The Definitive Collection

The Benn Diaries

This is the definitive Benn diaries. The legacy. The one Tony Benn book that all his fans must have.

Tony Benn (Author) Radical statesman and Member of Parliament for over fifty years, Tony Benn is the pre-eminent diarist of his generation. His political activity continued after 'retirement' through mass meetings, broadcasts and in more recent years through social media. A widower since 2000, Tony Benn died at his home in London on 14th March 2014.

Tony Benn was one of the twentieth century's most charismatic politicians. The Benn Diaries, kept for almost seventy years, are a uniquely authoritative, fascinating and readable record of the political life of our times. 
 
This single-volume edition is the selected highlights of the complete diaries from Tony's schooldays in the 1940s until he ceased keeping a record of his day-to-day thoughts in 2009. 
 
The narrative starts with Tony as a schoolboy and takes the reader through his experience as a trainee pilot during the war, his tentative first days as a backbencher in Atlee's post-war government, through his battle to remain in the Commons after the death of his father. From cabinet posts and leadership battles, through election highs ands lows to becoming a retired widower. Tony Benn was a consistently radical voice campaigning for the causes he was passionate about. 
 
This volume is the definitive legacy of the best political diarist of our times.

The Best of Benn

The definitive collection of diaires, memoirs, speeches, letters and other writings by Tony Benn.

Radical statesman and Member of Parliament for over fifty years, Tony Benn is the pre-eminent diarist of his generation. His political activity continued after 'retirement' through mass meetings, broadcasts and in more recent years through social media. A widower since 2000, Tony Benn died at his home in London on 14th March 2014.

Tony Benn was one of the twentieth century's most charismatic politicians. The Best of Benn showcases his powers of original thinking and communication over seven decades. 
 
From 'the baby of the house' to a retired widower, he was a consistently radical campaigning voice on issues such as the death penalty, the case against the European Union, opposition to war and support of workers' rights. 
 
This volume brings together Tony Benn's electrifying speeches, thoughtful journalism and passionate advocacy of often unconventional causes. 
 
'Tony Benn belongs in the great tradition of English revolutionaries - a passionate radical destined to be loved in popular memory for his defence of democracy and freedom.' Guardian 
 
'He had the facility to reach across generations and re-energise the debate about what should and should not constitute the common good.' Observer

The Last Diaries

A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine

The final volume from the pre-eminent diarist of his generation.

There is a new kind of freedom in his thoughts and in his writing.

This is a lovely book; warm, humane, genuinely revelatory and, on occasions, a touch surreal.

There is something amusing on almost every page of these diaries.

The real Benn is with us still, but that friendly diarist's voice in one's ear has now fallen silent for good. It is an eerie foretaste of quite how much we will miss him when he's gone.

And so the mighty torrent of words finally dries up… It is hard not to admire Benn’s determination to be true to his ideals… Tony Benn is not going gentle into that good night.

A remarkable, charming and often very touching account of old age.

In this final volume of diaries, Tony Benn reflects on the compensations and the disadvantages of old age. 
 
With the support of a small circle of friends and his extended family, he continues his activities on behalf of social justice, peace and accountability in public life, to a background of political change and the international economic crisis. 
 
Following an illness in 2009 the diaries, kept for over sixty years, cease. Published here alongside these last diaries are Tony Benn’s highly personal insights into the challenges of old age and failing health, of widowhood,and of moving out of the family home after sixty years. 
 
Finally, we share in Tony Benn's hopes for the future based on his years of experience and his natural optimism.

Common Sense

In this sensational and highly topical book, Tony Benn argues why Britian should abolish the monarchy, radically changee its governing institutions and create a written constitution.

Do we need a Monarchy? Or does it represent everything that is hidebound and stifling about Britain? The headlines tell the story: every British Institution is in crisis As a nation we have lost our way, What we have always been smugly told, is false. Our constitution is NOT the best in the world, nor is our legal system the fairest, nor is our society more open, nor are we freer than other nations. Things taken for granted are now being seriously questioned, as people realize how much of our political and economic life is outside our control. Ever since Tony Benn changed our constitution by renouncing his peerage, he has been developing the case he now outlines. His Commonwealth of Britain Bill (reproduced in the Text) is 'the first attempt to overthrow the monarchy since Cromwell' GUARDIAN. He argues for a radical overhaul of our political system, sweeping away privilege and unaccounted power and substituting for it a written constitution and democratic citizenship. Only by freeing ourselves from our historical shackles - including, but by no means only, the monarchy - can we be truly free.

