Labour Stalwart Tony Benn Dies

My Westminster snitch tells me that when asked, Her Maj. raised an elegant eyebrow.

Quite extraordinary! I thought our joint legs were being pulled, so bizarre is the decision. Who is responsible? Next up will be Bruce Forsyth I would think and thereafter…….insert names here!

Blimey, reported, as of to-day, Thurs. Lord Benn is to lie in state at St. Mary’s Chapel, Westminster. What next? Muffled drums and the pipes: “Will ye no’ come back again”.

Telegraph readers, without exaggeration, probably the most perceptive readership in the world, do not like it !

You make a fair point; I suppose the reality is that Tony Benn was only in a position of influence in government for a few years…..and that was before my time.

Maybe another way to look at things is to ask if he did any harm in 50 years,not a reason to be effective as such but harmless.
What is the point of a politician, does making a hard but wrong decision [proven in the future] make him better than someone who makes no decisions.
At the moment we seem to have a political structure where it is all sound bites,P/C brigade and telling future voters what they want to hear.

A letter to the D. Tel. reminds us that Lord Anthony Wedgwood Benn, the Viscount Stansgate, wasn’t perhaps quite the egalitarian he claimed to be.

He is recorded as refusing to allow walkers using the coastal path in Essax to pass in front of the ancestral home, Stansgate Abbey. They were – in spite of a legal right – told to go to the rear of the house.

I agree. I wouldn’t want the great unwashed desecrating the view !

There is another interesting comment on the death of Tony Benn here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/tony-benn-was-entirely-ineffectual-and-usually-wrong-9194699.html

That’s a pretty damning epitaph for anybody – ‘ineffectual’!

In truth I’m not really sure what I thought of him (so possibly ineffectual isn’t so wide of the mark); he managed fifty years in political office, some of it in government, but I’m struggling to attach him to any particular decision or cause that I had, or have, a strong (opposing) opinion to.

He was undoubtedly intelligent and was something of a technocrat (in its current meaning) but other than that, apart obviously for his left-wing (whatever that means) politics, I am surprised how little I know about the man.

He opposed the invasion (or invasions?) of Iraq, as did many, but I am not sure of his motives for doing so. As it turns out he was right to do so and I (as it turns out) was wrong; it would have been better to have left Saddam Hussein as despot over his own people but I cannot help thinking that Tony Benn was one of those great British eccentrics who seem to despise their own country (or are at least heavily critical of their own country) and yet are prepared to give any foreign dictator with an appalling human-rights record the ‘benefit-of-the-doubt’!

Interesting that the Blair/Iraq will play against him for ever probably whereas the really serious damage he did the country in so many ways, will be forgotten in the mists of history…..

Are you saying Blair was a sheep in wolfs ‘clothing’? Whats the matter – didn’t he start enough wars for you?

Re 15

Have you never heard of a ‘sheep in wolf’s clothing’? If he wasn’t then his wife had all the right credentials.

I read that:

“….Tony Benn and his brother Michael, both joined the Royal Air Force during the war. Tony successfully served as a pilot officer in South Africa and Rhodesia, but Michael was tragically killed on 23rd June, 1944, when as a result of a faulty air speed indicator, his aircraft crashed at Chichester….”

Can anyone expand on this ?

There is another interesting comment on the death of Tony Benn here: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/tony-benn-was-entirely-ineffectual-and-usually-wrong-9194699.html

If Blair was ever a Marxist in your eyes then there is seriously something very, very wrong with those eyes. In fact I would be really concerned if you had labelled him a socialist.
Imperialist capitalist running pig-dog, yes. Marxist…no.

Re 10 & 11

Two out of three isn’t bad !

I recall that Benn was recorded as saying that he thought that Chairman Mao was the most influential and important figure of the 20th century…

He almost certainly qualifies as the figure who influenced most people into being alive or dead!

I can wee wee further than I would trust any politician of any party or belief..

Thank you creaking door for the vote of confidence.

Yes – seconded!!

Ah sorry – on reflection having realised the author of the post I now see the tongue securely fastened in the cheek!

Tony Blair…..Marxist? Surely you jest?

I wonder, is there some significance to be attached to the first name of Tony for Marxist politicians ?

Tony Benn
Tony Crosland
Tony Blair

I wonder if it could be code for something to do with the Kremilin – just a thought.

I recall that Benn was recorded as saying that he thought that Chairman Mao was the most influential and important figure of the 20th century.

Here’s me thinking that it was Marilyn Monroe.

I hereby nominate you for the office of Forum Cultural Ambassador!

Never met him, I did meet the Rev Ian Paisley though and spoke to him…..
I was doing duty courier to NI and he was in the terminal with us awaiting the BA shuttle, he was lecturing people on the troubles at the top of his voice, he eventually arrived at the place where I was sitting and announced himself, I uttered two words in response ” Feck Orf” and lo and behold he did…. result