Product Details
The Benn Tapes 1 (Radio Collection)

The Benn Tapes 1 (Radio Collection)
From BBC Audiobooks Ltd

List Price: £7.00
Price: £4.64 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £5. Details

Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk

13 new or used available from £3.49

Average customer review:

Product Description

Late each night for over 25 years the Labour MP and former Secretary of State, Tony Benn, sat alone and dictated on to tape his account of the daily events at the heart of the government, including Harold Wilson's resignation and the miners' strike.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #10496 in Books
  • Published on: 2003-10-07
  • Released on: 2003-10-06
  • Format: Audiobook
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 2
  • Binding: Audio CD

Customer Reviews

Insightful and Powerful5
Apart from being perhaps one of the most important political thinkers of the last 100 years, and one of the most important Labour politicians of all time, Tony Benn's diaries are particularly lucid and informative because they aren't revisionist history; unlike most politician's Benn didn't dictate this through hindsight.

Benn describes many of the trials of the Wilson/Callaghan government of 1975/1979 as well as his period of opposition during the 1980s and 90s. Of particular importance is his impressions of the Windscale Strike and how even as a senior Cabinet minister and Energy Minister he was still kept out of the loop for the true purpose of atomic energy, namely nuclear weapons. His diaries on the IMF Crisis, which ultimately destroyed Labour in the 70s and paved the way for Thatcher, are fascinating for those interested in that period.

His notes on the 1992 election is also very interesting - he realised early on that Labour probably weren't going to win and that early on and even Benn was wrong-footed by Mandelson and Blair; rumours at the time of Mandelson as Leader and Blair as deputy seemed highly unlikely to Benn and it is to his credit he includes this to show no politicians are sages.

Fascinating diaries by a unique politician, these diaries are extremely valuable both as a historical document and as an insight to a genuinely decent and honourable man.

Benn Tapes5
an excellent view of politics from the inside over a large number of years in and out of government. Also the view of events over a long period and Tony Benns involvement