by Benn, Tony
As I was walking down the corridor I passed Michael Foot’s room and it was jammed with people including Neil Kinnock, Judith Hart, John Silkin and I said, ‘Good luck’. They said come in and I said, ‘No, I just want to wish Michael luck.’ I went to the lavatory and when I got back to my room Neil Kinnock and Judith were there, both feeling guilty, I think. They again asked me to go to Michael’s room and join the campaign. I said, ‘I am going to support Michael, you needn’t worry about that. But I am not going to sit in as a sort of Back Bench member of Michael Foot’s campaign committee. I’ll talk to Michael privately.’
Did several TV and radio interviews and came back and talked to Joe. I must say a word about Joe. Not only was he my PPS for just over a year but he has been my friend and as campaign manager has been absolutely brilliant. Every time he is on television, his whole presentation has a completely different flavour from that of the other po-faced campaign managers.
Friday 26 March
Cabinet at 10.30 and as I sat waiting with Michael outside the Cabinet Room Jim came up and he said, ‘Well, Michael, I just want to tell you that if you win on the next ballot, I shall have twenty-four hours of disappointment but after that I shall be completely all right.’ Jim was trying to be friendly but it wasn’t terribly convincing.
Saturday 27 March
Slept until midday, then Caroline and I went to the Holland Park School Fair and had a lovely day. Gradually began sorting out the backlog of work.
Monday 29 March
Went over to Number 10 for Harold Wilson’s farewell party. I thought it would be for Transport House people but when I got there I found it was a typical Harold party with all sorts, including the two policemen from Number 10, with their wives, Wilfred Brown and his wife, the Baloghs, David Frost and his latest actress girlfriend, Morecambe and Wise, the Judds, Ron Hayward, Marcia.
Marcia was very miserable. I saw Mary Wilson and said she would be able to have a quiet life now. ‘I have done my best,’ she said, ‘but I now just want to slip back into obscurity again.’ I asked Ron Hayward, ‘Why do you think Harold has retired?’ He said, ‘Things got too much for him, and he’s lost his nerve.’ I don’t think that’s true, but it is an interesting thought.
Tuesday 30 March
The results of the second ballot were Jim Callaghan 141, Michael Foot 133, Denis Healey 38.1 must say the fact that Denis only got one more vote in the second ballot than I got in the first gave me great pleasure; he was utterly rejected really. It looks as if Jim is going to make it, but there are still uncertainties one way and the other.
At 10.15 I went and voted for Michael Foot in the final ballot.
9
1976–79
Thursday 1 April 1976
THE HS-125 was waiting at Prestwick Airport with my old friend Captain Dan Thomas, and I flew with John Hill, Bryan Emmett, and Bernard Ingham to Dounreay, where Dr Blumfield, the Director, met us. I had a chance to look at the new security fence and perimeter track. I pursued with John Hill and with the Deputy Director exactly what the fast-breeder hazards were and the answer is simple: if the sodium pool in which the reactor is situated ran dry or if the control rods could not be inserted and the reactor went critical, then you could get a melt-out through the metal chamber and possibly, though John Hill denied this could happen, through the concrete emplacement: you would have what is called the China syndrome – where the thing would simply burn its way down through the earth and come out in China (that’s a ludicriously extreme reaction).
In Dounreay, the scientific élite have assumed the role of the lairds and treat the local people as the hoi polloi, although their high level of skill means there is an element of mutual respect.
Monday 5 April
The Wilson era has ended and the Callaghan era has begun. I would say that Jim will prolong this Parliament as long as he can because it may be his only period as Prime Minister. If he loses the next Election, in due time he too will go.
Tuesday 6 April
I went into the House for lunch and who should wander in but Harold himself, puffing his pipe and looking frightfully well.
Harold told us that, walking his dog at Chequers last night, he had decided he was going to sit on the Front Bench and listen to the Budget debate. I must say, my heart warmed to him a bit.
I am going to have a talk to him once the tumult has died down. There are a lot of things I’d like to know – particularly about the security services and I am sure he would be prepared to talk to me.
