Britain has lost one of its leading left-wing spokesman and campaigners with the death of former Labour MP Tony Benn. A parliamentary veteran of an astonishing 47 years, Benn was rare in that he gradually moved to further the left as he went on in life.
Appropriate tributes came in from all sides. You won’t see a repeat of the hate fest that we did last year in the UK with Margaret Thatcher. Opposing politicians will be critical of his positions but only a small minority will express personal hatred in some form or another. One thing his death will underscore is that opposing the viewpoints of socialism and liberalism are just that and not simply petulant displays of vile hatred.
Born in 1925 he entered parliament at the age of 25 as its youngest member at the time. The son of Viscount Stansgate, a Liberal MP who defected to Labour, his neighbours were Sidney and Beatrice Webb, who wrote Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution.
It’s been pointed out that he was born into the Labour Party aristocracy which is ironic since the whole idea of Labour is to create a party for the working man that subsequently opposes the very notion of aristocratic leadership. Such is the oxymoron of the left the world over.
However Benn spawned some of the advantages of his position to the point that he turned down his Father’s peerage that was his for inheritance, fighting instead to change the law so that he could remain in the lower House of Commons.
He was considered a bookmarker of British lefty ideology, but never a power broker. He campaigned to influence the thoughts of others but did not engage in building coalitions to sweep him to power or even to authoritative headship in the British left, although at times patronage propelled him to those places.
Benn the people’s lefty
You could call Benn the people’s lefty since he campaigned for what he believed in regardless of the consequence. Successful political leaders gauge the consequences of their actions. Benn believed what he believed and said it copiously. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg summed that up by saying: "He was an extraordinary Parliamentarian. Whatever people felt about his political views people knew he was a man who had very strong beliefs and he always stuck to those very strong beliefs."
He supported unilateral nuclear disarmament and favoured closer ties between western and eastern Europe leading him to be dubbed by opponents as ‘The Most Dangerous Man in Britain’. But he also backed the abolition of capital punishment, the ordination of women priests and the televising of Parliament which progressive conservatives (another oxymoron) consider showed him to be way ahead of his time.
Benn often struck a chord with lefties while Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, saying directly though eloquently some things even Opposition leaders Michael Foot and Neil Kinnock had to be more diplomatic about. But the Labour leaders found him to be a thorn, unwilling to compromise when the need to form consensus arose.
Current Labour leader Ed Miliband, one of the closest ideologues to Benn to lead the party said: "He will be remembered as a champion of the powerless, a great parliamentarian and a conviction politician. Tony Benn spoke his mind and spoke up for his values. Whether you agreed with him or disagreed with him, everyone knew where he stood and what he stood for."
And that should be remembered as his greatest quality. Insidious left-wing operatives run campaigns of deception and mis-direction and often just downright dishonesty. Benn said what he believed and ran with it.
Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter: "Tony Benn was a magnificent writer, speaker and campaigner. There was never a dull moment listening to him, even if you disagreed with him." That qualifier, ‘even if you disagreed with him’, was repeated by a majority of commenters so clearly many did.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "Tony Benn was one of those rare things - a genuine radical for all his life. He was a fearless campaigner and a legendary figure for the Labour movement. Even when I disagreed with him, I always had enormous respect for his brilliance, his passion and his commitment to the people of Britain and of the world. My thoughts are with his family - with whom he was very close."
Another former Prime Minister Gordon Brown added: "Tony Benn was a powerful, fearless, relentless advocate for social justice and people's rights whose writing as well as speeches will continue to have a profound influence on generations to come."
Sadly Benn’s legacy will be unremarkable and Brown’s comment is incorrect. We look not to him for anything that he accomplished but rather as one who provided contrast. But we can hope that the value he placed on principle will once again find a greater stage in government circles and in the political world.
