Anthony Wedgwood Benn: 1925-2014

 

 

▲ That's Tony Benn, second from right, at the Meriden Triumph factory in 1975.

 

 

The man who helped wreck what was left of the British Motorcycle Industry? Certainly, some think so. In 1974, Tony Benn—who has died aged 88—was Secretary of State for Industry in Harold Wilson's Labour government. It was a role that suited him well (but not necessarily everyone else), and Benn was keen to make his mark and strike a blow for the common working man.

 

To that end, he was instrumental in establishing what was then something of a fashionable social experiment popularly referred to as workers cooperatives. The three best known examples were the Scottish Daily News, Kirby Manufacturing, and Meriden Triumph—none of which was a success.

 

It's argued that if Benn had allowed the Meriden experiment to fail, or at least had not lent the venture his support, it might have strengthened Dennis Poore's restructuring programme intended to save what was left of the British motorcycle industry.

 

In reality, it seems doubtful that one way or the other, Benn's influence and involvement could have made much difference. There was simply too much rot in the industry, and it needed total reform without the luggage and bad feeling that it had been carrying around for the best part of a generation.

 

 

▲ Tony Benn in 1960, ten years into his parliamentary career. He was
fiery then. But he was positively incandescent in later years as part of the
Stop the [Iraq] War Coalition.

 

 

He was born Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn. His father was William Wedgwood Benn who began his political career as a Liberal and "crossed the floor" to the Labour camp. More significantly perhaps, Benn's paternal grandfather was John Benn who was made a baronet in 1908.

 

In 1942, the peerage Viscount Stansgate was created for Benn's father, William. It was a title that was expected to pass down to Benn's brother, Michael. But Michael Benn was killed on active service during WW2, and it was Tony Benn who would eventually become the 2nd Viscount Stansgate.

 

This title automatically made Benn's father a member of the House of Lords, and a Lord, by law, cannot vote in the Commons. In 1950, Tony Benn was elected to that Commons as an MP. Ten years later, his father died, and Benn inherited the viscountcy. That automatically cost him his Commons seat.

 

Intent on pursuing a career as an MP rather than a Lord, Benn campaigned for the Peerage Act (1963) which allowed an hereditary peer to relinquish his title and become, as it were, a common man. Almost immediately after the act was passed into law, Benn did renounce his peerage, thereby creating a landmark in British political history.

 

A "conviction politician" (which meant something very different back then to what it does today when numerous members of the Lords and Commons have very direct experience of Her Majesty's penal institutions), Benn quickly became party pf the "loony lefty" that people love to hate.

 

Fiercely anti-war and anti-EC, Benn spent his life proselytising his sometimes "extreme" left-wing agenda and became a constant thorn in the side of Thatcher's Tories, and a bigger a thorn in the side of his own camp, Labour, which constantly sought to distance itself from Benn's views

 

 

▲ That ain't the pipe smokin'. That's Tony warming up for another fight.

 

 

Throughout his life and fifty year career, Tony Benn kept and published his political diaries. He was often insightful, always provocative, frequently generous, and tireless in his desire to speak up for the weak, the voiceless, the unrepresented and the oppressed.

 

In later life, he became something of a minor celebrity; a kind of mascot for anyone looking to rub shoulders with some political "cool". He maintained his unflinching political agenda and he kept gruelling hours as he travelled the length and breadth of the country addressing audiences in meeting halls and functions rooms and more than one car park.

 

 

His wife, Caroline, pre-deceased him. His son, Hilary has been MP for Leeds since 1999. And yes, "Hilary" can be a man's name too in this neighbourhood (but it makes you question Tony Benn's wisdom of naming his boy "Sue").

 

In his final years, even the hard line opposition expressed its grudging respect for Benn (with the emphasis on "grudging").

 

At the very least, he was an honest and decent man; a man of integrity who spoke his mind and enjoyed and retreated somewhat into his political notoriety. There can't be many men of Tony Benn's calibre left in parliament. In fact, at this 1.00am hour with half a bottle of plonk inside us, we can't think of any.

 

 

▲ Tony Benn speaking at the unveiling of a Blue Plaque for Edward Turner in Southwark, London 2009.

 

 

 

 

— Del Monte

 

 

 

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