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Tony Benn
My Choice...


"My own mind is my church, the world is my country, to do good is my religion"


Thomas Paine (1737 -1809)


This is what Thomas Paine said about religion. Now that is a wonderful quote, it says it all. There is a spirituality in every person you meet and you have to cherish it and nourish it. And I think this quote sums it all up. It's such a criminal offence to use religion to justify war and killing as happens now. Paine shines in my mind as the person who really pin pointed what it's all about.

The words of Thomas Paine have inspired me and encouraged me. Words have tremendous force, that's why the media is so influential, that's why religion is so influential. What we need in the world is more encouragement. The political class and the media underestimate people's intelligence. And what a speech or a book can do is to give people confidence in themselves. Paine believed in that passionately.

I think the most important thing in life is to encourage. If anybody asked me what I want on my gravestone, I would like 'Tony Benn, he encouraged us'. That would be all I would need!

Facts on Tony Benn

Proposed issuing stamps without the Sovereign's head, but this was vetoed by the Queen.

Claims to have retired from Parliament "to devote more time to politics".

Met his wife over tea at Worcester College in 1949 and nine days later proposed to her on a park bench in Oxford.

Shortened his name from Anthony Wedgwood Benn to Tony Benn in order to distance himself from class heritage

A guest of British Airways on the last-ever scheduled Concorde flight from New York to London.


 
More about Tony Benn

Tony Benn retired from parliament in 2001 after a long career in British politics which began in 1950.

He was educated at Westminster School and went on to New College, Oxford. He served in World War II as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, and then worked briefly as a 大象传媒 Radio producer.

Tony Benn was taught to believe that the greatest sins in life were to waste time and money, and his aristocratic family heritage is nevertheless one of strong, radical and dissenting tradition. His father was created Viscount Stansgate in 1942 and his grandfathers before him were Liberal MPs. Tony Benn himself inherited the Labour Peerage when his father died, and because it is not possible to remain an MP in Parliament after inheriting a Peerage in the House of Lords, he was forced to give up his place. After successfully campaigning for reform and the right to abandon his unwelcome peerage, he returned to Parliament in 1963.

His political career has spanned many roles and responsibilities, from Postmaster General to Secretary of State for Industry. He also leant his vocal support and actions to many contentious issues such as the reunification of Ireland and the 1984-85 miners' strike. Recently, he has become a leading figure of the British opposition to the War on Iraq.

Tony Benn
His own Moving Words

"A faith is something you die for, a doctrine is something you kill for. There is all the difference in the world."

"The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians."

"It's the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you're mad, then dangerous, then there's a pause and then you can't find anyone who disagrees with you."

"All war represents a failure of diplomacy."