Tony Benn a 10 minute speech.

I have always thought Tony Benn was one of our greatest MP's and after listening to him here I know he is my fave ever now.
Pity we don't have many more of him.




Wise wise words.

en.wikipedia.org...

a reply to: testingtesting

He was a great orator and thinker there's no doubt about that , he was also the rarest of beasts .. a politician with integrity.

Shame he never got to be PM , we could really do with someone like him now rather than the disaster we've got.

Tony Benn was a bit of a hypocrite. A solid socialist who preached the redistribution of wealth, but was also one of the wealthiest MPs with several properties and a country estate. A real champagne swishing socialist who had no clue about the working class as he sat procrastinating about housing and the poor.

That said, he was a good speaker.

originally posted by: testingtesting
I have always thought Tony Benn was one of our greatest MP's and after listening to him here I know he is my fave ever now.
Pity we don't have many more of him.

Wise wise words.

en.wikipedia.org...

Excellent speech incredible man thankyou

a reply to: paraphi

Tony Benn was much like many other politician's but his heart was for the people of this nation, like the old liberal party before them Labour became a platform of social reform and stand's for the people of the country.

Labour is not Communism it is socialist but even Corbyn is only moderate left wing but compared to the right wing swing of today's conservatism that is very left.

Everything Mr Benn said in this VIDEO was correct, in fact it was absolutely correct.

I have to say to you also that Labour was NEVER against the Rich it WAS for the majority and about a more fair and equal society and the rich do NOT like that because they get more heavily taxed and have to pull there weight evenly in such a society.

Mr Benn was a decent man and you know something else Hypocrite or no and I would say No his personal wealth ensured he was not in it for himself like all those corrupt politician's on both sides of the divide, like the VESTED interests of the Tory Elite and there Corporate chum's or the Loony left (Militant/Trotskyist - the like's of Derek Hatton etc) that tried to pull Labour down to there level and while they preached socialism they ended up being chauffeur driven around and wearing mink and expensive suit's.

But Benn, Foot and several other long time Labour MP's, Lord's and members were men whom were above reproach, they were not in it for themselves, they had there career and invested themselves but they did it with good intent and true intellect and while there are men like that and they are seemingly a dying breed Labour will remain Labour, if the like's of Hatton had gained control of the party however it would as under Blair (but only moderately less bad than it would have been under Hatton) have been a free for all come and eat your fill for the true hypocrites whom claim socialist motivations but are only really in it for themselves.

But as to Hypocrite I actually do not believe he was one, Foot maybe as he chose to wear that ridiculous donkey jacket but was also very much a member of the elite class (though Foot was actually agood man and his intention too was pure) and it is worth saying that as Benn AND Foot prove Labour is a democratic party, in fact the only democratic party in this country it's representation elected by it's members with very few under the table deal's, especially since the Trotskyist (whom were and are a corrupt bunch of sod's like a dirty refleciton of the Tory's actually) REAL hypocrites of the Militant movement were kicked out.

Blair sucked labour to the right, so far to the right the Tory's could then only go even further right to keep there identity and he destroyed it but whatever people think of the man Corbyn has at least shown that people want OLD Labour back, not militant or the false and corrupt New Labour with it's Blair's and Brown's but old Labour that represented the right's of the people, that ensured fair and just society, peoples right's and an end to poverty in this nation was at least in the government's heart and among it's main it's intention's when they were in power.

a reply to: testingtesting

Saw him live in Liverpool. Primal Scream one day and Tony Benn the next lol. Guitars versus an armchair and slippers.

He was a great antidote at the time to America's smothering foreign policies. It was around the time of 9/11 when Rumsfeld was publicly bragging about 'full spectrum dominance.' We'd moved from the tail-end of Clinton's presidency and many were twitchy when he agreed to bomb Sudan etc. The pendulum swung to the Bush Jr administration and it felt like the US wanted to tilt the world into conflict. Americans will disagree on that recollection, but it was a strong feeling in NW Europe and over in the ME.

In Rumsfeld's hands, FSD was interpreted as demoting every other nation to 2nd fiddles or worse. "We're in charge. Do what we say." Benn was riffing on these points and critiquing a foreign policy that was inherently (proudly) undemocratic and hostile. It was also the time when many polls listed the US as the greatest risk to world stability. Crazy times.

I was drifting away for a moment lol. Yes indeed, Benn was a good guy and one of the very few UK politicians who had a consistent ideology and arguments.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I bet he had some tales after a gin or four .
I remember him saying he caught MI5 going through his bins lol.

a reply to: testingtesting

Yeah, 60 years of practice lol. He could probably do a bottle of Gordon's without reloading the pipe

a reply to: testingtesting

Thanks for posting this.

He was good wasn"t he?

As he said, "two flames one of anger against injustice, the other of hope eternal".

Let's keep them alight.

Just found this lol.

a reply to: testingtesting

Oh man that was good! Been ages since seeing Ali G. Do you remember when the Daily Mail thought he was real...and black? Better than Dennis Pennis.

Benn showed his naivete in there too. Some young women genuinely see welfare and a kid as their career choices. He wouldn't have known that because they're not his audience. He wouldn't ever meet them and they aren't traditionally voters.

I'm sorta reminded of Orwell who was a socialist, but grew to despise other socialists. He went out and interacted with the working poor and could never be accepted by them. Benn didn't have the experiences of Orwell and could only speak for what he imagined was the working poor. Did he ever have dinner in a rented terrace with them? Did ever sit with a three-generations unemployed, uneducated non-voting family? Did he bollocks.

I'm very fond of both these guys because they were humans rather than infallibles.

He always came across like a decent guy who stuck by his principles. It's saddening to me to see how different Hilary is...he got in by using the name then set about absolutely destroying Tony's legacy.

I don't think he was a hypocrite at all...you can use the rules of the system to better your situation without having any love of it and obtain the things that bring you happiness and excel within it while not embracing it.

a reply to: Kandinsky

I think he twigged half way through you can tell by Ali's smile and the way the said cheerio.
Yeah he was a Posh sort I doubt we will see a posh MP like him again....I mean we have Boris but he is a Tory twit.