A Tribute to Tony Benn, M.P. and 'man of the people': Apostle of the British Left, bent but unbowed with age, who departed us without all the usual fanfare, glare and blare of publicity, hoop-la and hullabaloo. A man moreover, unlike the (original) scarecrow, tinman, and lion of the land of *Oz, possessed with acuity of mind, a noble and generous heart of concern, and the undaunted courage and indomitableness of the king of the animal kingdom.
As the classic (late 70s'/early 80s') British sitcom, The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin - now available on dvd for all those like-hearted enthusiasts - terms him in making its endearingly affectionate, backhandedly complimentary and infamously hilarious reference, when one of its cast, Reggie's son-in-law I think, arrives with a placard calling upon him to be appointed and installed as Pope, Wedgwood Benn left his mark on the British/U.K. political scene in no uncertain, equivocal fashion; bestriding the political stage with his quixotic, unorthodox personality and value system as few of his ideological bent did or ever could have.
A man of the masses, apparently passed over as deputy leader of his party in the early 80s, and who would've, surely, proven a much more formidable, even if ultimately vanquishable opponent, to his lifetime bete noire 'Maggie' Thatcher - certainly than his left-wing fellow (Labour Party) traveller - the academic and thus understandably far less streetwise and politically savvy Michael Foot(e). A would-be leader truly 'of, by and for the people' unlike so many of his apparently elitist colleagues both in his heyday and ever since.
But like all great spiritual leaders without due recognition and public credentials, Mr Benn needed no such external honours to make him any more the natural leader of men he indisputably was. Someone with a natural charisma who didn't need or employ fancy gimmicks to attract or garner support (either among his political colleagues or the general public-at-large). No, spin doctors, political consultants and public relations firms and 'makeovers', and of course those ever bungling, oh-so-officious bureaucrats - as so wonderfully spoofed in that other classic British comedy 'Yes Minister' - were not in his vocabulary, excepting in his undisguised scorn thereof.
Yes, none of these were his 'deal'. Benn neither desired much less needed such vanities in pursuing his political objectives, which were simply, as in the immortal slogan of the French Republic: liberty, fraternity and equality. In equal portions and simultaneously.
Some would say that actually 'walking the walk', not just 'talking the talk', or of being more occupied in practical 'do-ey' than mere hui, as New Zealand's one-time maverick M.P. and likewise much-touted potential (first Maori) prime minister John Tamihere has been known to put things; practising what one preaches, in other words: is rather a superfluous adjunct, an unnecessary extra, in today's soundbitten, media-driven, -dominated and -determined Western political landscape. Hey, why bother, when just winging it on the proverbial song and a (secular) prayer will - apparently - do the job well enough?
Thankfully, a few politicians, such as Tony Benn, thought, and, more's to the point, acted and lived differently. And that, as they say, made all the difference.
Methinks like New Zealand's popular, beloved and now immortalized early 1970s' Prime Minister Norman Kirk - who shared, by phone, a word or more of heartfelt congratulations to the Studio One musical grouping, The September All-Time Bulldog Band, as they sang (what would prove Mr Kirk's earthly send-off) the memorable lyrics of their tuneful classic hit, Big Norm, on the very eve of his death in a hospital bed - Tony Wedgwood Benn likewise caught the very spirit of Tom's placard and himself shared a wry smile thereabouts, perhaps realizing that for many of his own party (and public) faithful (followers) his own pronouncements carried a deeper sense of significance than many actual popes.
Indeed, apparently, besides being someone with an unashamedly Christian ethic and a deep spirituality marked by thoughtful reflection and a consistent lifestyle, and quite surprisingly in this day and age of undercover and rather shamefaced Christianity, to his enduring credit and perfectly in line with his unpolitically correct disposition, Benn made a number of unambiguously positive references to the 10 Commandments (of Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism).
Among other things, Tony Benn declared the superiority - for those seeking guidance and happiness - of those (what many such as the writer regard as actual God-given) declarations over the Dow Jones [Industrial Average]. He also suggested 'there are values, which, if you like, are laid down loosely in the Ten Commandments', shared by other religions, undergirding the universality of the fraternity of all humanity. Moreover he was 'true to the fourth Socialist Sunday School commandment: 'Honour good people, be courteous to all, bow down to none.' ' And last but certainly not least, he declared his relief that 'they haven't moderni[z]ed the Ten Commandments', adding: 'I can imagine what they [would] be like [if they were] - thou shall not kill unless [ex-U.S. President George W] Bush tells you to; thou shalt not commit adultery unless she's very attractive; and thou shalt not steal unless you need the money.'
