense to suggest it is a Trotskite revolution. Those who made

it knew it wasn't. They wanted to get him to conthem the Socialist

Workers' Party or militant, because they were leading him into a trap,

they wanted him to dignify the accusations they were making. The

conference had been a triumph for the left over Callaghan's

leadership. Nuclear disarment, and the withdrawal from the EEC were

adopted as policy. And a special arrangement to debate the rules for

electing party leaders. But James Callaghan suddenly resigned before

that conference to take place. He was hoping MPs would elect Denis

Healey, under the old rules. But they didn't. Instead they chose

Michael Foot. The veteran left-winger as Labour leader. Benn

and his supporters kept up their challenges that in future unions,

party members and MPs would elect the party leadership. Roy gen. Ins

and his gang of four were disgusted by Labour and left to form a new

party, the SDP. Michael Foot and Denis Healey had an impossible task

of keeping the Labour Party together. Wait until the press

conference. By 1981 and his bizarre decision to run against Denis Healey

for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party. That was a personal

ambition and it had become a substantive force. We are on the

edge of disruption and disillusion. The extreme left infiltration. The

insipient SDP's defection, all the things made the future of the party

in the balance. Benn knew the unions held the key to any party victory

with 40% of the new Electoral College, but he needed to convince

the members so that they in turn would influence their masters. He

took his message across the country. You have to have a socialist

perfective. The word socialist is spat out by the media as if it is a

disease. They get a picture, sometimes of me, with hands out and

eyes open, "socialism" they say, and children are put to bed and mother

has another Ovaltine and settles down to her novel from the Boots

library, and people hope it will all go away. That is not how it is

pronounced. It is a socialism. It is about trying to construct a society

around production and need and not just for profit. It is around

meeting people's needs, that is what it is about. The fact is, he was at

the head of a broad popular movement, certainly within the

Labour Party and those, the establishment of the party were a

small minority, protected from the wrath of the members by the block

votes of the trade union leaders which they shamelessly misused. In

the other corner, Denis Healey was courting the right-wing union

leaders, such as Frank Chapel. All our executive members here. That's

right. It was the most intensive struggle for power that I have ever

witnessed in the Labour Party. We had the entire establishment of the

Labour Party, and they threw at us everything you could conceivably

imagine. It was a very tough time. The voting took blaze on the first

day of the Labour conference of 1981. For sheer drama it could

hardly be bettered. Handful of votes turned out to be immensely

significant for Labour's future. The final decision and I will say this

now, the votes have been counted three times. Tony Benn, 49. #R5 74.

-- 49. A 574. Denis Healey, 50. 426. If Tony Benn had defeated Denis

Healey, he would have been then the most popular politician in the

country. He knew that, he saw it in the newspapers and he was prepared

to risk that for hubris, that is one of the things I hold against him.

Labour's troubles were about to deepen, the militant steppedcy had

taken over many branches. Leadership attempts to expel them were opposed

by Tony Benn and allies. Tony Benn and others were using the machine in

a way I thought was absolutely scandalous. We had every month a

meeting of the national executive, which instead of being a might be of

the executive of the party, was turned into an absolute gift to the

Daily Mail and the Express and all the most bitter enemies. They had

all the journalists outside waiting for the latest meeting of the

national executive to feed the kind of stuff that suited them. I would

say to people who moved in to try t hopefully it will lead to expulsions

but it won't succeed. I would say to people at home, particularly good

Labour people, don't worry they got rid of crooks and Bevan and thought

they all came back f they get rid of anyone this time they will all be

back don't worry. He didn't like tyranny at all, but he would see a

side to the Trotski activists, people who needed rights too.

Margaret Thatcher was by now the victor of the Falklands War and

called an election the following year. Labour's campaign was

disastrous, its manifesto was dubbed the longest suicide note in history.

