It must be the week for dinosaurs to pass on !

Remember him we'll .... Often had a chat and drink with him (when he was my MP)

Very committed to his beliefs, but always willing to listen to others point of view.

Like I have often said, it's very easy to pander to the 'poor' when you are born a Viscount and have an automatic seat in the House of Lords, and I know he rejected this, but it's easy to pander with something else when you have a solid stable background.

He's now gone to join Caroline, May he RIP

RIP Tony Benn; I met him several times and liked him enormously, disagreeing with my friend (and Benn hater) Simon Hoggart. I didn't agree with some of his political views but he was a decent soul. Also, oddly, a huge Eurovision fan.

And I've said before, accepts no part in a rubbish Labour Government late 60's to late 70's ....but then decries all of the policies of the 80's by the Conservatives as unworking or bad policy.........

Struck me as good bloke at heart, and although he is being called a 'conviction' politician, he was far and away more political than he would ever or did ever admit to.........

and he didn't amit to much that was bad that he was part of, but was first hand there to tell everybody else where they were going wrong..........

His championship of Concorde got a million Brownie points from me.

Fair enough............I just Wiki'ed his listing.........varied good, varied bad.....but I'm not going to quote anything as I can't be sure Wiki is right

My memories of him date back to the early 80's and his battles with Thatcher and also within the Labout opposition......my view, clouded by his speaches at that time, are of a man who had lost the influence from within Government so took a decision to carve out a niche for himself as the experienced voice of old socialism, almost single handedly being a rallying point against 80's economics and in effect 'change'..........

But thats history, and now is now

A lovely person outside of party political games, and, that most rare of things these days, a politician who knew of more than only politics. It's a measure of how poor news coverage is now that his most extraordinary achievement, taking on Parliament, the electoral system and single-handedly forcing through a change to the peerage system, has barely been mentioned. I found much of what he said contradictory and wrong, but he was certainly one of the great Parliamentarians of his time.

JK2006 wrote:
His championship of Concorde got a million Brownie points from me.

The only aircraft NEVER to have found a customer (to buy the planes!)

** Air France and BA had them - but they were "given" to them (in lieu of cash) as they were (then) state owned airlines.

Pru wrote:
A lovely person outside of party political games

... and a very good constituency MP too, Pru

He never allowed his national lunacy to get in the way.