I sat through Jim’s first Prime Minister’s Questions and number one led to twelve minutes of congratulations. The second was directed at me. ‘Did the statement made by the Secretary of State for Energy about import controls represent the policy of the Government?’
Jim replied, ‘No, Sir. My Rt Hon friend was giving reasons why he was putting himself forward as candidate for the leadership of the Labour Party.’
Then Norman Tebbitt got up and asked, ‘Is it right for the PM to keep in his Cabinet somebody who hates the policies of the entire Government?’
Jim replied, ‘I read my Rt Hon friend’s statement carefully and if there hadn’t been a better candidate standing, I might even have voted for him myself,’ at which the whole House broke out in laughter.
Wednesday 7 April
Had a long talk to Francis Cripps. I don’t know if I will ever be Leader of the Labour Party but I don’t fit the specification for the job as it now is. If I were Prime Minister I would divide the job into three: there would be the Leader of the Party in the Cabinet, with the power of appointment. Then I would have a Chairman of the Cabinet to see that government business was carried on in an orderly way. And I would have a leader of business whose job it was to turn the manifesto into the statute book.
It may be that after five years of Tory Government we may come back in the Eighties. I am sure that the time for all this is the Eighties. It is not now.
Thursday 8 April
Bryan Emmett and Bernard said they would like to take me to lunch. So Francis and I went with them to the Pimlico Bistro and had a meal. At ten to two Bryan was called away by the waiter. When he came back he said, ‘The Prime Minister wants you to phone. There’s no security problem about ringing from the restaurant.’ So I went downstairs in this little cubby hole of an office, surrounded by dirty cups and bills, I phoned back and was put through to Number 10. Jim came on the phone. ‘I want you to stay at Energy.’
I said, ‘I think I have more to offer in terms of democracy and Devolution and Parliament, so I’d like to be Leader of the House.’ I said I would phone back with my answer but I would also like to see him.
We jumped into the car and I went to see Michael Foot. ‘Michael, what’s going to happen to you?’
‘I am going to be Leader of the House.’
‘Well, in that case, I would like the Department of Employment.’ Michael said Albert Booth had been offered it and accepted.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘he could change. He would be a marvellous Secretary of State for Energy, but on merit, seniority and capacity to pull the trade union movement together, I would do a better job at Employment. You know I could, it would be difficult but I would pledge my support. I could do it.’
‘Well, I am afraid Albert has already accepted.’
Of course, the truth is that there has been a double deal – that Jim would block Roy Jenkins from going to the Foreign Office by putting Crosland there, on condition that Michael would not press for me to get Employment.
Friday 9 April
The Roy Jenkins faction are hysterical that Roy hasn’t been given the Foreign Office in the reshuffle.
Monday 12 April
I had a message to go over to see Jim Callaghan and he said, ‘I will tell you frankly, they say you don’t take an interest in Energy.’ This is interesting because this must have come from Sir Jack Rampton straight to Sir John Hunt – the network at work.
‘You have great ability,’ said Jim. ‘
I think you could be one of the greatest leaders this country has ever had but I am not sure that you are not aiming to go out and be the darling of the Left. Well, I can be a very hard man and I shall call you in one day if it goes wrong and maybe I shall sack you.’
Jim is handling me skilfully because I am somebody who needs to be at least thought of as not destructive, if not appreciated. I assured him, ‘I am not sitting waiting for the revolution to march on London, I live in the naïve hope that one day you will accept the policies that I advocate.’
‘When they make sense, I will,’ he replied.
‘That’s fine, that’s all I ask. Incidentally,’ I said, ‘I won’t resign unless I think the Government is destroying the Movement, and I can’t see that happening.’
‘Not under me,’ he said.
I saw Harold tonight wandering round the House and he has absolutely shrunk; it shows that office is something that builds up a man only if he is somebody in his own right. And Wilson isn’t.
