[Closed] RIP Tony Benn

Bummer 🙁

Yep , sad.
Good on him.

We won't see a politician of his principles again. 🙁

There are few politicians that I'd mourn, He was one of them.

Very much in the "worthy of respect even if you didn't agree with him on much" camp.

A man who actually turned down wealth and privilege to go into politics rather than going into politics for personal gain is a very rare thing these days.

RIP, good innings.

made good rice tbf

He said his mother had told him that every decision is basically moral and he had tried to live by that advice. Think he did a pretty good job of living up to it. A lovely man.

Have to take my cap off to him for his life long struggle against nepotism (a torch which be carried forward by his son and grandaughter)

True gent

😥 awful but not enexpected news, a man of principle and someone I admired greatly RIP Tony Benn

was always good to listen to

Tories on a hat-trick.

Sad loss, admired his principles and his integrity if not his political stance on any things. Sad to lose another man of conviction in such quick succession.

We need more people in politics like him. A lot more.

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I'm genuinely sad at this news. A great loss.

I had the privilege to shake his hand a few months ago, I found it quite overwhelming, a true gent.

Like many others I cannot say I agreed with many thinks he said but he was a man of principals and a wonderful public speaker, I remember very clearly attending a speech he gave in 1981. RIP Tony.

I heard him speak once and he was very good.

"Have to take my cap off to him for his life long struggle against nepotism (a torch which be carried forward by his son and grandaughter)"

Hah - I see what you're saying but tbf he bailed on his peerage (the epitome of nepotism!) to compete for his position in public life. If he (and his offspring) had been useless and had nothing more to offer than his lineage, he wouldn't have lasted long in politics.

Guilty lol at the rice joke...

Any guy who hated Tony Blair as much as he did is alright with me.

He stated he left Parliament to concentrate on politics!

As said before, a man of principles, if only all politicians were of the same mold.

RIP

I went to a Q&A session with him about five years ago. He was incredibly interesting and articulate and, as others have said, even if I didn't agree with some of what he said I certainly respected that he was saying it from a principled standpoint.

Interestingly, he was asked which modern politician he most admired; would anyone like to guess his answer?

Interestingly, he was asked which modern politician he most admired; would anyone like to guess his answer?

Nick Clegg ?

Not quite

Hah - I see what you're saying but tbf he bailed on his peerage (the epitome of nepotism!) to compete for his position in public life. If he (and his offspring) had been useless and had nothing more to offer than his lineage, he wouldn't have lasted long in politics.

He was clever enough to ensure that when he died, his eldest son would still inherit the peerage he disclaimed...

it's easy being a socialist when money worries aren't a problem and the family name and estate are secure for future generations, eh!

I echo everyones sentiment here, the most principled politician of modern times, although he used to annoy me quite often, I have nothing but respect for the way he conducted his life, a shining example in an increasingly shallow and grubby world of made for TV metropolitan charlatans. A man of principle, very few of them left.

I'll be raising a cuppa this morning. I saw him speak many times in the 80s as a kid on various rallies and met him once at the House of Commons, warm, engaging and the sort of character you want around in politics.

A fascinating person who framed a lot of the political debate in my youth. It was a shame that we heard less and less of him as he grew older. Watching current editions of QT makes you realise how poor the current crop are in terms of their thought processes and rhetorical skills. Sad to see him pass. RIP.

ninfan - Member
it's easy being a socialist when money worries aren't a problem and the family name and estate are secure for future generations, eh!

yawn

yawn

+ yawn 🙂

Radio 4 just played a bit one speeches about how "skills built the country not the city". Good stuff.
In at the start of many changes, I thought he was wrong on loads of stuff in the 70's & 80's, once he became free of the mess he helped make of the Labour party he became very interesting and free to say what he liked.

Got to respect him though, he believed in something.

Good words up there from derekfish.

Principled. Incompetent. A "useful idiot".

he believed in something.

As he once said himself, it's an old fashioned idea.

yawn

I'd wake you up with the sound of a TSR2 flying low overhead... but

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thanks Tony!

[i]As he once said himself, it's an old fashioned idea. [/i]

Which links nicely back to the question asked to him about which modern politician he most admired. His answer; none of them, because none of them believe in anythng other than gaining or remaining in power.

For that very reason, the most recent politician he most admired was one Mrs M.Thatcher.

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Thanks Tony!

IHN, IIRC, that quote was about Mrs T. One of the things I liked about him was that he could despise the principle while respecting the person. It's a degree of separation of thought that us mere mortals can only dream about.

Edit: take for example zulu/labrat/multiple other banned usernames. Benn had the kind of classiness he can only masturbate about.

Mr Woppit - Member
Principled. Incompetent. A "useful idiot".

A marked improvement on just being a useless idiot then...

I'd wake you up with the sound of a TSR2 flying low overhead... but

thanks Tony!

And.... Has the world ended because it was canned? Was the war it was designed to fight lost because of its demise?

Nope on both counts. Sounds like he saved quite a packet then...

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You mean 'Thanks to Conservative minster Julian Amory for the 'no get-out' clause he negotiated with the French'?

Tony tried to cancel it:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/tony-benn-tried-to-kill-concorde-1044692.html

Who really GAF about Concorde? What a bizarre thing to be wittering on about.

And yes, Tony Benn really admired Thatcher:

"I think Mrs Thatcher did more damage to democracy, equality, internationalism, civil liberties, freedom in this country than any other Prime Minister this century. When the euphoria surrounding her departure subsides you will find that in a year or two's time there will not be a Tory who admits ever supporting her. People in the street will say, thank God she's gone" - The Thatcher Factor, Channel Four, December, 1990.

ninfan - Member

You mean 'Thanks to Conservative minster Julian Amory for the 'no get-out' clause he negotiated with the French'?

Tony tried to cancel it

a tacit agreement that if a ceiling of pounds 600m in development costs was exceeded Concorde could be terminated.

anyway RIP, if I smoked a pipe id be packing one for Tony!

For those who subscribe, there is a touching if rather sad piece reviewing his diaries back in October last year in the FT

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/497d5f26-3a62-11e3-b234-00144feab7de.html#axzz2vVPnnuaL

Quite thought provoking like the man himself.

On Mrs T, the article notes his "reluctant" admiration in the words, she was a "political signpost, not a weather vane." Too many weather vanes these days.

And yes, Tony Benn really admired Thatcher

That's exactly the point - he admired her because she had principles and stuck by them, unlike the spineless bunch of wimps we've got now - but he despised her principles.

I had a lot of respect for him

He stuck to his principles

It's a pity there are not more politicians like him

RIP

And yes, Tony Benn really admired Thatcher

I was there, in the room, when he said it, so either I'm lying, he was lying, or you're refusing to believe it's what he said.