ennery
John O'Sullivan
Ts°Ily Senn: A Critical Biography Russell ewls (Associated Business Press 0.50) Mr Tony Benn occupies a prominent place in the imagination of the English middle class. He is half ogre, and half silly ass. The (,Ire pays tribute to the Marxist tradition in Inc Labour Party, finances trespassers' t'cioPeratives, periodically announces Rirther schemes of nationalisation and is in pneral the standard-bearer of the -scowling ft. But, on the other hand, is there not "nething, well, eccentric about the chap? !le keeps re-writing his own biography in wh Who and elsewhere to eliminate such dY parts of his past as his education or his unef time as a member of the officer class. And there was that party political broadcast in his 'Wedge-Benn of Mintech' days when he declared keenly: 'I'm terribly excitaby lubrication technology.' Rum. Not to mention daft. It is the ogre who dominates the pages of Mr Russell Lewis's vigorous and lively polemic. For this is a'very political book a sort of anti-campaign biography. Mr Lewis gives us a brisk account of Mr Benn's early and private, life and then gets down to the economic consequences of the public ogre. As Postmaster-General, Minister of Technology, Minister for Industry and Minister for Energy, Mr Benn has apparently cost the taxpayer a great deal more than all the mistresses of Charles II without giving anything like the same entertainment in return. The reverse in fact. Admittedly, the silly ass introduced the warbling telephone. But the ogre can point to a long series of dull, expensive fiascos like British Leyland, Upper Clyde, Concorde, the Scottish Daily News, etc. As a prudent devotee of free markets and sound finance, Mr Lewis is unsparingly critical of this lavish mis-spending. Surely, however, a Heathite Tory or a social democrat or even a Tribunite who could add up would have to reach the same conclusions in the face of overwhelming evidence? Why. then, has Mr Benn risen steadily up the greasy pole? Surely the correct explanation is that Mr Benn's fiascos have been of the greatest political benefit to himself. Concorde workers in Bristol vote for him in large numbers and subsidised mineworkers support him fervently at Labour conferences. He has perfected the legal art of bribing democracy. All this artiounts to a formidable political onslaught. But the author is far from blind to Mr Benn's personal virtues courtesy to opponents, invariable willingness to debate his case rationally, dedicated hard work and devotion to his family. There is even a rare example of Bennite humour. Accused by Mr Callaghan in Cabinet of arguing from sheer political prejudice, he pleaded guilty and asked for a hundred similar offences to be taken into account. But the central question remains: is Mt Benn a genuine ogre or is he even now preparing to ditch the Trot loonies, trade union hacks and Cambridge economists once they have helped him into Downing Street? Politicians are such flighty creatures that questions like this can be finally answered only in obituaries. But there are surely some clues in his progress from young President of the Union in conventional pursuit of the glittering prizes, to classless technocrat sponsoring the 'new' scientific managers ol the Sixties, to his present eminence as a personal friend of Wat Tyler, the Levellers. Captain Swing and the Tolpuddle Martyrs -. plain Tony Benn sans Hon., sans Wedgwood, sans Neil, sans everything but the cash. Mr Lewis offers the charitable explanation that he is an almost mediumistic interpreter of the prevailing frenzy. If so, there is no knowing what he may get up to in the future. I offer a more comforting and optimistic explanation to the Spectator's middle-class readers: he may be another Harold Wilson.
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