Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #253600 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

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

From the Inside Flap
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.

From the Back Cover
Acclaim for FREE AT LAST! Diaries 1991-2001:

'Easily the best of the year's diaries... It proves to be an astonishingly moving and human document' Anthony Howard, Sunday Times

'Delightful... A human, humorous and touching account of his political and domestic life... A unique record of political life for which all historians will be grateful.' Anthony Sampson, The Oldie

'I enjoyed the latest volume of Tony Benn's diaries even more than its predecessors.' Martin Rees, The Times

'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' Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

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

Customer Reviews

Fantastic insight into a brilliant mind
I won't say much, as if you are looking at buying this book you will probably have some idea of who this guy is and what he represents.

I found this book touching, fascinating and terrifying. The wool really has been pulled over our eyes and many of our civil liberties taken away from us in the UK.

Read this book, it will open your eyes.

Excellent- a compelling and unique perspective on the Blair/9-11 era.
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.

Unputdownably good
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.