The Benn Diaries: 1940-1990

by Benn, Tony

  Monckton said he had been happiest at the Ministry of Labour under Winston. ‘Winston wanted industrial peace at all costs and even thought on occasions that I was too tough. He once sent for me at 10.30 in the morning during a strike. He was in bed and he asked me what I proposed to say in the Commons that afternoon. When I had finished he said “Walter, you’re handling this all wrong. You should give them the money. I can’t have strikes.” He then developed this and finished up by saying “Are you going to take my advice or follow your own reckless course?”’ Monckton said he would obey an order but would still prefer to keep the offer in reserve, at any rate for the present. ‘All right, my boy,’ said Winston, ‘you pursue your foolish course and I shall have the satisfaction of being able to say I told you so.’ Eden apparently was much tougher than Monckton and on the famous occasion in May 1955 when he said in his broadcast that the railwaymen must go back before negotiations could start, he did it on the insistence of Clarissa and against the strong and urgent advice of Monckton himself and all the civil servants.

  Finally, the train drew into Bristol and he went off to his meeting and I to mine. I was naturally most flattered that he should have been willing to talk so freely and I was delighted to get an inside glimpse of what is going on at his level in the Government. However, it’s a great mistake to think of Monckton as a fighter. He has hawked his conscience round quite a number of people the last three months but I very strongly doubt whether under any circumstances he would have resigned from Cabinet altogether.

  Wednesday 19 December

  At lunchtime a group of us (Fenner, Barbara Castle and others) went to South Africa House to present a letter of protest to the High Commissioner about the Treason Trials. He refused to see us but we left our message and there was a certain amount of publicity which is good for the MCF and helps to focus attention on what is going on. Our great scoop was to interest the Labour lawyers including Gerald Gardiner in the trials and through them the Conservative and Liberal lawyers. Finally all three associations approached the Bar Council who decided to send Gerald as an observer to the preliminary hearings. He is on the point of leaving and his influence should be considerable.

  Monday 21 January 1957

  The first working day at home after my visit to Germany. It certainly was extremely interesting though an exhausting visit. I am glad I went. There was a little cyst or boil of anti-German feeling in me which was lanced as a result of seeing the country. The bomb damage was phenomenal. The scale of the reconstruction was also interesting. The shops, hotels and petrol stations were so modern and impressive that the visitor might think the country better off than we are. Yet no doubt millions still live in very poor conditions. Berlin was particularly tragic. The total destruction was enormous and the division of the city pathetically obvious.

  Now Parliament meets again tomorrow and we enter a new political phase. The resignation of Eden has thrown everything into the melting pot. In a few months one will know whether it really was health or not. The leading articles certainly regarded it as a minor factor compared with his monumental failure over Suez. Macmillan has shown just the right quality of drama in his opening days at Number 10. His government is bold and his television performance was evidently a very dramatic one. His call for an ‘opportunity state’ has created interest and discussion just when things looked so soggy in his own party. If he succeeds in making an impact it will call for great skill by the Labour Party to make a successful challenge to him.

  Sunday 10 February

  For some time Geoffrey de Freitas has been bothering me to take an interest in defence and particularly the Air Force. It’s not at all my line but as an ex-RAF pilot I suppose I must be one of the very few in the PLP who knows anything about the Air. My reluctance to take the Air job on is heightened by the fact that Geoffrey recommends it as a sure way to get office in the next Government That he should think that this argument would convince me is intensely irritating and much as I would like office, the thought of the Air Ministry depresses me beyond belief. However, I promised I would watch it for the next few months and I have been attending the various committees.

  My dreams of being efficient have been brought a little closer by the purchase of a beautiful four steel drawer cabinet and a suspension filing system to go in it. With all the lovely coloured plastic tabs I think it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Everything now has a place and I find that there is no more enjoyable relaxation than standing looking at it with its drawers proudly pulled out and all the things I ought to do neatly filed away out of sight.

  Monday 18 February

  Caroline went to the hospital today. The baby is now two weeks late on the most cautious estimate. They have decided to bring it on on Wednesday.

  Wednesday 20 February

  Slept fitfully and called the hospital at 5.20 fully expecting to hear the good news. Alas, the contractions had stopped and Caroline was sleeping and would be pushed along the road as planned at 12 o’clock. The same story at 7.50 and 10.15. However, they let me go there from 11–12 and I sat beside her for an hour in a white coat and mask. The contractions began again – and it looked as if she still had a sporting chance of doing it unaided. As dawn had broken she saw the lights go on in the cells in the Scrubs opposite and the prisoners looking out through the bars at another cold, clear morning. However, when I left at 12 things were well on their way and I expected news by tea time. As it was, I rang at 1.50 for an interim report and heard that Melissa Anne had been born at 1.35. Caroline was delivered by Sister Tweddle, the Sister in charge of the Labour and Delivery ward. After sending off all the appropriate telegrams and messages, I was allowed to see them both at 3 o’clock and Caroline was looking wonderful.

  March

  I was forced to miss the annual meeting of the Party in Bristol by the arrival of Melissa and I gather there has been some criticism there of the rarity of my visits. This is partly my fault and partly theirs. However, I shall have to devote more time to the constituency than I have been doing.

