Tony Benn - Bournemouth Daily Echo

LIKE the Beatles or Guy
Fawkes, Tony Benn is
part of our collective
conscience; he’s in our
national DNA.
Revered and reviled in equal
measure, he’s said he thinks it’s
a bad week if he doesn’t receive
at least one death threat.
Which should give the pre-eminent
left-wing politician of the
last 50 years plenty to talk about
on Monday when he visits
Lighthouse, Poole, to host An
Evening with Tony Benn.
“It’s basically a discussion – I
talk for quarter of an hour or so
and then throw it open to questions
and we have a discussion
about all the things that worry
people – the war, Europe, recession,”
he explains.
“I find these events very
friendly and interesting. I’m not
asking anyone to vote for me, I
don’t want anything from them,
so we can have an open discussion
without the punch-ups or
the scandals. It’s great fun.”
First elected to parliament in
1950, the now 84-year-old
grandee of British socialism
famously retired from the House
of Commons in 2001 to “spend
more time involved in politics”.
A regular commentator on a
range of issues, he covers the
political ground like a modernday
polemicist, arguing passionately
for ideas which excite him
– like the retention of traditional
social democratic values and
progressive socialism – yet
always willing to hear other
voices.
“You know, the intelligence of
the British public is being
severely under-estimated by the
media and politicians,” he says.
“People aren’t just interested in
sport, sex and gossip. Nothing
excites me more than to hear a
perceptive point made – I may
not agree, but I want to hear it. I
think things are changing again
and people are willing to listen
to ideas.
“I spoke at [trade union leader]
Jack Jones’s funeral and I don’t
know if you remember but there
was a time he was called
Emperor Jack and all the troubles
of the country were blamed
on him and the trade unions.
Well, it turns out it wasn’t the
fault of the unions but all these
bankers gambling with money
that didn’t exist. Now we’ve had
to nationalise the banks to make
them work again.”
As fiercely engaged with the
politics of everyday life as ever,
Tony Benn retains a clarity of
vision that eludes many politicians
half his age.
“During the war nobody said
we can’t bomb Berlin because
we’ve exceeded budget and after
the war we decided we needed a
health service so we created one,
never mind that we were bankrupt.
Why do we have legions of
builders unemployed and people
waiting longer than ever for
houses – why, why, why?”
Dorset has seen Tony Benn
speak most summers at the
TUC’s Tolpuddle Martyrs rally,
but he was surprised when I told
him I’d spoken to a young
Gordon Brown at Tolpuddle
after a fiery speech in 1989 celebrating
the end in sight of the
“long night of Thatcherite
sway”.
“I didn’t realise Gordon Brown
had been to Tolpuddle – I’m sure
he’d be quite embarrassed to
hear himself talk today,” says
Tony, obviously tickled.
“I do love Tolpuddle, especially
now it’s been turned from a
political rally into a lively weekend
event with all the cultural
and musical activity.”
I ask if he despairs of the
Labour Party in power. He reiterates
his oft-spoken view that
one of Margaret Thatcher’s
greatest achievements was the
creation of New Labour – “Blair
was a Thatcherite, it’s quite simple”
– before swiftly turning to
the future. I get the feeling he
prefers to look forward because
he understands all too well what
has already happened.
“I’ve just started a new book
and it has the best title of any
I’ve written but is easily the
most difficult. A Letter to My
Grandchildren is my attempt to
pass on anything I may have
learned that
could be
useful
to them. I’ve learned that when
you talk to young people you
should start by saying ‘My generation
has made a complete
cock-up of the world and you
must do better, you have to.’
Then they listen to you.
“I’m an old man now, I want
nothing for myself, but I have 10
grandchildren and I worry
about the world they’re growing
into. I’m frightened by war, ecological
disaster, the nuclear
question – we might all die of
swine flu now – so you have to
keep questioning.
“It’s interesting that although
political questions change, the
moral ones never change – it
was wrong to kill someone
with a bow and arrow
and it’s still wrong to
kill them with an atom
bomb.
“Anyway, it was
good to talk to you,
I’ve enjoyed it very
much.”
And with that, ever
the master of the
conversation he’s
engaged in, he’s
gone.