[img]http://imgkk.com/i/-xct.jpg[/img]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18686794[/url]
[quote]Tony Benn was one of the few British politicians who became more left-wing after having actually served in government.
He became the authentic voice of the radical left with the press coining the term Bennite to describe the policies espoused by those resisting attempts to move the Labour Party to the middle ground.
As such, he became a bogeyman for the right in British politics, with delegates to Conservative conferences displaying Ban the Benn badges in the style of CND's Ban the Bomb logo.
Later in life, the former firebrand politician became something of a folk hero as well as a campaigner for a number of causes, particularly opposition to UK military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.[/quote]
[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26573929[/url]
[quote]Former Cabinet minister and veteran left-wing campaigner Tony Benn has died at home, his family has said.
The 88-year-old former Labour MP had been seriously ill.
Mr Benn became an MP in November 1950 and served in the Cabinet under Harold Wilson and James Callaghan.
A major figure on the left of the party, he narrowly missed out on the deputy leadership in 1981 and went on to be a popular public speaker, anti-war campaigner and political diarist.
In a statement his children Stephen, Hilary, Melissa and Joshua said Mr Benn died peacefully early this morning at his home in west London surrounded by his family.
"We would like to express our heartfelt thanks to all the NHS staff and carers who have looked after him with such kindness in hospital and at home," the family said.[/quote]
oh. I thought it had something to do with this guy:
[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pXgjOWpquGY/S-_63QeEs_I/AAAAAAAAABw/1u536bW7VC0/s1600/Mr+Ben.jpg[/img]
What a brilliant politician he was, we have lost our last true and great Socialist.
We have lost a great man. There are not many people I bestow the title of 'legend' to, but he is one of them.
He left a secret memorial to Emily Davison in one of parliament's broom cupboards.
[img]http://i.cubeupload.com/7omZHu.jpg[/img]
Also take a look at [url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26152382]this article[/url] for a look a back at his life.
Edited:
And to top it off here is a video of him absolutely demolishing Ali-G
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-YYroSudUs[/media]
Learnin' and ting. :v:
A friend of mine just told me about when he met Tony a few years ago not long after the General Election, he had a short chat with him and when he told Tony that he was a UKIP Candidate Tony didn't care one bit that he was in a party which economically and socially from his point of view was the devil incarnate he just said that it was always important to oppose things that threatened democracy and had a nice chat with him before signing his copies of "Letters to my Grandchildren" and "The End of an Era".
Just shows to me what a nice guy he was and I'm sad I'll never have the chance to meet him.
He left this message with Channel 4 to be broadcast after his death
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByW_70gFf4o[/media]
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