  18 April – 8 May

  Dick Crossman’s party was on 1 May and we went along. No one quite knows what his political position is at the moment. Ever since he parted with Nye he has been a Gaitskell fan. He denounced the ending of the H-bomb tests and has now come out against the H-bomb itself. I’m afraid it has ruptured his personal relationships with other members of the Party but we seem to be on his ‘new friends’ list. He had a different crowd of guests than before but we enjoyed it very much. He told me afterwards that the little group who had stayed for a talk had voted Caroline ‘the best wife for a leader of the Labour Party’.

  Tuesday 21 May

  A Party meeting this morning on the new National Superannuation Pensions Plan. Dick Crossman introduced it with all the lucidity that he commands. It is such a complicated new idea that it will take weeks for the Party to understand it and years for the local Parties and the general public. It is certainly the most exciting thing that has happened since the Beveridge Report. Dick Crossman will undoubtedly be the first Minister of Pensions after the Election and will find a haven for his talents after the storm since 1945.

  This evening Nye Bevan spoke to the Commonwealth and Colonies group of the Party. It was a joint meeting with the Foreign Affairs group and he kept us enthralled for fifty minutes. He described his talks with Nehru and the significance of the Communist victory in Kerala. The brilliance of the word-spinner captivated the audience, who listened with rapt attention. But on reflection I was more than disappointed with what Nye had said and the way he had said it. As in his speech in the House last Thursday night, he took a much more anti-Egyptian line than is reasonable and became an advocate of realpolitik with a certain zest. The doctrine that backward countries could not nationalise their industries for fear of losing foreign credits was, I thought, a very dangerous one. Nye will have to be watched for fear that he become not only the darling of the Tory Party – which he is already – but that by his
speeches and actions he deserve that title.

  Saturday 25 May

  This evening to Tony Crosland’s party. His divorce came through two days ago and this must have been some sort of celebration. I only knew two people there – Hugh Dalton and Roy Jenkins. The rest were a sort of rootless crowd of nondescript men and rather sulky women between twenty-five and thirty-five. Tony is, of course, a very unhappy person. I’ve known him for eleven years and at one time we were very close friends indeed.

  The main trouble is his strict Nonconformist background. His parents were Plymouth Brethren and against them he has been in constant revolt. His years in the war gave him the excuse for thinking that his youth had gone and he has been trying to catch up since 1945. At thirty-nine it is rather silly. But he is in fact a very kind man. He taught me economics as a favour in the evenings and we went to the cinema together. Without his recommendation I should never have got Bristol SE and without the redistribution in my favour he would never have lost South Gloucestershire. He is unusually gifted as an economist and has a very clear mind with a very great faith in the power of reason. But the proof of his unhappiness is his curious death wish, which he showed when in the Commons, and which now takes the form of affecting to be bored with current politics. If he gets back into Parliament he will get high office. If he does not, then his life could be a very tragic one.

  Friday 31 May

  This evening Caroline and I went to Hampstead to a party given by the Gaitskells. Adlai Stevenson was the guest of honour and he had been there for dinner. It was very crowded and we stayed from 9.30 until about 1.45. It was amusing to see who had been invited. Nye was not there but most other members of the Parliamentary Committee were. The only trade union leader was Frank Cousins with his wife.

  There was dancing in one room and people got slightly tight. In many ways it was a little depressing to see the Leader of the Party halfway to being sozzled. But it might have been a great deal worse and certainly Winston always looked that way from lunchtime onwards so it can’t be a complete bar to a successful premiership.

  Monday 15 July

  Although I have forgotten to mention it in the last few days Lords’ Reform is coming back into the news.

  Father and I agreed that it would be worth asking for an interview with Macmillan. Accordingly I rang his Private Secretary, and asked whether the PM could spare a few mintues of his time. He said that I would hear in due course. Today I had a message to go and see Ted Heath, the government Chief Whip. He is a most amiable and friendly soul whom I have known casually since very early 1951. I had then been in Parliament about two months and he about eight months. He has done brilliantly well to have risen to his present position of eminence within such a very short period.

  Anyway that is all by the way. He told me that the PM was too busy to see me before the recess and was in any case doubtful about forming a precedent in agreeing to see an Opposition backbencher on a point of policy. He would, however, be glad to receive a letter from me ‘which would then be sent to the right people’.

  Thursday 18 July

  To the Buckingham Palace Garden Party this afternoon. What an occasion it is. The spacious royal park with its ornamental lake and bridges and the splendid front of the Palace dominating it. There in the private enclosure are the royal family surrounded by the Diplomatic Corps and the ‘distinguished’ guests. Outside promenading on the lawns are 9,000 more guests. The occasional bishop, the invariable sultan with his umbrella, the sprinkling of turbans, saris and white duck jodhpurs, the grey toppers and the flowery dresses with the wide-brimmed hats. The two Guards bands under their tents blowing for all they are worth in their scarlet tunics. The whole pattern is like a gigantic ballet – a Cecil B. de Mille crowd scene.

