campaigner. [88] A supporter of the Scottish Parliament and political devolution, Benn however opposed the Scottish National Party and Scottish independence, saying: "I think nationalism is a mistake. A bust of him was unveiled in Bristol's City Hall in 2005. In the wake of the recent sad news of the death of Tony Benn, here's another chance to read last year's interview with the veteran left-wing politician. [167] His body was then cremated; the ashes were expected to be buried alongside those of his wife at the family home near Steeple, Essex.[168]. And I am half Scots and feel it would divide me in half with a knife. If we do not speak up now against the filthy and obscene racialist propaganda ... the forces of hatred will mark up their first success and mobilise their first offensive...Enoch Powell has emerged as the real leader of the Conservative Party. [7], Benn's mother, Margaret Wedgwood Benn (née Holmes, 1897–1991), was a theologian, feminist and the founder President of the Congregational Federation. In early 2008, Benn appeared on Scottish singer-songwriter Colin MacIntyre's album The Water, reading a poem he had written himself. Approximate latitude/longitude from Google Maps and Earth: 19°31'21.8"S 29°55'58.7"E; Tony Benn, "First Solo," in High Flyers:30 Reminiscences to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, Michael Fopp (ed. By the end of the 1970s, Benn's views had shifted to the left-wing of the Labour Party. The son of a Liberal and later Labour Party politician, Benn was born in Westminster and privately educated at Westminster School. Benn withdrew from the second ballot and endorsed Michael Foot; James Callaghan eventually won. "[116], In 1997, the Labour Party under the leadership of Tony Blair won the general election in a landslide, after 18 years of Conservative Party rule. On 1 November 1950, he was selected to succeed Stafford Cripps as the Labour candidate for Bristol South East, after Cripps stood down because of ill-health. [42], Benn and his wife Caroline became vegetarian in 1970, for ethical reasons, and remained so for the rest of their lives. But he was always engaging and interesting, and you were never bored when reading or listening to him, and the country a great campaigner, a great writer, and someone who I'm sure whose words will be followed keenly for many, many years to come. [43][44][45], Following the Second World War, Benn worked briefly as a BBC Radio producer. Two are in a room between the Central Lobby and Strangers' Gallery that holds a permanent display about the suffragettes. alongside Mr Benn for many years, said : "Sad news of Tony Benn He attributed this political shift to his experience as a Cabinet Minister in the 1964–1970 Labour Government. Tauris Publishing, 2002 (ISBN 978-1860647437). Statement on death of Tony Benn Prime Minister David Cameron describes veteran politician as a "magnificent writer, speaker, diarist and campaigner". [26], In June 1944, he made his first solo flight, at RAF Guinea Fowl, an RAF Elementary Flying Training School, in Rhodesia. Barry Sheerman, who entered parliament in 1979 and served alongside Mr Benn for many years, said : “Sad news of Tony Benn death. [142][143] In September 2008, he appeared on the DVD release for the Doctor Who story The War Machines with a vignette discussing the Post Office Tower; he became the second Labour politician, after Roy Hattersley to appear on a Doctor Who DVD.[144]. She was a member of the League of the Church Militant, which was the predecessor of the Movement for the Ordination of Women; in 1925, she was rebuked by Randall Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, for advocating the ordination of women. Born Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn, he first entered parliament in Tony Benn: Hidden plaque is "tribute to democracy" Labour MP Tony Benn has revealed a secret he has long kept hidden in a House of Commons broom cupboard. eBook Shop: The Best of Benn Cornerstone Digital von Tony Benn als Download. Because UBM was considering a move to Ireland for tax purposes! Tony Benn, pictured in 1967, puffs on his pipe as he listens to speeches during the second day of the 66th annual Labour Party Conference, in Scarborough, England. [32], Benn met Caroline Middleton DeCamp (born 13 October 1926, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States) over tea at Worcester College, Oxford, in 1949; just nine days after meeting her, he proposed to her on a park bench in the city. We are working for a majority labour government, elected on a socialist programme, as decided by conference. November 1950 and served in the cabinet under Harold Wilson and Jim [84], He was vilified by most of the press while his opponents implied and stated that a Benn-led Labour Government would implement a type of Eastern European state socialism,[85] with Edward Heath referring to Benn as "Commissar Benn"[86] and others referring to Benn as a "Bollinger Bolshevik". left, and the main author of the manifesto on which Labour fought [120], Benn strongly objected to the bombing of Iraq in December 1998,[121] calling it immoral and saying: "Aren't Arabs terrified? first Briton to renounce a hereditary peerage. 