Tony Benn: Trending quotes

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Tony Benn: 138 quotes3 likes

“Having served for nearly half a century in the House of Commons, I now want more time to devote to politics and more freedom to do so.”

Tony Benn

Paul Waugh, "Benn retires to spend more time with his politics", The Independent, 28 June 1999, p. 5.
1990s

“Britain's continuing membership of the Community would mean the end of Britain as a completely self-governing nation and the end of our democratically elected Parliament as the supreme law making body in the United Kingdom.”

Tony Benn

Letter to Bristol constituents (29 December 1974), reprinted in Tony Benn, 'The Common Market: Loss of Self-Government', in M. Holmes (ed.), The Eurosceptical Reader (Springer, 2016), p. 38
1970s

“I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world, because if you have power you use it to meet the needs of you and your community.”

Tony Benn

Interview with Michael Moore in the movie Sicko (2007).
2000s

“The general election of 1983 has produced one important result that has passed virtually without comment in the media. It is that, for the first time since 1945, a political party with an openly socialist policy has received the support of over eight and a half million people. This is a remarkable development by any standards and it deserves some analysis … the 1983 Labour manifesto commanded the loyalty of millions of voters and a democratic socialist bridge-head in public understanding and support can be made.”

Tony Benn

The Guardian (20 June 1983).
1980s

“It would be inconceivable for the House to adjourn for Easter without recording the fact that last Friday the High Court disallowed an Act which was passed by this House and the House of Lords and received Royal Assent — the Merchant Shipping Act 1988. The High Court referred the case to the European Court…I want to make it clear to the House that we are absolutely impotent unless we repeal Section 2 of the European Communities Act. It is no good talking about being a good European. We are all good Europeans; that is a matter of geography and not a matter of sentiment. Are the arrangements under which we are governed such that we have broken the link between the electorate and the laws under which they are governed? I am an old parliamentary hand — perhaps I have been here too long — but I was brought up to believe, and I still believe, that when people vote in an election they must be entitled to know that the party for which they vote, if it has a majority, will be able to enact laws under which they will be governed. That is no longer true. Any party elected, whether it is the Conservative party or the Labour party can no longer say to the electorate, "Vote for me and if I have a majority I shall pass that law", because if that law is contrary to Common Market law, British judges will apply Common Market law.”

Tony Benn

Speech in the House of Commons (13 March 1989) http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1989/mar/13/adjournment-easter-and-monday-1-may on the Factortame case <br class="br">1980s

“I sometimes wish the trade unionists who work in the mass media, those who are writers and broadcasters and secretaries and printers and lift operators of Thomson House would remember that they too are members of our working class movement and have a responsibility to see that what is said about us is true.”

Tony Benn

Chairman's closing address to the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool (6 October 1972); Labour Party Annual Conference Report 1972, p. 349
1970s

“He has a deep contempt for Britain, the British people and parliamentary democracy. He is trying to climb back to power via the Treaty of Rome, and put Britain under government from Brussels for ever. In 1970 Mr Heath solemnly promised that he would not take Britain into the Common Market without the full-hearted consent of the British people. He broke his pledged word then, and he now says he will not accept a 'No' vote on Thursday. Heath promised more jobs and higher living standards inside the EEC. These promises were all broken, and he now tells us we are so poor we cannot come out; beggars can't be choosers. That is false, too. Heath's leadership has been a total disaster for the British people. The Tory Party threw him out.”

Tony Benn

Speech at an anti-EEC rally (3 June 1975), quoted in 'Heath attack by Mr Benn', The Times (4 June 1975), p. 6
1970s

“The way change occurs to begin with, if you come up with a good idea, like heathcare, you're ignored. If you go on you must be mad, absolutely stark-staring bonkers. If you go on after that you're dangerous. Then, if the pressure keeps up there's a pause. And then you can't find anyone at the top who doesn't claim to have thought of it in the first place. That's how progress is made.”

Tony Benn

Interview with Michael Moore in the movie Sicko (2007) Probably derived from older version:
2000s

“When we have a majority we will do it. I think the days of the Lords are quite genuinely numbered.”

Tony Benn

On Independent Radio News (12 November 1976), quoted in The Times (13 November 1976), p. 2
1970s

“Choice depends on the freedom to choose and if you are shackled with debt you don’t have the freedom to choose.”

Tony Benn

Interview with Michael Moore in the movie Sicko (2007).
2000s

“I think there are two ways in which people are controlled. First of all frighten people and secondly, demoralize them.”

Tony Benn

Interview with Michael Moore in the movie Sicko (2007).
2000s

“People say that if we work for the Single European Act, women will get their rights, the water will be purer, and training will be better. That is rubbish. It is part of the attempt to consolidate the EEC.”

Tony Benn

Speech to the House of Commons (23 February 1989) http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1989/feb/23/european-community <br class="br">1980s

“What we lack in Government is entrepreneurial ability.”

Tony Benn

Speech in London (6 June 1974)
1970s

“The [pay] policy is principally designed to hold down wages rather than to check inflation. Inflation is being used as an excuse to destroy free trade union bargaining.”

Tony Benn

Speech in the House of Commons (7 November 1973) http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1973/nov/07/price-and-pay-code <br class="br">1970s

“It is wholly wrong to blame Marx for what was done in his name, as it is to blame Jesus for what was done in his”

Tony Benn

The Benn Heresy (1982).
1980s

“My Great-grandfather was a Congregational Minister and my Mother was a Bible scholar, and I was brought up on the Bible, that the story of the Bible was conflict between the kings who had power, and the prophets who preached righteousness. And I was taught to believe in the prophets, got me into a lot of trouble. And my Dad said to me when I was young, "Dare to be a Daniel, Dare to stand alone, Dare to have a purpose firm, Dare to let it (be) known."”

Tony Benn

Interviewed by Kevin Zeese in 'Counterpunch', December 19, 2005.
2000s

“Britain is the only colony in the British Empire and it is up to us now to liberate ourselves.”

Tony Benn

Speech to the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool (2 October 1972); Labour Party Annual Conference Report (1972), p. 103
1970s

“We want industry to be in the public sector, to change the power structure of our society…We have not yet carved out of public enterprise a wide enough area of management decision which ought properly to be brought within the ambit of the workers themselves.”

Tony Benn

Speech in Brighton (6 October 1971)
1970s

“This huge Commission building in Brussels, in the shape of a cross, is absolutely un-British. I felt as if I were going as a slave to Rome; the whole relationship was wrong. Here was I, an elected man who could be removed, doing a job, and here were these people with more power than I had and no accountability to anybody…My visit confirmed in a practical way all my suspicions that this would be the decapitation of British democracy without any countervailing advantage, and the British people, quite rightly, wouldn't accept it. There is no real benefit for Britain.”

Tony Benn

Diary entry (18 June 1974), quoted from Against the Tide. Diaries 1973-1976 (London: Hutchinson, 1989), p. 180, p. 182
1970s

“Ideas are more powerful than guns.”

Tony Benn

Wikinews interview with Tony Benn (8 August 2007), quote from approx 24min45 sec into interview.
2000s