  There is a secret way of eating two teas. One at the beginning when the royal family are arriving and everyone is crowding for a peep, leaving the tea tent deserted, and the other at the end when they’re leaving and the same thing happens. In the middle when everyone else is jostling, pushing and shoving, you promendade yourself looking disapprovingly at those who seem ‘only to have come for the food’. Actually Joe Lyons and Co. do quite a good job with the catering, though the bridge rolls were soggy.

  But like the story of Cinderella the romance evaporates. At the end hundreds of people were waiting for their cars to be called over the loudspeaker. You could see the guests still immaculate, if a little tatty. And you would hear: ‘The Town Clerk of Little Chippings’ – that tall figure whom you thought was a central European Ambassador (at least) scuttles away to get into his Austin 7 driven by his son. ‘The Chairman of the S.W. Area Gas Board’ the flunkey announces . . . and so it goes on. Now we know the secret and slip out the back door and catch a bus.

  30 September – 4 October – Labour Party Conference, Brighton

  This week at Brighton was a very exciting one. Everyone thought it was going to be the dullest Conference ever, but they turned out to be wrong.

  The elections offered no surprises and Jim Callaghan displaced Sydney Silverman from the National Executive. I stood for the first time. I missed election by two places and 48,000 votes. But to get 517,000 on first standing was wonderful.

  The first day we spent in condemning the Government’s economic policy and bringing forward our own emergency resolutions on rents. Of course all this can only work if there is co-operation between the trade union movement and the Labour Government. What has to be got across discreetly to the public is that this co-operation will be forthcoming without any binding undertaking on either side.

  We then reached two very important decisions on pensions and public ownership. After excellent debate the national superannuation scheme was adopted. The new policy of share-purchasing in place of nationalisation was also overwhelmingly adopted after an important speech by Hugh Gaitskell. Finally, in a day full of drama the Party decided to continue with the manufacture of the H-bomb, although it expressed its readiness to suspend tests unilaterally.

  The Party thus can claim to have reached firm decisions about important matters and to have done so in an atmosphere of unity. The decay of this Cabinet and the prospects of a Labour government within a short period has helped to bring us to our senses again in our personal relations. The triumphs of individuals are worth recording. Harold Wilson delivered two speeches: one on the economic situation which was well received, and one on public ownership which was less well received. I admit I never find him very convincing although he has great ability. Nye Bevan cut away his left-wing support by his cruel wording during the speech on the H-bomb. Though I think he was right in the line he took, it was a very unhappy speech. It earned praise from the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Worker. Neither of those is a good indication of his talent and I still distrust him profoundly.

  Dick Crossman was probably the greatest personal success. After his difficult change of front over the years and the rage he had stirred from the Bevanites he had then annoyed the trade unionists with his unwise article in the Mirror saying that only a handful were fit for high office. Therefore when he rose it was to a polite handclap. But so brilliant was his speech and so lucid his exposition that he sat down to a thunderous ovation that carried him to the inner councils of the Party.

  Tuesday 5 November

  The trouble about a personal diary is that it is entirely subjective. It is not a history, nor has it any value except such as it gets from the personal slant it shows on events. But of course these events are the framework on which the thin personal story is woven. Every now and again one has to step back a little and assess the changes that are taking place outside.

  This is particularly true this autumn. The staggering news in October of the launching of the Russian satellites, Sputnik I and II, has really changed the course of world history. It shows the brilliance of Soviet technology, alters the balance of military power, and more important than either of these two, it marks the beginning of the space age. As long as recorded history exists, 4 O
ctober will be remembered and remarked upon. It is far more momentous than the invention of the wheel, the discovery of the sail, the circumnavigation of the globe, or the wonders of the industrial revolution.

  Looking at the political situation there are not so many momentous events to report.

  The Government is losing popularity steadily. Despite this, Macmillan remains confident and Lord Hailsham wanders about the country making ebullient speeches. What drift there is against the Government is not coming to Labour but is going to the Liberals.

  The Labour Party on the other hand is in really good shape. Hugh Gaitskell has emerged as a popular Leader in Parliament, although he lacks certain dramatic qualities and loses effectiveness thereby. Nye Bevan is determined to be Foreign Secretary and is touring the world making speeches and influencing people. Whether he is winning friends is another question. His Russian talks were evidently cordial and he is at this moment engaged in lecturing the Americans about their own affairs and policies in a way that is causing a lot of excitement, but not a little interest. Americans like people who ‘talk turkey’. There is none of the diplomatic hypocrisy about Nye Bevan. I do not altogether trust him, for I think he lacks the qualities of self-confidence, serenity, generosity and personal loyalty, which are desperately necessary for high office. On the other hand he has energy, imagination, the gift for good human relations, directness, courage, vividness of expression, a wide view, a good political sense, a colourful personality, most lovable faults and a lot of other things which are missing in those who possess the qualities he lacks.

  Thursday 5 December

  To Robin Day’s party. He was voted TV personality of the year yesterday. It is a tremendous honour that he richly deserves. He was celebrating by producing a girlfriend who was Miss Great Britain – a not very glamorous blonde. All our Oxford contemporaries were there.

  Saturday 7 December