Good to see footage of Tony Benn when he was in his prime and at the height of his popularity ( or notoriety depending on your view ) and still at the heart of politics.
Whether you agree with his ideals and beliefs or not, he was truly a man of principle, Erudite and didn't dodge a question. A fascinating snap shot of a turbulent period in UK history. Thames made some great programmes and it was a crying shame that they lost the franchise in 92
Chris Goulding I agree but just like Corbyn, when the Bennites were in the ascendency Labour suffered its biggest defeats ever allowing Thatcher and now Johnson to ride roughshod over the working classes.
He was a self indulgent Pratt who single handedly enabled Thatcher to thrive. He was a disaster, and so was his dullard successor Corbyn ,who had none of Benns intelligence and charisma.
"I change my mind quite often, if I'm persuaded I'm wrong" how different, and how much wiser an approach than Thatcher's "No U turns", which people seemed so to admire.
" Benn represented the politics that lead Britain to total economic ruination by 1979. Benn's ideas were tried from 1945-1979, more than 30 years, and they were tested to Britain's destruction." Or it was broadly Benn's socialist credo which rebuilt Britain after the second world war, depending on the disposition of one's perspective. By the way, Chris, would you care to substantiate the characteristic "communist traitor" which you attribute to Wedgie Benn? It's just that in every speech, debate or interview I've ever heard him participate he's assiduously upheld the ethos of democracy. And I don't believe he was ever implicated in shipyard arson or gunpowder plot but if you could furnish a link to specific legal conviction/s I'll acknowledge your faculty for enlightenment. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly sure Benn's occasional references to the Nazi Reich stopped somewhere shy of endorsement. Is it this which makes him a traitor to you, Chris?
They still admire it. Johnson's government on brexit for example. Now, ironically he's the U-turn king when it comes to covid but for some reason he's been given a free pass on that one.
I may not whole heartedly agree with Tony but after reading his diaries I've realised what a hole has been left in British politics with his passing, here was a principled man who fought for his beliefs a far cry from the weak-willed sychophants who pollute both parties these days if only more politicians these days had their own ideas or even a spine to stand up for what more than their SPADS have told them
Dom didn’t age well in the same way right wing voters’ brains didn’t develop well. It’s key to make the distinction of “voters”, because those who voted Johnson in are of a liberal mindset, in fact, Corbyn is more conservative on a personal level than Johnson. Now we hear they only voted Johnson because he was “the lesser of 2 evils.” Imagine thinking a serial cheater and a pathological liar was less evil than Corbyn. 😂🤦🏽♂️
melanie Mcdonagh so you think Johnson is conservative because he wears a blue tie? Stupid! 😂🤦🏽♂️ are you sure you’re not one of the mothers of his many abandoned children? 🤔🤣
@@cookerldcHe was on record against the European Union and the Common Market. Even Baroness Thatcher after her ousting would nod along when Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn would rattle on about sovereignty.
This is just before the Falklands War in 1982. It was looking like Labour could have won the next election when this interview was made. As I look back now the 1983 general election was really a khaki election
A man of integrity. A socialist who genuinely care about working class people and wanted to change the system, which is systematically wrong. The distribution of wealth is dispicable, the 10% profit enormously while the rest work exceptionally hard and have little to show for it. Superb public speaker and great human being. Much missed.
He did more to keep Margaret Thatcher in power than anybody else. He wanted to take the country much further in a direction it wanted desperately to get away from. Perhaps the best description of him came from Barbara Castle: "He's like a kid with a chemistry set who ends up blowing up all his mates with his schoolboy experiments".
It's funny that Benn says people are angry because they can't hear voices agreeing with them. These days people blame extremism on being able to go on the internet and choose to only hear voices that agree with you.
There's a surprise, though I do personally find it fascinating to hear anecdotal stories of Maggie going to see Tony speak in the commons and applaud him on Europe, such opposites coming to a same conclusion
Tony Benn did what so few people in power seem to have done - i include the mass media here-: his history homework. AND he was a popular constituent m.p. Now THERE's a combination more could aspire to !
Robyn Hoode Well, at the time of this interview , the SDP had already broken away in their ill-fated adventure I think Benn is speaking here about the Right of the Party that remained
Tony Benn was a great man, no question, although I disagreed with him on Europe, and much of what he said was remarkably prescient, including the influence of the media on politics and culture, and predicting the Con/Lib coalition of 2010-15. This interview couldn't possibly happen now with the likes of Morgan and Neil, who won't even let their counterpart finish a sentence before they crudely interject. What has happened to our civilisation and why?
After 40 years Starmer has taken the Labour Party no further forward and I have voted Labour for 45 years not any more. It is not the party for the working class
The Majority of people in Britain supported everything what he said considering in the 1980's only thirteen Million people really voted Tory . He was my Hero was Tony Benn him & Aneurin Bevan & of course Michael Foot & Clement Attlee great men who cared for the working classes .
Tony Benn as the "Postmaster General" during the Labour government of 1964 pushed through the harrowing off air of the pirate radio stations. He also spoke about his belief that BBC and ITV should have more TV hours provided to them under the restrictions and did nothing to extend their hours at all. He said one thing, and did nothing.
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="309">5:09</a> - "The tyranny of Brussels" - yes, that awful "tyranny" that the UK somehow peacefully left a few years ago😅Thank God he never made it to the PM seat.
Politicians like Benn are the most interesting types, I don't believe that representative democracy is the way to enact socialism and realise true democracy like how Benn would've wanted but seeing a politician of his type actually persuing that is always a nice change even tho at the end of the day I believe that their efforts will be in vein.
"I don't believe that representative democracy is the way to enact socialism" - this is a Bolshevik line from 1917-1918, you can read in a history book how that ended in 1991 - with the restoration of representative democracy.
@@MagicNash89 anarchists also believe this, the way the bolshieviks pursued it was completely wrong because they didn't put power in the hands of the people but instead claimed to represent the peoples' interest while repressing them and gunning down their revolutions.
Ok but im an anarchist, not a bolshevik so that doesn't apply, and their mess up wasn't not believing in liberal democracy, their mess up is using the state and failing to enact actual workers controll and instead opting for something that feels like parody.
This man is just so missed by the democratic world ! He came with the word for the democratic world and we heard him not ! That is the loss of the entire world aspiring for equitable democracy 🙏🏽
Within the first 15 seconds of the interview starting, you get a great example of classic, Bennite dissembling. Labour had not been in power from 1964 - 1979 "with a break" - a "break" suggests a few weeks or months. Labour was in power 1964-1970 and then 1974-1979, the Conservatives from 1970-1974. That is not being in power except for "a break" - that is two very distinct, separate periods.
Although I am a great admirer of Tony Benn, I wish he would have compromised more often. If he had become the Labour leader in 1980, as most people thought at the time, and had compromised with the Labour right, the SDP-split might have been avoided, and 11 years of Thatcherism could have been avoided as well.
If Kinnock had asked for Thatchers resignation after the Falklands, he might have won the 1983 election or if 30 year old Tony Blair at the time had run for Labour leader?
<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1502">25:02</a> - "When theres unemployment people swing to the right" - a bit of a dubious statement really, not supported that much by history. More like people vote AGAINST the incumbent government. Whether its left or right is less of an issue - see the example of France in 1932 voting left-wing amid Great Depression continuing problems.