Diaries 1977-80

Conflicts Of Interest

In this, the fourth volume of Tony Benn’s diaries, the Labour Government continues its fight for survival. Important developments are occurring both at home and internationally. In Britain, Benn as Secretary of State for Energy is directly involved with Windscale and decisions about nuclear power and oil policy. Abroad, the Government is concerned with Carter’s reappraisal of American foreign policy, the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and problems of EEC membership. 
In the Labour party itself, new forces of radicalism and reform are emerging, resulting in changes in Labour’s policies and the ultimate formation of the SDP. 
Labour’s unsuccessful economic policy and the widening rift with the labour movement lead to the Winter of Discontent and a near state of emergency. With Labour voters defecting, the scene is set for the Thatcher years.

Letters To My Grandchildren

'There is a passion in Benn's writing and speaking that far transcends the miserable aspirations of most contemporary politicians' Paul Foot, Guardian

There is a portrait here of a good man whose extraordinary enthusiasm for the world is both incredibly undiminished and endearing

There is a passion in Benn's writing and speaking that far transcends the miserable aspirations of most contemporary politicians

As a diarist I have chronicled the time through which I have lived in meticulous detail: but all that is history. What matters now is the future for those who will live through it. 
 
The past is the past but there may be lessons to be learned which could help the next generation to avoid mistakes their parents and grandparents made. 
 
Certainly at my age I have learned an enormous amount from the study of history - not so much from the political leaders of the time but from those who struggled for justice and explained the world in a way that shows the continuity of history and has inspired me to do my work. 
 
Normality for any individual is what the world is like on the day they are born. The normality of the young is wholly different from the normality of their grandparents. 
 
It is the disentangling of the real questions from the day to day business of politics that may make sense for those who take up the task as they will do. 
 
Every generation has to fight the same battles as their ancestors had to fight, again and again, for there is no final victory and no final defeat. Two flames have burned from the beginning of time - the flame of anger against injustice and the flame of hope. If this book serves its purpose it will fan both flames.

Diaries 2001-2007

More Time for Politics

This is a lovely book; warm, humane, genuinely revelatory and, on occasions, a touch surreal

[Benn's] interest in politics has transmuted into an interest in individual human beings. And through all the pain and sorrow, there is a new kind of freedom in his thoughts and in his writing

There is something amusing on almost every page of these diaries. Tony Benn loves paradox, and looking at things from a different angle to the one you might expect.  He tells us at the start that the old have a great deal to learn from the young, and a delightful air of unreality hangs over his writing

A delight and an inspiration. Fiercely intelligent, warm, humane and profoundly moving

When Tony Benn left Parliament after 51 years he quoted his wife Caroline's remark that now he would have 'more time for politics'. And so this has proved: in the first seven years of this century he has helped reinvigorate national debate through public meetings, mass campaigns and appearances in the media, passionately bringing moral and political issues to wide audiences. And throughout, as ever, he has been keeping his diaries. 
 
Commenting on the demise of the New Labour project from the re-election of Tony Blair in 2001 to the ultimate foreign policy disasters of Afghanistan and Iraq, he gives other prescient accounts of the government's by-passing of Cabinet, parliament and the party, of the 'war on terror', the debate about Islam, globalisation and the changes in British society. Although he is no longer in power or in parliament, Tony Benn remains a figure of enormous respect whose direct views, honestly expressed, have often awakened the national conscience. His latest Diaries, human and challenging in turn, are an enthralling read.

1940-1990

The published diaries of one of Britain's most famous politicians. A fascinating insight into twentieth century British politics.

The Benn Diaries, intensely personal, candid and engaging as they are, rank as an important work of historiography

Quite apart from the brio of illuminating a life almost entirely free of boredom (another rarity), the collected Benn has some critical patches of postwar history recorded hot

The Benn Diaries, embracing the years 1940-1990, are already established as a uniquely authoritative, fascinating and readable record of political life. The selected highlights that form this single-volume edition include the most notable events, arguments and personal reflections throughout Benn's long and remarkable career as a leading politician. 
 
The narrative starts with Benn as a schoolboy and takes the reader through his youthful wartime experiences as a trainee pilot, his nervous excitement as a new MP during Clement Atlee's premiership and the tribulations of Labour in the 1950s, when the Conservatives were in firm control. It ends with the Tories again in power, but on the eve of Margaret Thatcher's fall, while Tony Benn is on a mission to Baghdad before the impending Gulf War. 
 
Over the span of fifty years, the public and private turmoil in British and world politics is recorded as Benn himself moves from wartime service to become the baby of the House, Cabinet Minister, and finally the Commons' most senior Labour Member.

Then and Now

Dare To Be A Daniel

This warm, affectionate, scintillatingly funny account reveals the childhood of a radical British politician who has become a well-loved national figure, Benn's autobiography shows how early influences have shaped the commitments and beliefs he holds today.

