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: #3822 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 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
‘Don’t miss this volume’ Peter Lewis, Books of the Year, Daily Mail

‘A delight and an inspiration. Fiercely intelligent, warm, humane and profoundly moving.’ Clare Allan, Books of the Year, Independent

‘This is a lovely book; warm, humane, genuinely revelatory and, on occasions, a touch surreal… He skewers Blair and new Labour with great precision.’ Rod Liddle, Sunday Times

‘Tthere is a new kind of freedom in his thoughts and in his writing. He may not have achieved the liberation of mankind, but perhaps he has achieved something almost as difficult: the liberation of himself.’ Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

‘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.’ Daily Telegraph

‘If you thought there’d be less politics you’ve reckoned without his tireless campaigning against the Iraq War, his presidency of the Stop the War Coalition, his visit to Baghdad to interview Saddam Hussein and countless media appearances to air his anti-war views’Guardian