Tony Benn, one of the most famous British political figures of the late 20th century, has died at the age of 88. Like Margaret Thatcher, he was regarded at one time as bitterly divisive. But unlike his old foe, he came to be seen in later life as almost a national treasure, thanks to a series of speaking tours and appearances full of warmth and wit. Those characteristics were on full display last year at Ledbury poetry festival, where he talked about his favourite lines and verses. Benn was frail, and spoke softly and at times haltingly. The warmth that emanated towards him from the packed festival audience was unforgettable.

His favourite words included William Blake’s Jerusalem, which he said summed up a Victorian view of Christianity “as an adjunct of socialism”. He explained that the choice was in honour of his mother, a dedicated Christian who had campaigned for the ordination of women but who had left the Church when it delayed bringing in the reform. She believed, he said, that every political issue was “essentially a moral question. It’s either right or wrong.” 

He also included in his poetic list the words of Slow Train, a lament by the songwriting duo Flanders and Swann for the branch line railway stations closed in the 1960s by Beeching: “No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Mortehoe … on the slow train from Midsomer Norton and Mumby Road.” Benn also saw poetry in the words of the UN Charter, Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, The Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Oscar Wilde’s essay The Soul of Man Under Socialism. His Desert Island Poems list concluded with Don McClean’s song Vincent. 

Benn’s death has come at the same time as the 30th anniversary of the miners’ strike. Friend and foe would agree, he always made clear which side he was on.   

Background: The politics is in the poetry

PHOTOGRAPH: DAVID ANDREW / WRITE OUT LOUD