[Benn] has a nice line in self-deprecation and hundreds of thought-provoking or funny stories. He is proud of his forebears and their achievements, bringing them alive even for people who do not share his name or even political views

Often revealing, always entertaining... reads like a one-sided conversation, not because he hogs the stage but because people around him realize he has the most interesting things to say, so they listen

These three wonderful hours are crammed with so many formative memories, often recalled with a laugh in Benn's familiar voice

Born into a family with a strong, radical dissenting tradition in which enterprise and public service were combined, Tony Benn was taught to believe that the greatest sin in life was to waste time and money. Life in his Victorian-Edwardian family home in Westminster was characterised by austerity, the last vestiges of domestic service, the profound influence of his mother, a dedicated Christian and feminist, and his colourful and courageous father, elected as a Liberal MP in 1906 and later serving in Labour Cabinets under Ramsay MacDonald and Clem Atlee. Benn followed in his father's footsteps, becoming one of the most famous and respected figures in modern British politics. 
 
Dare to be a Daniel feelingly recalls Tony Benn's years as one of three brothers experiencing life in the nursery, the agonies of adolescence and of school, where boys were taught to 'keep their minds clean' and the shadow of fascism and the Second World War with its disruption and family loss. This moving memoir also describes his emergence from World War Two as a keen socialist about to embark upon marriage and an unknown political future. The book ends with some of Tony Benn's reflections on many of the most important and controversial issues of our time.

Diaries 1991 - 2001

Free At Last

The new volume is, to my mind, the best - he discards his Sunday best and allows himself to emerge as a human being full of weakness and anxieties balanced by an enviable capacity for love and joy

It is the personal side of the story that most compels...This is the unselfconscious reminiscence of a man in full

Easily the best of the year's diaries... It proves to be an astonishingly moving and human document

Tony Benn is the longest serving MP in the history of the Labour Party. He left Parliament in 2001, after more than half a century in the House of Commons, to devote more time to politics. This volume of his Diaries describes and comments, in a refreshing and honest way, upon the events of a momentous decade including two world wars, a change of government in Britain and the emergence of New Labour, of which he makes clear he is not a member. Tony Benn's account is a well documented, formidable and principled critique of the New Labour Project, full of drama, opinion, humour, anecdotes and sparkling pen-portraits of politicians on both sides of the political divide. But his narrative is also broader and more revealing about day-to-day political life, covering many aspects normally disregarded by historians and lobby correspondents, relating to his work in the constituency, including his advice surgeries. This volume also offers far more of an insight into Tony Benn's personal life, his thoughts about the future and his relationship with his family, especially his remarkable wife Caroline, whose illness and death overshadow these years. Tony Benn is a unique figure on the British political landscape: a true democrat, a passionate socialist and diarist without equal. With this volume, his published Diaries cover British politics for over sixty years. It is edited, as are all others, by Ruth Winstone.

Diaries, Letters and Papers 1940-1962

Years Of Hope

YEARS OF HOPE is a kind of 'prequel' to the published series of DIARIES, and will cover fully the peerage renunciation, as well as revealing his early career, touching on schooldays, RAF service during the war, early involvement with politics etc. As a young man he had dealings with Atlee, Bevan, Morrison, Gaitskill and all the major politicians of the post-war Labour Government. This book will be more personal than earlier volumes and will draw on letters and other documents as well as the DIARIES themselves. It will reveal the extraordinary consistency of Benn's political views, as well as showing how he came to acquire them.

Diaries 1980-1990

The End Of An Era

Tony Benn's final instalment of diaries centres on a decade which saw the disintegration of Eastern Europe, an unprecedented assault on the labour movement at home, the fall of Margaret Thatcher and the tragic war in the Gulf. It is a period which marks the peak of Tony Benn's reputation as a brilliant parliamentarian. This final volume of diaries gives us insight into an era of extraordinary international and domestic political life making it one of the most important political writings of our time.

Diaries 1968-72

Office Without Power

'The detail of these diaries, and their comprehensive candour, offer unprecedented insights into the personal behaviour of many senior Labour politicians... The most readable political diary of the period' Harold Lever, Spectator 
 
Tony Benn's second volume of diaries, which spans the years 1968-72, is a unique record of British politics as observed both from the heart of the Cabinet and the Labour Party. 
 
George Brown's spectacular resignation and Cecil King's plot to overthrow Wilson are just two of the events which dominate the opening chapter, and introduce the last years of Labour's increasingly demoralised government. 
 
And for the first time in a political diary, Labour's experience of Opposition after the unexpected and shattering defeat of 1970 is revealed. Here, too, are recorded the bitter arguments over the Common Market, in which Tony Benn emerged as the principal advocate of a referendum on Britain's entry - and which foreshadowed the Labour/SDP schism of 1981. The result is a fascinating and invaluable document of the times. 
 
