No gloating allowed as he was a Labour gobe and only dead tories are allowed to be derided on here (see Bob Crow thread).
Carry on.

You're all class, aren't you?

The finest politician in my short life span.
Principled, committed, and highly intelligent.
Had the pleasure of meetng him in the mid-80's.
A very impressive person.

A great man.

Proper politician, as I'm sure all current politicians will acknowledge today.

Such a shame that some pathetic individuals cannot have even one ounce of the respect that Tony Benn always had from all sides of The House.

Also a great defender of [iour[/i NHS.
A fact that shouldn't be lost on some of our right-thinking friends on here.
Especially the one's who cost said service, many, many thousands of pounds.

The fact that he is a Zionist and apologist for Israeli Imperialism, expansionism, torture, ethnic cleansing etc should tell you everything you need to know about Cornish.

That is why he diliked Tony Benn who was very pro palestinian





But i would not worry about people like him having a go at anyone slightly left wing or progressive it all boils down to which side you are on.


I did not always agree with Benn like most left wingers in the Labour party he was used to give the Right wing leadership an air of radicalism or socialist principle.

IN the batle of ideas though he always defended the minorities and the impressed and defended workers against the excesses of capitalism.

The left in this country has now lost one of the few fairly principled mainstream politicians it had.

So goodbye Tony Benn it is a sad day for those who fought for equality and justice today.

A sad week for the Labour movement.

one out, all out.

Made pretty much any politician in Westminster today look the intellectual pygmy that they are.

Met him once at a Militant rally in Sheffield in the 80's, very humble and very committed to his beliefs. I have met several politicians in my life, both Tory and Labour and found Tony Benn by far the most interesting. When I met him he was in the company of Dave Nellist and Pat Wall, another two honest politicians who put the electorate first and themselves last.

RIP Tony.

My thoughts exactly. With only a couple of exceptions, none of the current shower will be remembered in the same way (Grant Shapps anyone????)

Benn's 5 democratic questions, that I hadn't seen until today, are ones that we should continue to ask of politicians of any political persuasion.

It's a mark of the man that plenty of people, who disagreed with him ideologically, also recognised him as a serious intellect, as a committed, consistent and principled politician and as great Parliamentarian.

Schapps indeed – there are plenty more.

This comment from Francis Maude, on Benn, earlier today on Radio 4: "knew he was wrong, but couldn't fault the logic." Get your head around that one.

There are, of course, no shortage of idiots and careerists etc on the opposition benches either.



Absolutely.

For anyone who hasn't seem them:

I can't imagine Benn being a brown-noser, unlike so many career politicians nowadays.
Principled, but strangely odd in a fixed non-evolutionary way.
It was almost like he was born with his beliefs.
Clearly he wasn't, but you know what I mean.
I liked him, he was different, a throwback almost.
Now politicians are suits.

I don't gloat about death but you make a good point.

I'm sure that you – and Cornish – will be able to point to specific examples of censorship on either thread.

I liked Tony Benn. Despite his fruit bat loopy Leftist views, there was a decency and honesty about the man, who had the courage of his own convictions. A rare thing amongst todays Politicians.That those same convictions caused a major schism and alienated many within the Labour Party back in the 70/80s should not really be held against the guy. He was simply a maverick, marching to the beat of his own drum, and there must always be room for them.

The many eulogies being paid today are a fitting tribute to an educated guy, who always displayed the ability to listen and respect an opponents point of view, before debating the point.

The World of Politics is a poorer place today.

Pay attention Old Girl. The word is gloating..... as shown in several posts by the rather strange people who hold a particular viewpoint on this forum. And incidentally, as expressed by that late unlamented shaven headed Union bully boy.

There was no mention of censorship that I recall.

I don't recall seeing any posts from someone who gloated over Margaret Thatcher's death demanding that nobody should gloat over Bob Crow's.

I did see disagreements over Crow himself, but that's far from being the same thing.

And if "no gloating was allowed", then it suggests censorship because how else would that be achieved on a forum such as this?

Loopy leftist views? Oh you mean all those things such as racial equality, gay rights etc.. that are all taken as being the norm these days!
I was fortunate to encounter Tony Benn twice in the last year, once in London and once on a beautiful summer's day in Tolpuddle in Dorset, such a great man!
A truly crap week for the left.

One of the best politicians ever. A shame the "establishment"( the unelected power brokers) were able to vilify him through their rags and people were daft enough to believe all the guff.
A shame he never made PM.
A great HUMANITARIAN something very few politicians are these days.

Would comfortably talk rings around most of todays politicians, journalists and commentators- especially that shower they had on QT last night.

My honest opinion of him, I thought he was a talker rather than a dooer, making things actually happen in government or politics relies on a certain pragmatism that I think he lacked in favour of always staying on his message. There is no question he was intelligent and I agree with many of his stated principles, but when I read his 5 questions I do wonder if he fell short himself when it came to who he served. In my opinion he served himself as much as any I have seen in politics, the fact his ideals were in many cases aligned with many of my beliefs doesn't alter the fact that his, at times, innability to see past his own agenda at a time when his brand of socialism was not a vote winner cost the Labour party and the country dearly. Self indulgent when the country needed an opposition that was united and electable. I'm sure some old Tories were huge fans of Tony Benn and his work on the left of the Labour party.

But even as a kid I knew who he was and what he stood for. Government these days looks like the management team of WHSmith - and is just as recognisable.

I wonder if his diaries will ever get published? On-line versions could make intersting reading, but then maybe you don't need to know everything about everybody.

[url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_n_3?rh=n%3A67%2Ck%3ATony+Benn&keywords=Tony+Benn&ie=UTF8&qid=1394815744&rnid=1642204031I think most of them are available[/url.

As I was typing that I thought they had been. Thanks.

Seemed a very decent, principled man. The product of a good, Protestant upbringing.

What odd logic ... in fact no logic at all.