The Most Dangerous Man in Britain? The Political Writing

On the centenary of his birth, a collection of Tony Benn’s most important speeches and political writing

Tony Benn, UK Labour minister of parliment from 1950 until he retired in 2014, was the most distinguished socialist politician of his era. Holding numerous Cabinet posts from Postmaster General to hugely influential Minister of Technology in the 1970s, he challenged for the Party deputy leadership in 1981. Throughout his career he held a series of positions on Parliamentary reform, industry, and policies that were so popular they were named ‘Bennism’ and set the template for the democratic socialism of the 2010s. A charismatic orator, a lifelong campaigner for peace, and a charming troublemaker, Benn reached national treasure status in his retirement, and his firebrand politics were too often overlooked.

This centenary anthology of his works revives his political potency and the urgency of his agenda across a wide set of priorities: the consequences of Empire, the need to embrace industrial change, to reform of the state machine and the management of politics.

The introduction by his daughter, Melissa Benn, also shares an intimate portrait of the man, showing how his politics informed all parts of his life, as well as his last two interviews.

Tony Benn (1925 - 2014) was a radical statesman, British Labour Party politician and political activist. He later served as President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 to 2014.

Melissa Benn is a journalist, novelist and campaigner. She has written for the Guardian, the New Statesman, Cosmopolitan and the London Review of Books, among many others. Her writing on education includes Life Lessons.