About Me
A space for all supporters of former MP and anti-war activist Tony Benn to discuss, debate, and network.Tony Benn, is the son, grandson and father of MPs.
He was a Cabinet minister in the Wilson and Callaghan governments from 1964 - 79, as Minister of Technology, Secretary of State for both Industry and Energy and President of the Council of European Energy ministers in 1977.An elected member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour party from 1959 - 1994, he was Chairman of the Party in 1971/2.He is a member of the Transport and General Workers Union and the National Union of Journalists, and an honorary member of the National Union of Mineworkers.His published Diaries in seven volumes cover the period from 1942- 2001, and his post-parliamentary Diaries will be published in Autumn 2007. He has also written seven other books, notably 'Arguments for Socialism' and 'Arguments for Democracy'.The holder of seven honorary Doctorates from British and American universities, he has just been appointed as a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and is a regular broadcaster.In 1949 he married Caroline Benn, educationalist and author of the biography of Keir Hardie who died in 2000. Together they have four children and ten grandchildren.He retired from the House of Commons in May 2001, after fifty years in Parliament, to 'devote more time to politics', the longest serving Labour MP in the history of the party, which he joined in 1942.In 2003 he was elected President of the Stop the War Coalition, ahead of the UK/US invasion of Iraq.Tony Benn is a teetotaller, a vegetarian and a prominent pipesmoker.*Please note that this space is in no way affiliated with Tony Benn.
