Excellent- a compelling and unique perspective on the Blair/9-11 era.
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Being the proverbial 'floating voter' I have a large and unbiased appetite when approaching the genre of 'Political diary'. Alan Clark's were deliciously frank and irreverent, John Major's autobiography (though not strictly a Diary) was noble yet suspiciously sanitized for me and the overblown Alistair Campbell opus last year frankly rather dull considering he was Britain's media Czar and spin-king. But Tony Benn is always excellent value for money. Coming from the old Coventry and Warwickshire automotive heartlands I recall an Uncle regaling me as a boy with stories of picking Mr Benn up at Coventry station and conducting a whistle-stop tour of various BL factories in the 1970s. He was hugely impressed with his concise ability to sum up the sheer morass of industrial rancour in the UK at the time. I had previously purchased the Benn tapes and was utterly engrossed in the nitty gritty 'content' and adversarial 'detail' of government. The face-to-face show downs with Wilson, Callaghan and Foot illustrate the 'profession' of the career politician better than any A Level guide to Government & Politics could. True, there are the usual 'hot-potatoes' that Tony embraces with the utopian - and almost naive- stance of an idealist. But perhaps we could do with one of two of idealists just now. The book has an epistolary feel to it with his observations, critiques and conclusions on everything from New Labour, Cameron (Blue Labour as he calls it), Bush, British celebrity culture and his day to day sketches and contemplations on life-sometimes hugely poignant and moving. I can't say that Tony has made me a card carrying Socialist, the dominant ideology of 'one-party' pragmatism we all now live under perhaps too strong for that but I certainly felt all the more richer and rewarded for the reading experience. I'd rank it in the same league as Alan Clark -though obviously for different reasons! Tony Benn remains among the very best political diarist's we have.
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Totally compulsive
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I found it difficult to stop reading this; many times I could have gone on and on if my train hadn't reached its destination or the bath water hadn't gone cold.
Benn is an interesting character and a rarity among politicians. He doesn't tow the party line, he doesn't necessarilly go along with conventional wisdoms - for that alone he should be commended. Coming from the right, I found this diary fascinating stuff. You'd struggle to buy another book that offered such a sustained, constructive, powerful attack on the policies of Tony Blair. How amusing that some of the most piercing criticism of the dreadful Blair has come from leftish sources, eg the Taking Liberties documentary or Greg Dyke's memoirs. And this is where this edition of the diaries triumphs, because, for so long, Benn has been wrong about so many things. Socialism for instance. Yet now -he's right! His criticisms of Blair are devastating, he's spot on time after time. On the subject of Europe, civil liberties and global warming (a particularly interesting passage) he's bang on too (even though he does at one point refer to Dublin as not being in the EU).
The writing style is curious: slightly arch, a little self-knowingly for public consumption, at times luvvie-like (lots of 'It was lovely!' exclamations), at times almost child-like. Benn may not have the intellect or dashing style of classic diarists like Kenneth Williams or Alan Clark, but he is never less than compelling.
It might be argued that these diaries are published too soon after they were written so cannot be edited with the knowledge we will have of these times in years to come. But they have an earthy pungency and also provide a particularly individual slant on contemporary events; it's fantastic that we can get inside the head of such a famous living political figure.
The diary also demonstrates Benn's phenomenal energy. Even at the age of 80 he's zipping round the country on an almost daily basis giving speeches and attending rallies. (I'd recommend this book for any pensioner who is feeling their life is over - Benn could give you heady inspiration.) This is a man who has suffered a great loss fairly recently and the incredible sadness of this, which pervades the book, does not stop him from pursuing his agenda.
A few final points: the index is not totally complete, eg Enoch Powell is mentioned four times in the book but only gets one reference in the back. Note how many times he quotes people as starting sentences with 'well'. And bear in mind that Benn can be arrogant and paint himself in the best possible light, being quite disengenous with his arguments. But then, he is a politician!
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Unputdownably good
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There are so few politicians who say what they think. Tony Benn is one of those who does and he does it so entertainingly. Ruth Winstone's editing is brilliant and completely invisible and the diaries themelves range from the touching and human to the crotchety. I'm not sure I'd want to live with TB for a week. But they are hilarious too, featuring his encounters with the kind of strange people he seems to attract, whether it's George Galloway or any number of nutcases on the bus. A tremendous read: makes you think, laugh and cry. Very easy to pick up and really hard to put down.
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