'A fascinating insider's account' Ben Pimlott, Standard

Diaries 1963-67

Out Of The Wilderness

1963 saw Labour's emergence from its 'wilderness years' in Opposition, and the election of Harold Wilson following the unexpected death of Hugh Gaitskell. In the first Wilson government of 1964 Benn was made Postmaster General and became known as an innovator for his introduction of the Giro and arguing for a radical broadcasting policy. After Labour's landslide victory of 1966 he was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Technology, but Labour's honeymoon came to an abrupt end in 1967 with the introduction of devaluation, leading to disilliusionment with the Government. 
 
Tony Benn's account on his relations with the industrialists, television and press chiefs, the Palace and the diplomatic world as well as trade unionists, civil servants, and his Cabinet colleagues, reveals the workings of our political and economic systems at the highest level. 
 
Out of the Wilderness is a unique political record of the 1960s, told by a man who served in five Labour administrations and who today is one of the most experienced figures both in and out of the House of Commons. 
 
'No-one interested in the political influence of the Crown, the intrigues of the civil service or the highly traditionalist character of Harold Wilson can afford to ignore it' The Observer

Tony Benn

The Benn Tapes, Free at Last! and more

A collection of Tony Benn&rsquo;s private audio diaries, documentaries and archive interviews 
 
Tony Benn was the patriarch of the Labour left, a radical statesman, orator and anti-war campaigner who spent over 50 years as an MP, serving in the Cabinet under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. A prolific diarist, his political memoirs have been compared to Pepys in their detail, scope and accuracy. Three volumes are included here, read by Benn himself, together with four fascinating programmes focussing on the man behind the diaries. 
 
Part I: Tony Benn&rsquo;s Diaries 
 
The Benn Tapes 1 &ndash; For over 25 years, Tony Benn sat late into the night dictating his personal account of the daily happenings at the heart of government. In this unique series, he shares his remarkable recordings from history&rsquo;s front line, recalling events such as Harold Wilson&rsquo;s surprise 1976 resignation; the miners&rsquo; strike of 1984-1985 and the 1992 general election. 
 
The Benn Tapes 2 &ndash; This second series of behind-the-scenes revelations sees Benn recounting why he believes nuclear power is unsafe, disclosing what went on during Cabinet reshuffles and tracing the split in the party following its 1979 defeat, the emergence of the Social Democratic Party, and his challenge to deputy leader Denis Healy. 
 
Free at Last!: The Diaries 1991-2001 &ndash; Spanning Tony Benn&rsquo;s final decade as an MP, this third volume covers the Gulf War, the rise of New Labour, the death of Diana Princess of Wales and peace in Northern Ireland. Mixing political observations with a moving account of family life, it is full of humour, insight, joy and sadness. 
 
Part 2: Tony Benn&rsquo;s Life 
 
In the Psychiatrist&rsquo;s Chair: Tony Benn &ndash; Dr Anthony Clare talks to the legendary parliamentarian about his life, his career and how his guiding principles were influenced by his parents&rsquo; social and political convictions. 
 
Sentimental Journey: Tony Benn &ndash; Arthur Smith accompanies Tony Benn on a trip back to the place where he was born, grew up, and spent most of his political life &ndash; the City of Westminster. 
 
With Great Pleasure: Tony Benn &ndash; The veteran politician presents a selection of the prose and poetry that has shaped his personal philosophy, including the words of Mahatma Gandhi, Dwight D Eisenhower, Oscar Wilde and John Bunyan. 
 
Night Waves: Tony Benn &ndash; In an event from the 2008 Free Thinking festival, Tony Benn talks about the value of experience and discusses his own life experience with presenter Susan Hitch and the audience. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
 
The Benn Tapes 
Read by Tony Benn 
Produced by Keith Jones 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 Jul-8 Sep 1993 (Series 1), 17 Oct- 5 Dec 1994 (Series 2) 
 
Free at Last!: The Diaries 1991-2001 
Read by Tony Benn 
Produced by Jane Ray 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13-17 Oct 2003 
 
In the Psychiatrist&rsquo;s Chair: Tony Benn 
Presented by Dr Anthony Clare 
A Michael Ember production 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13 Aug 1995 
 
Sentimental Journey: Tony Benn 
With Arthur Smith and Tony Benn 
Produced by Dilly Barlow 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 Jul 2006 
 
With Great Pleasure: Tony Benn 
Presented by Tony Benn 
Readers: Saffron Burrows, Jim Findley and Carl Prekopp 
Produced by Christine Hall 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 Jul 2007 
 
Night Waves: Tony Benn 
Presented by Susan Hitch 
With Tony Benn 
Produced by Allegra McIlroy 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 3, 11 Dec 2008 
 
&copy; 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Tony Benn at the BBC

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