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was rabidly anti EU.
Has he gone native like Kinnokio?
Or has he stuck to his guns?
Has he gone native like Kinnokio?
Or has he stuck to his guns?
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Def. not done 180 degree turn like Kinnock did on Europe (and on the Lords).
When we did have a referendum, Benn campaigned against.
His view ( unless it has changed in the last few momths) is that a United States of Europe, which he believed Blair was aiming for, would mirror the USA; and be the end of things that Benn values;e.g. NHS, etc.
When we did have a referendum, Benn campaigned against.
His view ( unless it has changed in the last few momths) is that a United States of Europe, which he believed Blair was aiming for, would mirror the USA; and be the end of things that Benn values;e.g. NHS, etc.
Enoch Powell was also anti Europe, to the extent that he came out and advised people to vote for Labour at one GE, over the Tories pro Europe stance.
Crikey, did you hear the applause for Enoch when I just mentioned him in my post?
Unlikely bed fellows Doc
Enoch and wedgie,
desperate times throw up this sort of thing.
Like the Tories and Sinn fein being anti Lisbon treaty ;-)
Enoch and wedgie,
desperate times throw up this sort of thing.
Like the Tories and Sinn fein being anti Lisbon treaty ;-)
He was against it when he thought the lazy English would be undercut by the 'continentals' and for it when he realised they were more commie than any British government.
My take is that the all the social legislation may have made up for the loss of soveriegnty in his eyes.
Goring is correct, once Benn realised the EC was socialist in nature he was for it. Think the turnabout took 5 years, Thatcher helped it.
"English"?? not "British"?
When I was working in England it was lunch at the desk, and contract hours were immaterial, at least ten hours per day.
In Spain it is totally different.
Different experience to yours Goring, by the sound of it..
When I was working in England it was lunch at the desk, and contract hours were immaterial, at least ten hours per day.
In Spain it is totally different.
Different experience to yours Goring, by the sound of it..
read in todays ST that he suppots the Tories over the EU.
I have mentioned before that I have met Enoch Powell, who stayed at my parents house one weekend with his wife. He mentioned Tony Benn, he said he didn't agree with a word he said but respected him because, in Powell's words on Benn "he was actively seeking the truth".
ie. he wasn't just repeating what others told him to say, even if he was, in Powell's view, getting it wrong.
ie. he wasn't just repeating what others told him to say, even if he was, in Powell's view, getting it wrong.
Only 2 Labour MPs attended Powell's funeral - Tony Worthington, from the NI office (Powell had recently represented an Ulster seat) and Tony Benn.
For some of you this will be worth a read if you just know him as a name..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell
You don,t get the calibre in politics now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell
You don,t get the calibre in politics now.
Tony Benn certainly knew where the real power lies.
Tony Benn, on his time in government:
"As a minister, I experienced the power of industrialists and bankers to get their way by use of the crudest form of economic pressure, even blackmail, against a Labour Government. Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes is minuscule. This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the IMF secured cuts in our public expenditure. These lessons led me to the conclusion that the UK is only superficially governed by MPs and the voters who elect them. Parliamentary democracy is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact. If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is, and some new Chartist agitation might be born and might quickly gather momentum."
Tony Benn, on his time in government:
"As a minister, I experienced the power of industrialists and bankers to get their way by use of the crudest form of economic pressure, even blackmail, against a Labour Government. Compared to this, the pressure brought to bear in industrial disputes is minuscule. This power was revealed even more clearly in 1976 when the IMF secured cuts in our public expenditure. These lessons led me to the conclusion that the UK is only superficially governed by MPs and the voters who elect them. Parliamentary democracy is, in truth, little more than a means of securing a periodical change in the management team, which is then allowed to preside over a system that remains in essence intact. If the British people were ever to ask themselves what power they truly enjoyed under our political system they would be amazed to discover how little it is, and some new Chartist agitation might be born and might quickly gather momentum."
Yeah, them b@rstewards, the IMF should have let the country go bankrupt....
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