Yes, Tony Benn was ever the supreme master of the understatement. And as regards his views upon the immutability of what a few of us still regard as God's holy, unchanging, good, perfect and spiritual Law - written by the very finger of God, even, upon tables or tablets of stone - in his own shy, inimitable and self-deprecating fashion he, quite inadvertently of course but nevertheless, in his own entirely naive but simultaneously ever perceptive, deeply insightful way, pointed out - again, I'll freely concede, entirely by chance - something that popes themselves and the so-called 'Holy See' of Rome, throughout the centuries and indeed millennia, have been conspicuous in treating somewhat differently.
Indeed it could well be argued that the modern-day movement to re-jig said 'eternal' commandments began long ago, when said papal leaders felt sufficient in themselves to 'upgrade' and improvise upon selfsame 10 divine Laws by reworking (if apparently on a small scale) commandments two, four, nine and ten, thus effectively placing a seal of contempt thereupon, something the large body of evangelical as well as mainstream Protestants have rather unquestioningly simply gone along with over recent centuries. But enough of my propaganda, such religious 'diatribes' being something Mr Benn would himself, no doubt, have heartily disapproved of - especially in defence of his own person - in light of his having been known to have declared, among his numerous recorded memorable, profound and simple sayings: 'A faith is something you die for; a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world' (emphasis entirely my own).
So, in the words of the 70s' kiwi chart-topper Big Norm, just as Aotearoa-New Zealand's 'man of big Labour was our big Norm[an Kirk]', and England's man of New Labour was Tony Blair, Great Britain's, indeed the United Kingdom's man of old (and real deal) Labour was Tony Benn. End of story.
But did 'the better man' [i.e. Tony] win? That is, the 'heroic failure' that was Tony Benn as opposed to the ever-charismatic, smile-a-while-and-give-your-face-a-lift (as the silly latter-day church ditty goes) Tony Blair. Maybe not in the short-term, but I've a sneaking feeling the never-lying pages of history may well one day tell a different story. Quite a different tale, in fact. Unembellished by any spin, empty media hype or propaganda, let alone PR-driven focus groups and opinion polling.
So adieu Tony, British politician extraordinaire - though no Churchill, you were truly in a class of your own, beyond mere 'class' (as in the system thereof), the great Prime Minister who was not to be. Yes, your understanding was certainly not perfect - as one somewhat critical but nonetheless fair-minded and balanced journalist, a Tom Doran whose blogpost 'Tony Benn: Heroic Failure', recently appeared on the British Independent's online edition, as regards China's bloodthirsty dictator Mao Zedong (and his communist ideology, and indeed Marxism per se) you definitely seemed to have major blinkers on. But ultimately you stood unflinchingly in defence of fairness, decency and goodwill toward each and every one of your fellow earth-travellers, and much more than merely preached or advocated such, you lived what you believed...no matter how unpopular or spurned by the masses in their own temporary capture by the media elites and conventional standard-bearers of society.
*Yet like the writer, methinks Mr Benn also immediately recollected and so shared another wry smile at the spontaneous public remembrance and instantaneous bursting forth of that classic Wizard of Oz song of celebration (at the recent passing of his lifelong political adversary and bete noire, long-serving British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher): 'Ding dong, the witch is dead, the wic-ked witch, the wic-ked witch; ding dong, the wic-ked witch is dead' (without being in any way spiteful or mean-spirited thereabouts, you understand!) But hey, I'm sure he simply enjoyed the fact he outlasted even she - if not quite, as it eventually transpired, by a country mile.
And I'm personally intrigued that one of the few issues I ever saw eye to eye with Maggie upon was one that Tony Benn himself might well have done, at least insofar as the sentiments he expressed back in December 1974 held through the following decades. He is recorded as then saying: 'Britain's continuing membership of the [European Economic] Community would mean the end of Britain as a completely self-governing nation.' Something that the present incumbent British Prime Minister, David Cameron, apparently himself schooled in democracy in his youth by one of Tony Benn's books, is perhaps now, if rather late in the piece, coming to realize himself. Yes, Mr Benn's legacy has and looks set to continue to cast a rather long shadow over succeeding generations of public and politicians alike. Which speaks for itself, doesn't it. No I mean really.
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