Tony Benn devoted all his adult life to politics. Politics was/is writ large as a credo deep inside the Benn family DNA. His father and grandfather were MP’s his son Hilary followed him into politics. Even Tony Benn’s granddaughter, Emily, when aged only 17, was an aspiring Labour MP being selected to fight for a seat in Parliament in the 2007 election.
For fifty years Tony Benn strut his stuff around the corridors of power at Westminster. He was without doubt the towering figure of the political left and this was a mantle that followed him virtually throughout his entire Westminster career He was the epitome of the conviction politician – a man who remained passionate in all his beliefs until his death on Friday this week aged 88 years.
A brilliant writer and an even more impressive speaker who would deliver his speeches with such perfectly superb articulation and clarity of expression that his powers of persuasion were mesmerising. In latter day politics his speech making had few rivals in quality. He could capture and retain one’s attention like no other. Tony Benn was always convincing when debating and arguing his points even when one might personally utterly disagree with his particular perspective (as I nearly always did) but his articulation would never disappoint in quality, in entertainment, in definition all of which were delivered with a real burning passion in equal measure.
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn despite his rather grand sounding birth name and his minor ennobled family (the Benn’s hold the Peerage title of Viscount Stansgate) was a true giant of the socialist movement. A man who was capable of touching those that sit at polar opposites of the political debate. Even the far right would become enthralled by his style and wordsmith panache – a technique Tony Benn could employ with such devastating effect that it had the power to jolt even his most potent opponents into questioning their own dogma.
For me however the most endearingly impressive and salient quality of this great man was that he was the real thing when it came to conviction politics.
Tony Benn had unwavering principles in everything that he stood for. His drive for social justice as he saw it, his support of the poor, the disadvantaged, the underprivileged was legendary.
Tony Benn was truly the antithesis to the dull, shallow, unintelligent, careerist, party-line politicians that tend to dominate the House of Commons today. All aspiring politicians and so-called political thinkers would do well to remember this man’s great qualities and talents. Tony Benn was the last of a rare breed. A genuinely stellar performer on the political stage – a man with unimpeachable political integrity from whichever perspective one might care to judge.
If ever the phrase, ‘ The Right Honourable’ applied in all its meaning to any MP – it was certainly written for this great man. Tony Benn will be sadly missed by all. RIP.