'He will be remembered as a champion of the powerless, a great parliamentarian and a conviction politician. [38], Two of Benn's children have been active in Labour Party politics. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Speaking to the Oxford Union on the alleged overshadowing of the EU debate by "UKIP and Tory backbenchers", he said: I took the view that having fought [Europeans in the Second World War] that we should now work with them, and co-operate, and that was my first thought about it. [56] St Clair, fulfilling a promise he had made at the time of his election, then accepted the office of Steward of the Manor of Northstead, disqualifying himself from the House (outright resignation not being possible). influence on generations to come”. Benn was born in Westminster, London,[1] on 3 April 1925. Jeremy was very close to Tony right up until the end. EU. [175] A major biography was written by Jad Adams and published by Macmillan in 1992; it was updated to cover the intervening 20 years and reissued by Biteback Publishing in 2011: Tony Benn: A Biography (ISBN 0-333-52558-2). The death of Tony Benn is devastating to me, obviously to his family and to millions all around Britain and the world who recognised him as a friend, an honest man, and someone who passionately believed in the cause of socialism and humanity. "[190] Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour Party a little over a year after Benn's death, an act which Hilary Benn said would have made his father feel "thrilled".[191]. His main opponent would have been the incumbent Conservative MP for the predecessor seat of Kensington and Chelsea, Malcolm Rifkind. [63], The mainstream press attacked Benn for using language deemed as intemperate as Powell's language in his "Rivers of Blood" speech (which was widely regarded as racist),[63] and Benn noted in his diary that "letters began pouring in on the Powell speech: 2:1 against me but some very sympathetic ones saying that my speech was overdue". Whether However Benn's absence from parliament meant that he was unable to stand in the resulting leadership contest as only MPs were eligible to be candidates. He won the seat in a by-election on 30 November 1950. powerful, fearless, relentless advocate for social justice and [136] In 2007, he appeared in an extended segment in the Michael Moore film Sicko giving comments about democracy, social responsibility and healthcare, notably, "If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people. politics that is often too small, he thought big about our country In 2003, his show with Bailey was voted 'Best Live Act' at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Having been in charge of nuclear power I discovered it wasn’t cheap, wasn’t safe and when I left office I was told that during my period as Secretary of State for Energy, plutonium from our nuclear power stations went to the Pentagon to make nuclear weapons. In June 2005, he was a panellist on a special edition of BBC One's Question Time edited entirely by a school-age film crew selected by a BBC competition. [4] Their father, William Wedgwood Benn, was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1906 who crossed the floor to the Labour Party in 1928 and was appointed Secretary of State for India by Ramsay MacDonald in 1929, a position he held until the Labour Party's landslide electoral defeat in 1931. Last month he was taken into hospital, where his condition was Ed Miliband paid tribute to an "iconic figure of our age". inspirational speaker and person: will be deeply missed. Benn cited the decision of his son Hilary to become vegetarian as an important factor in his own decision to adopt a vegetarian diet. Military service: Royal Air Force (pilot, 1943-45, WWII) Aren't Iraqis terrified? Labour leader Ed Miliband leads tributes to 'champion of the powerless, a great parliamentarian and a conviction politician', Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. The Labour leader revealed that he visited Benn in hospital [3] After the Thames flood in January 1928 their house was uninhabitable so the Benn family moved to Scotland for over 12 months. His eldest son Stephen was an elected Member of the Inner London Education Authority from 1986 to 1990. [72], Upon the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, Benn described Mao as "one of the greatest—if not the greatest—figures of the twentieth century: a schoolteacher who transformed China, released it from civil war and foreign attack and constructed a new society there" in his diaries, adding that "he certainly towers above any twentieth-century figure I can think of in his philosophical contribution and military genius". A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament for Bristol South East and Chesterfield between 1950 and 2001. He was 88. Benn reportedly fell and struck his head. The final volume was published in 2013. Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our Community Guidelines. His family said in a statement that Benn died peacefully at his home in west London on Friday. driving force behind the decision to hold the first referendum in His most recent public appearance was in December when he spoke "[125] Along with former Prime Minister Edward Heath, Benn was permitted by the Speaker to continue using the House of Commons Library and Members' refreshment facilities. He served in the Labour government of Harold Wilson from 1964 to 1970 first as Postmaster General, where he oversaw the opening of the Post Office Tower, and later as Minister of Technology. [66][67], Labour lost the 1970 election to Edward Heath's Conservatives and upon Heath's application to join the European Economic Community, a surge in left-wing Euroscepticism emerged. Although he was disqualified from taking his seat, he was re-elected. It would be as unthinkable to try to construct the Labour Party without Marx as it would be to establish university faculties of astronomy, anthropology or psychology without permitting the study of Copernicus, Darwin or Freud, and still expect such faculties to be taken seriously. [98], For the 1983 election Benn's Bristol South East constituency was abolished by boundary changes, and he lost to Michael Cocks in the selection of a candidate to stand in the new winnable seat of Bristol South. Overall, his concluding judgement on New Labour is highly critical; he describes its evolution as a way of retaining office by abandoning socialism and distancing the party from the trade union movement,[119] adopting a presidentialist style of politics, overriding the concept of the collective ministerial responsibility by reducing the power of the Cabinet, eliminated any effective influence from the annual conference of the Labour Party and "hinged its foreign policy on support for one of the worst presidents in US history". (1925 – 12 January 1942), The Hon. The third is dedicated to Emily Wilding Davison, who died for the cause of "Votes for women", and was placed in the broom cupboard next to the Undercroft Chapel, where Davison is said to have hidden during the night of the 1911 census in order to establish her address as the House of Commons. An election court found that the voters were fully aware that Benn was disqualified, and declared the seat won by the Conservative runner-up, Malcolm St Clair, who was at the time also the heir presumptive to a peerage. The decision of several soft left MPs, including Neil Kinnock, to abstain triggered the split of the Socialist Campaign Group from the left of the Tribune Group. American Michael Moore dedicates his book Mike's Election Guide 2008 (ISBN 978-0141039817) to Benn, with the words: "For Tony Benn, keep teaching us". and our world. Tony Benn dies aged 88. After Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in April 1982, Benn argued that the dispute should be settled by the United Nations and that the British Government should not send a task force to recapture the islands. I would be ashamed if I thought I'd ever said anything I didn't believe to get on, but making mistakes is part of life, isn't it? All the Common Market countries except the UK have been occupied by Germany, and they have this mixed feeling of hatred and subservience towards the Germans". "[28], He relinquished his commission with effect from 10 August 1945, three months after the Second World War ended in Europe on 8 May, and just days before the war with Japan ended on 2 September. London surrounded by his family. But we are comforted by the memory of his Photofusion/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, Jeff Overs/BBC News & Current Affairs via Getty Images, George Freston/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Edward Miller/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, Reg Burkett/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. [41] Benn was a first cousin once removed of the actress Margaret Rutherford. Tony Benn (9 June 1983 – 1 March 1984), The Rt Hon. Harold Best Death | Harold Best Obituary – Former MP for Leeds North WestHarold Best sadly passed away, Harold Best was known to be an amazing person he contributed passionately to his team and community. street fighter', You may not agree with our views, or other users’, but please