Tony Benn major influence in British left wing politics who was instantly recognizable from his distinctive voice, intense self-belief and fondness for a mug of tea and a pipe. He was a superb speaker, at his best in the Commons, but articulate and usually humorous, as occasion demanded, and made good use of any platform which he thought he could use to get his message across. Over the years he recorded a Dairy of his political life that was broadcast by the BBC at one point. It made interesting listening to especially on the workings of the Labour party and lift wing of British politics.
He was born into a family with a history in politics, both his grandfathers were Liberal MP's, as was his father before he joined the Labour Party. His father, William Wedgwood Benn, was given the hereditary peerage of Viscount Stansgate which was later to prove a problem for Tony Benn after his father died, as we see later. Tony followed Father into the Labour Party entering Parliament in 1950 on the center left of the party.
In 1955 he introduced a bill to allow him to renounce his peerage when his father died. as peers where not allowed to sit in the House of Commons, however the House of Lords voted against the bill, which led him to champion constitutional reform.In 1960, Benn's father died which disqualifying him from remaining in the Commons, however was eligible to stand as a candidate but he could not take up the seat.After a three-year struggle, he gained the support of the Conservative government for the Peerage bill and was able to renounce his title and once again sit in the Commons.
Labour won the 1964 general election, Tony was appointed postmaster general, outside the cabinet. He was also an efficient spin doctor, focusing on eye-catching policy decisions that he took time and trouble to communicate effectively, frequently leaking documents in the name of freedom of information and defending his right to discuss general issues in speeches. Later he was appointed to cabinet as minister of technology and he backed the building of Concorde, a post he stay in until the fall of the Government in 1970.
When Labour came back to power, 1974, he was given the post Industry Secretary and promoted to Secretary of State for Energy a year later, a post which he held until the fall of the Labour Government in 1979 when the Conservative Party led by Margret Thatcher came to poor in 1979. During this time he was a champion of Britain gaining membership of the European Economic Community.
With the Labour party in a political mess after losing 1979 election joined the fight on the left of the party, where he advocated reforms to the party which would have given greater representation to the views of activists and trade unionists. However it became apparent to him that when he chance to run as leader for the Labour party that by standing he would split the party in two, which would have left the Conservatives in power for decades.
In 1983 he lost his seat due to boundary changes and was out of until he won a by-election for Labour in 1984. In that year the Leadership of the Labour Party had neutralized the left wing of the party and their reforms. Thus he became a widely respected and effective backbench critic of the Conservatives and latter a backbench member of the Labour Government until he retired in 2001 saying "I'm leaving parliament in order to spend more time on politics".
Retirement never stop him trying to get his message across through any programme that would have him, and was a resident on radio's Any Questions and television's Question Time for decades. If he wasn't in the media he would be writing or turning up any where he was invited speak to audiences that wanted listen and take on his ideas and his message. He was often compared with Thatcher. They shared the same qualities of unblinking belief but unlike Thatcher he was not a hater, as policy genuinely mattered more to him than personality.
In November 2011 it was reported that Tony had moved out of his home in Holland Park Avenue, London, into a smaller flat nearby that benefited from a warden. In 2012 he suffered a stroke, and spent much of the following year in hospital. He made a brief return to political life in 2013, but he was reported to be "seriously ill" in hospital back in February this year.
Politics will miss him and his drive, but his children have followed on the family tradition in politics, with his son Hilary Benn being a member of Parliament and a member of the Labour Party and his granddaughter Emily Benn being the Labour Party's youngest-ever candidate in an election. My heart goes out to his family and friends and all, like me admired his man.
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