RIP to a massive figure in left politics and politics in general. My first awareness of him was someone saying "people always get more right wing as they get older... unless they're Tony Benn".

 

Cameron has labelled him "magnificent" and Miliband made a nice statement - apparently did work experience at age 16 with him, which would have been when Benn was about 60. Bit of a scary thought.

I too have done work experience with Benn. Several times at 15/16 too.

 

An incredible man, I was sorting through all his interviews and he told me which interviewers had been awful and which good.

 

I will always remember each day we would break for lunch and have two microwaveable pizzas each (it's all he ate) and I would ask him about politics and he would talk. It is thanks to him I the politically minded individual I am today.

 

RIP

Really sad news - to be expected a man of his years - but still sad.

 

Was reading some of his quotes and he was a very witty as well as an intelligent, caring man.

 

Me and my best friend fancied him like crazy (he was an incredibly attractive man in his youth - still handsome in his later years).

One of the last politicians who believed politics was about principles, rather than getting into "power" at any cost. RIP.

He's been ill for some time so it's no surprise. Whether you agreed with him or not (and I sometimes did but often didn't), you have to accept that his speeches and arguments were always coherent and thought-out. Not for him the ten second sound-bite of today.

 

RIP

I too have done work experience with Benn. Several times at 15/16 too.

 

An incredible man, I was sorting through all his interviews and he told me which interviewers had been awful and which good.

 

I will always remember each day we would break for lunch and have two microwaveable pizzas each (it's all he ate) and I would ask him about politics and he would talk. It is thanks to him I the politically minded individual I am today.

 

RIP

Tell us more!

I think it's interesting that all the tributes to him have said that, despite how strong his political opinions were, he was always extremely polite and down-to-earth on a personal level to other politicians, even to ones he disagreed with. In stark contrast to today's politicians. That seems to be common for politicians from the past - even Thatcher would generally play "the ball rather than the man", by actually debating with other politicians on the substance of the issues rather than flinging gratuitous insults like "weak! out of touch!" at them.

 

Imo it goes back to the fact politicians in those days felt secure in the fact the profound differences in the substance of their arguments would speak for themselves so they didn't feel the need to act like schoolchildren. Whereas, today, because there is little difference between politicians' stances on issues, they feel the need to ham up the personal aspects of it purely so that they feel there's a "dividing line" between them and their opponents.

I think it's as much due to the fact that the era of mass media politicians are seen as individuals more than representatives of a party, and voters tend to be less predictable/reliable in voting along various socioeconomic lines so personality - and diminishing others' - matters more.