respond to them respectfully, Swearing, personal abuse, racism, sexism, homophobia and other discriminatory or inciteful language is not acceptable, Do not impersonate other users or reveal private information about third parties, We reserve the right to delete inappropriate posts and ban offending users without notification. Why not laugh about it and allow it to bring us closer together? [52] Continuing to maintain his right to abandon his peerage, Benn fought to retain his seat in a by-election caused by his succession on 4 May 1961. Yet, with some exceptions—among whom, in a special place of honour, stands Tony Benn—few contemporary British leftists show any interest in dispersing power when doing so would mean challenging public sector monopolies. Foot resigned as leader following the defeat which reduced Labour to only 209 MPs, while Healey also decided to step down as deputy leader. Benn ascribed his move to the left to four lessons: As regards the power of industrialists and bankers, Benn remarked: Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes by the unions is minuscule. Does bombing strengthen their determination? [132], On 21 June 2005, Benn presented a programme on democracy as part of the Channel 5 series Big Ideas That Changed The World. the 1983 election, and suffered its worst post-war defeat. Harold Tony and Caroline had four children— Stephen, Hilary, Melissa, a feminist writer, and Joshua—and 10 grandchildren. speaker but unfailingly courteous. Tony Benn was one of the twentieth century's most charismatic politicians. Two of Benn's children have been active in Labour Party politics. [160] Benn died at home on 14 March 2014, surrounded by his family, less than a month shy of his 89th birthday. Arrangements for his funeral will be announced in due course.". [176], There are substantial essays on Benn in the Dictionary of Labour Biography by Phillip Whitehead, Greg Rosen (eds), Politicos Publishing, 2001 (ISBN 978-1902301181) and in Labour Forces: From Ernie Bevin to Gordon Brown, Kevin Jefferys (ed. In 1976, there was a sterling crisis, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey sought a loan from the International Monetary Fund. A family statement did not give the cause of death. That's why Mrs Thatcher pulled Britain out of UNESCO: she was not prepared, any more than Ronald Reagan was, to be part of an organisation that talked about a New World Information Order, people speaking to each other without the help of Murdoch or Maxwell. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. political life. I've looked at Labour leaders in a funny way ever since. The death of Tony Benn is devastating to me, obviously to his family and to millions all around Britain and the world who recognized him as a friend, … Create a commenting name to join the debate, There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts, There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts. [81], Benn's philosophy consisted of a form of syndicalism, state planning where necessary to ensure national competitiveness, greater democracy in the structures of the Labour Party and observance of Party Conference decisions. A more recent "semi-authorised" biography with a foreword by Benn was published in 2001: David Powell, Tony Benn: A Political Life, Continuum Books (ISBN 978-0826464156). By Peter Dominiczak 14 March 2014 • 07:09 am. He was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963. [145], Cameron also said in 2008 that, alongside George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Benn's Arguments for Democracy was "a very powerful book which makes the important point that we vest power in people who are elected, and that we can get rid of, rather than those we can't". "[75] Benn blamed the Winter of Discontent on these cuts to socialist policies.[75]. [139] In October 2007, aged 82, and when it appeared that a general election was about to be held, Benn reportedly announced that he wanted to stand, having written to his local Constituency Labour Party offering himself as a prospective candidate for the newly drawn Kensington seat. last 50 years. [145], At the Stop the War Conference 2009, he described the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as "Imperialist war(s)" and discussed the killing of American and allied troops by Iraqi or foreign insurgents, questioning whether they were in fact freedom fighters, and comparing the insurgents to a British Dad's Army, saying: "If you are invaded you have a right to self-defence, and this idea that people in Iraq and Afghanistan who are resisting the invasion are militant Muslim extremists is a complete bloody lie. [19] Benn's contact with leading politicians of the day, dates back to his earliest years. unwavering principles; always open to new ideas; stellar political [148], Tony