Tuesday 13 April
Jim’s first Cabinet. The order of seating was changed. Jim opened by saying, ‘I would like to thank formally the retiring members – Barbara Castle, Willie Ross, Ted Short, and Bob Mellish. I would like to welcome the new members. I have changed the seating and perhaps you ought to look where everybody is. I hope you will look at my Minute on Procedure very carefully and ensure that your junior Ministers get it.’
When Foreign Affairs came up, Tony Crosland just said, ‘Nil.’ His idea of being clever is to pretend there is nothing that should be brought to the Cabinet. He once boasted he had had no debates in the Cabinet about Education, but he’s not going to get away with it on Foreign Affairs.
In a moment of undue goodwill today, I decided to send a letter to Jim with my book of speeches, so I wrote him a note in my own hand saying:
Dear Jim,
This is strictly for your bookshelf and not for the Prime Ministerial reading list. These speeches chart a sort of Pilgrim’s Progress which may be a better guide to what your Secretary of State for Energy really thinks than can be gleaned from Lobby or Whitehall gossip. It comes inscribed with genuine affection and respect, deepened by your personal kindness over these last few days and combined with heartfelt good wishes.
Yours, Tony
I inscribed the book, ‘To Jim, with affection and respect, Tony Benn.’
Wednesday 21 April
A box was delivered this evening and there were one or two interesting things in it, including a most friendly note from Jim.
My Dear Tony,
I did appreciate your letter and the inscription in your book.
And I want to say your good wishes are totally reciprocated – and don’t let either of us believe all we read about the other in the newspapers!
Audrey has brought the speeches to the farm to read this weekend – despite my remonstrations!
Let us meet after Easter and have a talk about the way you see things going, not just in your department but more generally in the Party. Please ring my office.
Yours ever,
Jim C.
I haven’t had a letter like that from Harold Wilson in the whole of my life, and it really helps.
Thursday 29 April
Quite a day! At 7 the doorbell rang and it was a journalist. Then when the papers arrived, the Daily Telegraph had a headline, ‘Benn Set on Collision Course’. This referred to my abstaining at the NEC on a motion of censure attacking the public-expenditure cuts instead of voting against the motion. The Daily Express had a huge banner headline, ‘Benn Rats on the Cabinet’, and I must admit it worried me because I thought it was an awful start with Jim, with whom I was establishing a good relationship.
On the way to Cabinet I asked Crosland how he was enjoying the Foreign Office and he said it was boring, which is typical of Tony. I said, ‘I presume you are thinking about nothing but the Treasury.’
I had a message from the PM’s office that he wanted to see me this afternoon so I went into Jim’s office and he said, ‘I had a question in the House today about collective responsibility and I gave the only answer I could, that collective responsibility includes all Ministers, who must be expected to defend government decisions at all times. I don’t want to be emotional but we can’t have this. If somebody wants to take over this job and do it better than me, I am happy to give up but while I am in, you’ve either got to be with the National Executive or the Government. You may have to choose. There are five Ministers who are also on the Executive and I think we should meet.’
‘That’s fine. I’ll write a paper for it if you like,’ I told him.
‘No, don’t do that. It must be absolutely secret.’
So Fred Mulley, Shirley Williams, Jim Callaghan, Michael Foot and I are going to meet for a discussion and I think that’s very important.
I commented, ‘There were more Ministers on the Executive at one time.’
‘Yes, well, some went, some Harold got rid of, and I had to end Barbara’s career. Harold used to keep a big majority in order to have a tame vote there and I haven’t got it now.’
‘I know, but I think we had better discuss it because I don’t like hearing the Executive attacking the Government, or the Cabinet speaking with contempt about the Executive. Actually, I think the NEC wants to make a go of it.’
Jim said, ‘I don’t know. There are certainly three of them in continual contact with Communists. It’s not “reds under the bed” or that sort of stuff’ (which of course it was) ‘but I know that everything that goes on in that Executive goes straight back to King Street. I have ways of knowing.’
‘I suppose as Home Secretary you know how these things work, but I don’t actually see it that way.’ I presume he was saying that the telephones at the Communist Party HQ are tapped.
