Tony Benn - A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine: The Last Diaries

Contents

Also by Tony Benn

The Regeneration of Britain
Speeches
Arguments for Socialism
Arguments for Democracy
Parliament, People and Power
The Sizewell Syndrome
Fighting Back: Speaking Out for Socialism in the Eighties
A Future for Socialism
Common Sense (with Andrew Hood)
Free Radical

Years of Hope: Diaries 19401962
Out of the Wilderness: Diaries 19631967
Office Without Power: Diaries 19681972
Against the Tide: Diaries 19731976
Conflicts of Interest: Diaries 19771980
The End of an Era: Diaries 19801990
The Benn Diaries: Single Volume Edition 19401990
Free at Last! Diaries 19912001
Dare to be a Daniel
Letters to my Grandchildren

In this, his final volume of diaries, Tony Benn reflects on the compensations and the disadvantages of old age.

With the support of a small circle of friends and his extended family, he continues his activities on behalf of social justice, peace and accountability in public life, against the background of political change and the international crisis of capitalism.

Following an illness in July 2009, the diaries, kept for over sixty years, cease. Published here alongside these final years of entries are Tony Benns personal insights into the challenges of growing older, the loneliness of widowhood, the upheaval of moving from the family home of sixty years to a nearby flat, and the problems of failing health.

Finally, we share in Tonys hope for a better future based on his experience and optimism.

Radical statesman and Member of Parliament for over fifty years Tony Benn is the pre-eminent diarist of his generation. His political activity has continued after 'retirement' throughmass meetings, broadcasts and in more recent years through social media. A widower since 2000, Tony Benn lives and works in London and has four children and ten grandchildren.

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Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781446493892

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Hutchinson 2013

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Copyright Tony Benn 2013

Tony Benn has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work

This book is a work of non-fiction

First published in Great Britain in 2013 by
Hutchinson
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA
www.randomhouse.co.uk

Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780091943875

This, the last volume of Tony Benns Diaries, opens in May 2007 with Kofi Annan inviting him to join Jimmy Carter, Richard Branson, Desmond Tutu, Peter Gabriel, Mary Robinson and other international Elders at a gathering in South Africa. In July 2009 the dictated diary ceases, as Tony Benn having just had an operation muses on an uncertain future with the words Thats all there is, for my diary, unless something sensational happens tonight.

Because these years are so full of personal reflections by Tony in his eighties on ageing, on failing health, on widowerhood as well as a record of dramatic and unexpected political and social developments, I have kept the editing to a minimum, retaining, I hope, the personality of the diarist as he dictated, sometimes falteringly. I have also left uncut a greater proportion than usual of the original text, to give the reader a fuller picture of Tony Benns life as he approaches the autumn sunshine.

The latter part of the book is a reconstruction by him of the period July 2009 to the present, with his insights of a personal and political nature on these extraordinary times.

As ever the book could not have been completed without the work of Alison McPherson, who has transcribed millions of words with great empathy, the copy-editing of Mandy Greenfield on whom I relied so much this time, and the editorial advice of Emma Mitchell of Hutchinson. Georgina Manley stepped in to assist at the early stages of the editing during my mothers illness and death in 2012, and Lucy Quinn and Laura Rohde helped to research, correct and edit the account of the latter years 20092013 which Tony Benn had to reconstruct from memory.

It has been a great privilege to be associated with the Diaries over the course of twenty-seven years, and to count myself one of Tonys closest friends.

Ruth Winstone
June 2013

1 On the set of Will and Testament at Ealing Studios

2 Filming at the House of Commons

3 Tony through the lens at Ealing Studios

4 On the set of a recreation of Tonys office

5 Headlines on set for the film Will and Testament

6 On location for Will and Testament with Michael Miles and Mervyn Gerrard

7 Tolpuddle Martyrs plate

8 Make Tea Not War mug

9 40th anniversary of the Welfare State plate

10 Durham Miners Gala plate

11 Vial of Tonys blood

12 With Ruth Winstone and Tony Whittome

13 Tony handling a racing pigeon

14 On tour with his editor Ruth Winstone

15 At University of Lincoln

16 With Billy Bragg and friends at the Tolpuddle celebration

17 With his brother David

18 With family and friends in the empty family home

19 With his children Joshua, Melissa, Hilary and Stephen

20 With his only daughter Melissa

Caroline Wedgwood Benn (Pixie) (wife of Tony Benn) d. 2000

Children

Stephen Benn (m. Nita Clarke)

Hilary Benn (m. Sally Clark)

Melissa Benn (Lissie) (m. Paul Gordon)

Joshua Benn (Josh)

Grandchildren

Michael (m. Penny Brough)

James (m. Dr Blake Pritchard)

William

Jonathan (m. Zohreh Khairoldin)

Caroline

Emily

Daniel

Hannah

Sarah

Other Family