Benn headed the "coalition of resistance", a group which was opposed to the UK austerity programme. Whether you agreed with him or disagreed with him, everyone knew where he stood and what … He performed his show, The Writing on the Wall, with Roy Bailey at St Mary's Church, Ashford, Kent, in September 2011, as part of the arts venue's first Revelation St. Mary's Season. . He was a mentor and inspiration to many he will be greatly missed. In 1955 when Eisenhower said he was going for ‘Atoms for Peace’ I became a passionate supporter of it. [53], Benn continued his campaign outside Parliament. Tony Benn, MP (October 1973 – 9 June 1983), The Rt Hon. The Best of Benn showcases his powers of original thinking and communication over seven decades. [93] On 25 January 1981, Roy Jenkins, David Owen, Shirley Williams and Bill Rodgers (known collectively as the "Gang of Four") launched the Council for Social Democracy, which became the Social Democratic Party in March. [101], Newly elected to a mining seat, Benn was a supporter of the 1984–85 UK miners' strike, which was beginning when he returned to the Commons, and of his long-standing friend, the National Union of Mineworkers leader Arthur Scargill. Later, he bought the bench from Oxford City Council and installed it in the garden of their home in Holland Park. [124], Benn chose not to seek re-election at the 2001 general election, saying he was "leaving parliament in order to spend more time on politics. "the most dangerous man in Britain". ), Greenhill Books in Association with the Royal Air Force Museum, London 1993 p. 39, 1981 Labour Party deputy leadership election, Chairman of the National Executive Committee, Secretary of State for International Development, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Community (Common Market), Common Sense: A New Constitution for Britain, the progress towards peace and security in Northern Ireland, Interview with Benn on his diaries, July 13, 1994, "Tony Benn 1925–2014: a politician shaped by Christianity", "Tony Benn's banana diet, lapsed Christians and ignoring no smoking signs", "Tony Benn: Peter Wilby reads the diaries", "Tony Benn obituary: Politician who embodied the soul of the Labour Party and came to be admired – even by his rivals", "Brexit: Hilary Benn sacked as Corbyn faces 'no confidence' pressure", "Philip French's screenlegends: Margaret Rutherford", "Tony Benn: making mistakes is part of life", "Jeremy Corbyn and other famous vegetarian politicians", "How we organised to break racism on Bristol buses", "What was behind the Bristol bus boycott? at a service remembering Nelson Mandela. Death of a radical: Tony Benn, 1925-2014. In 2001 Benn stepped down from parliament in order to "spend The result was announced on 27 September 1981; Healey retained his position by a margin of barely one per cent. ", Lucy Powell, one of the party's newest MPs added: "Very sorry to Wilson, the first of a series of Labour leaders to clash with Benn, [173] Nine volumes of his diaries have been published. English: Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (born April 3, 1925 – died March 14, 2014), known as Tony Benn, formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician on the left of the Labour Party. a great parliamentarian and a conviction politician. His second son Hilary was a councillor in London, stood for Parliament in 1983 and 1987, and becoming Labour MP for Leeds Central in 1999. Tony Benn, MP (1 March 1984 – 14 May 2001), The Rt Hon. You have the satellites coming in now—well, it is the multinational church all over again. stood and what he stood for. That same year, details of Tony Benn’s own apparent tax avoidance scheme were first published. [39] This makes him the third generation of his family to have been a member of the Cabinet, a rare distinction for a modern political family in Britain. The thought that my mother would suddenly be a foreigner would upset me very much. recently and  “as I left he said to me 'Well, old son. In his heyday in the 1970s and early 1980s, Benn was one of the Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate? [112], In 1991, Benn reiterated his opposition to the European Commission and highlighted an alleged democratic deficit in the institution, saying: "Some people genuinely believe that we shall never get social justice from the British Government, but we shall get it from Jacques Delors. [51], Benn's father was created Viscount Stansgate in 1942 when Winston Churchill increased the number of Labour peers to aid political work in the House of Lords; at this time, Benn's elder brother Michael, then serving in the RAF, was intending to enter the priesthood and had no objections to inheriting a peerage. The [2] He had two brothers, Michael (1921–1944), who was killed in the Second World War, and David (1928–2017), a