Then he said, ‘You have got to accept our policy. You have a lot of ability. You are a young man.’
‘I’m not a young man,’ I said. ‘I’m fifty-one. I’ve been here twenty-six years and the NEC wants to make a go of it. But I appreciate the way you have handled the situation, the problem created by my views.’
Monday 10 May
The big news is that Norman Scott, that awful male model, has finally succeeded in dislodging Jeremy Thorpe, who resigned today as Leader of the Liberal Party. It is terribly sad for Jeremy. Maybe this is a great victory for the South African security police, against whom Harold Wilson railed again yesterday. It makes you wonder whether he is the next one for some scandal of a financial kind, linked to the burglary of his papers. Very strange, I must say. I still can’t understand why he has gone.
Sunday 23 May
The scandal of Harold Wilson’s resignation honours list is still exercising the press. The whole thing is utterly corrupt. What we need at the moment is a great attack on the power of patronage that is given to the Prime Minister. It is much too much for any one man to have. We would never give a king the power to do all that a Prime Minister can do – far more than an American President, and far more than is desirable.
Monday 24 May
Had dinner with Frances and Judith and we talked about how to deal with Thatcher’s argument, which is that the Labour Government are doing to the trade union movement what the Tories could never do; that in doing it the Labour Government are getting profits up and holding prices down and therefore restoring vitality to the capitalist mechanism; and that by doing so they will disillusion their own supporters and make it possible for the Tories to return. Hence when the Tories do return they will find the Labour Movement broken and divided and demoralised, with capitalism booming.
Thursday 27 May
Harold Wilson’s honours list is still the big news item today. It is unsavoury, disreputable and just told the whole Wilson story in a single episode. That he should pick inadequate, buccaneering, sharp shysters for his honours was disgusting. It has always been a grubby scheme but the Establishment never reveal the grubbiness of their own peerages and honours. Still, we’ve neve
r had anything quite like this in the Labour Party and it has caused an outcry. It will clearly help to get rid of the honours system.
To Locket’s for lunch with Roy Hattersley. We had sort of committed ourselves to having a meal together and I enjoyed it. He is an attractive guy and we talked about Tony Crosland and Jim; he prefers Tony. He thought Tony trusted him more whereas Jim wanted to run everything himself. He found Crosland amusing and civilised and of all the people in the Labour Party, Crosland was the one whose views he shared most completely.
I said how pleasant life was without Harold and Roy said, ‘Yes, but it is an appallingly pedestrian government under Jim.’ He described the junior Ministers’ meeting on Monday. ‘Of course,’ said Roy, ‘I take the view, as you know, that freedom is what matters. I’ve never been a member of any group.’ I pursued that with him and we talked about education. He takes an absolutely hard line about banning all private education. On health, he’s in favour of banning any private health provisions because it will destroy the Health Service. I said from these issues which he cared passionately about – and I didn’t blame him – it could be inferred that he wasn’t in favour of freedom. He said he knew that, but we had to carry out these policies.
Roy also said that when he had stayed in the Shadow Cabinet in 1972 after Roy Jenkins and David Owen had resigned, all his friends had cut him off – Bill Rodgers, David, John Harris – and he was absolutely isolated and pilloried and was always described as ‘that rat’ by Bernard Levin.
It was a very enjoyable talk.
Thursday 3 June
Jack Rampton came in and told me that Sir John Hill wanted to see me today to tell me he wanted to cancel the steam-generated heavy-water reactor. An absolute bombshell. So Hill and Walter Marshall came to see me, with Chris Herzig, Rampton and Alan Phillips present. John Hill sat looking shifty, watching Rampton most of the time, and said, ‘I have been in Russia and in Finland [or Sweden] and I’ve been thinking; I have come to the conclusion that we should cancel the SGHWR.’ He then gave all sorts of reasons – it was expensive, there was a small market, the customer didn’t want it, the American light-water reactor (PWR) had been proved safe – and it turned out that he wanted the development of the fast breeder to be accelerated.