For Tony Benn boundaries meant he was standing in Bristol East, much

of it new territory for him. Labour calling, Tony Benn is in the road

now, come along and meet him. There was a huge amount at take for Benn

in this campaign. Everyone knew as soon as the elections were out of

the way there will be elections for the leader of the Labour Party. If

he were out of parliament he wouldn't be available as a

candidate. So I think it is actually a mark of his integrity that he

chose to stay in Bristol and go down with the ship. Anthony Neil Wedgwood

Benn, 18,055. Jonathan Saith 19,874. I here by Claire that Jonathan Said

has been elected member for the constituency. I would like to thank

the people of Bristol who over a third of a century have returned me

to parliament, to say how glad I am I stayed. Since nothing but the

defeat and decision of the people of Bristol would ever have induce

immediate to leave this city. -- induced me to leave the city. Less

than a year later Benn was back, flanked by the new party leader,

Neil Kinnock. He had been elected as a Labour candidate for the mining

town of Chesterfield. His old rival, Denis Healey, had also come to give

him his support. Tony without Benn is like Torvill without Dean! After

an unpleasant few weeks and a vicious press campaign, Benn won the

seat. Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, 24,733.

# It's here we go # Here we go

# All the women of the working-class Once again he found common cause

with the nation's workers, as the miners' went on strike based on

Thatcher's policies. I think she's a brutal woman, following policies of

bash barrism which are impossible. I first met Benn during the Miners'

Strike, and that was how I was politic sized. I was going up and

doing gigs in the coalfields taking part in the demonstrations and there

were platform speakers and Tony was prominent. He always seemed the most

approachable of the whole generation of politicians. There were those who

supported Scargill the leader of the unis and those who didn't support

him. Benn supported Scargill. He was a man of principle, sometimes that

became more important to him than the party. This was a battle Benn

couldn't win. And the defeat of the miners only deepened the split in

the Labour Party between the left and the right. Kinnock now decided

to face down the left. But Benn continued to oppose him, not least

on policies made popular by Mrs Thatcher, including the right of

council tenants to buy their homes. Tony said in the course of the low,

these are not the tenants' houses to buy. These are the communities'

houses, I have to say to him, Tony, on the day when you start paying a

mortgage or rent you will have some authority on the subject. Until then

you have none. Let's have the vote. And we had the vote and won by one.

It was incandescent at the superficiality and the patronising

attitude that was voiced in good conscience by a decent man. But

utterly misguided. Labour's third election defeat in a row game in

1987, Kinnock was convinced the party hadn't changed enough. Benn

was convinced it had changed far too much and now needed to return to

unmistakenly socialist policies. The impression created now, and I will

be blunt with you, is the Labour Party at the top is in panic-striken

route and is anxious to say anything to pick up votes. They kept on

making the same speeches like Barbra Streisand, they were be wonderful

and everybody loved them but you don't want to keep putting on her

records, and it became like that. People don't know what the Labour

Party is about at all. Such was his anger that Tony Benn decided after

some hesitation to challenge Kinnock for the leadership. He said to me

when I vine invited him not to do that. He said all those who loved me

said not to. You can add me to that list. We recognised we would be

soundly beaten. And so he was, Kinnock and Hattersly trounces the

others, years later he expressed contempt for the victor. I would

have been utterly ashamed if I followed the course of Neil Kinnock,

giving up everything I believed in to get the leadership and having

done so nobody believed a word you said. Had no regrets, I made

mistake, but they were mistakes made because I believed what I was saying

at the time. Not because I was manoeuvring or manipulating a

position for myself. I don't know how great the regrets were that he

didn't do more. That the party he thought was the only one that could

transform a society and its economy in a beneficial direction didn't

have more purchase in his era. Margaret Thatcher so changed the

terms of political debate that the left gave away so much ground all in

a the rough. I know he felt that. Who would like the House of Lords?!

By the time Tony Benn celebrated his 70th birthday, he was still

campaigning on the issues that matter to him. Against the drift of

the party. For Benn the advent of new Labour was another lurch to the

right. It may have been electorally successful, but the concentration of

power in the leadership was an neath ma anathema to him. When I look and

new Labour, I wonder was it not trying to light a bonfire on a

frozen late. Looking very nice but you melted away your own support.