specialist in Russia and Eastern Europe. The son of a Labour Cabinet minister who became a He emerged, however, as one of the most respected MPs of the ", Miliband was almost unique among the Labour party British history, in 1975, over membership of what is now called the The Speaker of the Commons, Sir Harry Hylton-Foster, did not allow him to deliver a speech from the bar of the House of Commons in April 1961 when the by-election was being called. [15] Although Benn became more agnostic as he became older, he was intrigued by the interconnections between Christianity, radicalism and socialism. He recently moved into sheltered accommodation near his home in All jokes aside, death is one of the few "sure things" in life and it's also something all of us have in common. Callaghan. [16] Wilby also wrote in The Guardian that although former Chancellor Stafford Cripps described Benn as "as keen a Christian as I am myself", Benn wrote in 2005 that he was "a Christian agnostic" who believed "in Jesus the prophet, not Christ the king", specifically rejecting the label of "humanist". The veteran Labour politician and iconic figure of the left Tony Benn has died this morning at his home in west London, his family has said. We will not allow such injustice to go unchallenged. [74], Harold Wilson resigned as Leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister in March 1976. However, later in his life he became an opponent of nuclear power, attributing his time as running it as a minister to persuading him it was not cheap, safe or peaceful. [147] In July 2011 Benn was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Glamorgan, Wales. So every nuclear power station in Britain is a bomb factory for America. This would have included two men convicted of murder (later reduced to manslaughter) for the killing of David Wilkie, a taxi driver driving a non-striking miner to work in South Wales during the strike. Although Tony Benn came from a very privileged class background – his father, Viscount Stansgate, was a Labour peer – he became the standard bearer for the left and the militant working class in the 1970s and 1980s. Thatcherite’, the polar opposite of ‘Bennite’, was first number of enemies during his political life – a great many of them Death is inevitable—some might even say it is a terminal inconvenience or a reason to suddenly stop sinning. In 1975, he was appointed Secretary of State for Energy, immediately following his unsuccessful campaign for a "No" vote in the referendum on the UK's continued membership of the European Community (Common Market). Former cabinet minister and veteran left-wing campaigner Tony Benn has died at home, his family has said. Benn's granddaughter Emily Benn was the Labour Party's youngest-ever candidate[40] when she failed to win East Worthing and Shoreham in 2010. [76] In response, Benn later recalled that: "I retorted that their policy was a siege economy, only they had the bankers inside the castle with all our supporters left outside, whereas my policy would have our supporters in the castle with the bankers outside. [46] Anthony Crosland helped him get the seat as he was the MP for nearby South Gloucestershire at the time. and 2013 with Afshin Rattansi on RT UK, Benn claimed that the actions of New Labour in the leadup to and aftermath of the Iraq War were such that the former Prime Minister Tony Blair should be tried for war crimes. Viscount Stansgate (* 3. [123] The letter read: In the name of "protecting" women from trafficking, about 40 women, including a woman from Iraq, were arrested, detained and in some cases summarily removed from Britain. In a world of Whatever your thoughts on death may be, I hope you enjoy these random humorous quotes about mortality, death, … Caroline Benn died of cancer on 22 November 2000, aged 74, after a career as an educationalist. [29], After attending Mr Gladstone's day school near Sloane Square,[30] Benn attended Westminster School, and studied at New College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics and was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1947. Want an ad-free experience?Subscribe to Independent Premium. The existing Open Comments threads will continue to exist for those who do not subscribe to Independent Premium. [189] He has been cited as being a key mentor to future leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, with his Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell commenting that "they would discuss everything under the sun. [182], In Bristol, where Benn first served as a member of parliament, a number of tributes exist in his honour. Benn supported various LGBT social movements, which were then known as gay liberation;[107] Benn had voted in favour of decriminalisation in 1967. 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