Meet Tony Benn...
Tony Benn, lauded by some as the greatest man in politics and by others as the most detestable, simply struck me as a genuinely nice man. "What I miss most since retiring from Parliament," he told me, "is my constituency." Benn's palpable interest in other people, and in what they have to say, is reflected by his tendency to swing a dialogue around unexpectedly and ask his questioner about themselves and their views. This, along with his clear desire to hear questions and comments from his audience, won Benn much warmth from the 200-strong gathering of students who came to Wadham last Friday to hear him speak.
The event, hosted by Oxford University's Labour Club (OULC), of which Benn was once a member, was one of many meetings that he is currently attending as part of his plan to "devote more time to politics". This was the reason that the longest serving Labour MP in the history of the party gave for retiring from Parliament at the last general election in 2001. First elected at the age of 25 as MP for Chesterfield, Benn was a minister in both the Wilson and Callaghan governments, having fought to keep his seat in the Commons following the death of his father, Viscount Stansgate, in 1960. Born into an aristocratic family, and ironically growing up in a house which was later removed to allow for the construction of Millbank Tower, Labour's HQ until 2001, Benn stood to inherit his father's peerage but, following a successful campaign and the subsequent Peerage Act of 1963, was ultimately able to renounce his title. After 50 turbulent years in Parliament, Benn has come to conclude that "politics is not about the politicians in Parliament, but about the way in which society copes with its problems".
Benn, a renowned campaigner, has never been afraid of addressing society's problems head-on, despite having often faced much criticism for doing so. His unconditional support of the 1984-85 miners' strike provoked much hostility from the rightwing press, and his persistent opposition to nuclear weapons, apartheid and hunting and his vocal stance on the need to reform the British political system have all attracted controversy. "If I had wanted a quiet career," Benn told me, "I would have gone into the BBC." After reading PPE at New College, during which time he was President of the Oxford Union, Benn did actually work as a BBC producer for a brief while, before the lure of politics became too strong.
When questioned as to how he has managed to retain his youthful idealism throughout his life, Benn acknowledged that "it is a struggle to keep your morale up when you look at the bloody awful state of the world."
"The only way to achieve anything is to get out there and do something; otherwise you will just sit at home and mope. As soon as you take action, you realise that you are not alone. Progress is a slow process. It is easy to feel that there is no point, but you have to remember that change does take a bit of time."
Benn admitted that, despite the post-war optimism and determination that never again would such "untold suffering to mankind" be permitted, success had not been forthcoming - "We cocked up", he said.
He thus urges the youth of today to "make a better showing". I asked him how the problem of apathy amongst young people could be addressed, at which point he emphatically shook his head in disagreement.
"It is not apathy that is the problem amongst the young but rather mistrust and anger provoked by the feeling that no one is listening to them. There is a disconnection between popular interests and the political process. If you are unemployed and turn on the television to see yet another clash between politicians, it does not help with your immediate problems - it is just bloody boring."
Being respectable, a novel state of affairs which Benn says he is struggling to accept, may be a problem for this pipe-sucking working-class hero, but being boring certainly is not. His popularity amongst young people is evident in the results of a poll of 16 to 35 year-olds conducted by style magazine The Face, which saw him voted the nation's most trustworthy politician by a clear margin. He jokingly cites the interview he did with Ali G as crucial for his reputation amongst the young: "I was completely taken in by him. It was only when I watched it after that I realised quite how hilarious it was!"
Benn's views on top-up fees are likely to further endear him to the student population. Hearing of OUSU's campaign to invoice all the pro-fees Oxford dons and Labour MPs who are alumni of the University for the cost of their degrees, Benn asked where his bill was, then commenting that the protest was making "a very fair point".
"I studied at university without paying a bloody penny. If we could afford to do that when the country was bankrupt after the Second World War, why can't we do it now? The reason is that the government needs the money for the war. The money is being used to destroy universities in Baghdad rather than to send young people to university here."
Walking into Wadham's Moser Theatre behind Tony Benn could have felt like running the gauntlet, if it had not been for the fact that the every pair of eyes, filled with admiration and affection, was focused on the animated man in front of me. The auditorium was bristling with anticipation; James Cloyne, Chair of OULC, described the event as the "largest Labour Club meeting I've ever seen at this university". Both the reception that Benn received, and the standing ovation given by many audience members at the end, demonstrate that I am not the only one to think that Tony Benn, be he stubborn or idealistic, is truly a likeable man.
12th Jun 2003