The man who once held the party conference in the calm of his hand

now looked on from the sidelines. But he did manage to reach new

audiences. So why do they call it the welfare state, is it because it

is "welfare". We have -- well F air. Unemployment benefit is wicked, you

get something for doing nothing. Why would you do nothing? You are

chilling. This idea that if you are unemployed you are lazy, it is

rubbish. I think that interview with Ali G did me more good with sixth

formers than anything that has ever happened. They all enjoyed it all,

so did I. Maximum respect gone out to my main man. Typically he took

the whole episode in the best spirit. After 50 years at the heart

of the Labour Party, personal tragedy brought him to stand down in

2001. His wife Caroline fell ill with cancer, they made the decision

to try to enjoy every remaining moment. He phoned me up and usually

he's not someone to talk about personal things. He was on for 40

minutes talking about the devastation of her condition and her

illness. He was broken hearted. She taught me how to live and how to

die. And you cannot ask any more of anyone than that. Loving, caring,

thoughtful, critical, when necessary, always understanding and

always forgiving. To have had the good fortune and privilege of living

with her and learning from her for so long made her the centre piece of

my life and the life of all my family. We discussed my decision --

We discussed my decision not to stand again for Chesterfield before

she died, it was her suggestion that I should explain it and say I was

giving up parliament to devote for time to politics. He found no

greater cause in later life than the coalition against the war in Iraq,

he was there among the record crowds in London in 200 #. 3. Please give

the warmest welcome for Tony Benn. Friends, we are here today to found

a new political movement, worldwide. The biggest demonstration ever in

Britain, the first global demonstration and the first cause is

to prevent a war against Iraq. Benn took his antiwar campaign right into

Baghdad. Where he met Saddam Hussein, just a few weeks before the

allied invasion. Iraq featured frequently in his hugely popular

one-man show. And Benn found himself treated as a political sage. I think

democracy is a do it yourself business. There was a Chinese

philosopher I read about who lived many years before the birth of

Christ. He was asked about leadership, and this is what he

said, he said "as to the best leaders, the people do not notice

their existence, and that is what we need". The audiences were Laura

Ashley, you could see them thinking, he has a point. A lot of them were

nowhere near him in his politics, but he was extraordinary like that.

When I do my diary overnight as I do, I am so depressed by the papers

that I can't think, and sometimes when I consider the possibilities at

our disposal, I get so thrilled that I wonder if it is good if someone at

nigh age can get as excited as I do. Thank you very much indeed.

The politicians politician is... Hillary Benn. Seeing son Hillary

respected by opponents and promoted to cabinet rank gave Tony Benn

enormous pleasure, this was the fourth generation of Benns in

parliament, and the third at the cabinet table. This ises had moment,

can I say a word about him, he's only 52 and I'm going to give him a

hug. Welcome to Leftfield and we're very pleased to have Tony with us.

He has been almost... . My abiding memory will be how he wowed the

crowds at glassedry. Reputation -- Glastonbury. His reputation seemed

to transcend the generations. I don't protest I demand what we want.

It is clear someone like him wouldn't find place in contemporary

politics. But he found a place in the heart of the British people and

I think that's sort of like casting a poor light on the way we do

politic today. Please give real Trafalgar Square welcome to Tony

Benn. Despite failing health, Benn, ever the politician, refused to keep

quiet and carried on campaigning throughout his retirement. Comrades

this is a very remarkable occasion, never forget that the British Labour

movement has always been in favour of peace.

As a member of the human race, it is as members of the human race we need

to respond. I believe the inspiration he gave us will allow us

to do just that. I express my deepest gratitude to him and all

those who work with him. By the end of his life Tony Benn had become the

voice of the nation's conscience, hugely admired for his principles in

a way he never managed as a politician. I think British politics

would have been different,s and most of the time poorer. Without Tony

Benn. For me it would have been rather easier and more convenient.

He will be remembered by people who take politics seriously as the

totally irresponsible. He had no consistent view of what policy

should be, he was immensely concerned with his own image and

status. He was a bad team player and probably more than anybody else

responsible for peopling the Labour Party out of Government between 1979

and 1997. No-one can take away from him the extraordinary impact and

galvanising effect he had on the party and the country to some extent

in the 1970s and early 80s. He was an inspirational figure who might,

had he been elected leader, have changed the tide of British

politics. I'm pretty convinced that Tony Benn thought to his dying day,

that what he believed motivated people and what mattered to

societies would prevail. He was a prophet as much as politician. Just

think how much the poorer the national British political

conversation would have been without him. From 1950 right to the moment

he died. And you can't say that of many people.