by Benn, Tony
Then we went into Number 11 and Number 12 Downing Street and in Number 12 we saw pictures of the government Whips in 1910, including Father, who was then in the Liberal Party.
Monday 14 March
John Hill came in to talk about Windscale. I asked ‘What are the real hazards there?’ and he told me something extraordinary. ‘Well, there’s activity everywhere you dig on that site. Don’t forget that after the war Windscale started as a weapons site. We would be pushed to produce 20 kilograms of plutonium before the Russians marched on Berlin; Windscale was given top priority. Whenever we had a spill we just covered it up. For example, in 1957 one of the reactors caught fire and we simply poured in 300,000 tons of water which went right through the plant and into the ground. You can’t dig anywhere without the soil producing a radioactive response.’
He said the plant itself was built to two standards of containment: there were the double-clad, no-leak tanks; and there was the low-activity waste. There was always some seepage from all of it but there were inspection checks.
Tuesday 15 March
Cabinet discussed the proposed sale of BP shares which had been agreed as part of the IMF deal in December and I was called on to speak first. I said that, as the Cabinet would remember, I was strongly opposed to the sale of shares and the public reaction had also been adverse; 100 Labour MPs of the Left, Right and Centre, including John Cartwright, Phillip Whitehead and Jeremy Bray, had signed a motion against it, and Len Murray had reminded us that it would be a breach of the Social Contract.
Then I read the paragraph from the Public Accounts General Purposes Sub-Committee criticising the sale of the shares.
Going round the table, Harold Lever and Edmund Dell were of course in favour of selling the shares. Denis Healey said it would cost us 2p on income tax if we didn’t. Peter Shore wanted to leave it a bit and Bruce Millan said something helpful. I said at the end that the argument that it would damage BP if we had a big shareholding was nonsense; they had always complained about it, but no one had ever mentioned it to me. If we did reduce our holding and a foreign government bought the shares, it would be awful. People said that the North Sea was in hock and mortgaged up to the hilt and this would reinforce that view. Why not defer it?
But I was defeated. Denis said we had to know today in time for his Budget.
Thursday 17 March
Cabinet at 10. The first thing was that Jim said, ‘I told the Cabinet I would buy a gift for the Queen and I asked her what she would like and she said she would like something she would use personally, something she really could use herself.’ So Peter asked, ‘Well, what is it?’ He said, ‘A silver coffee-pot.’ Everyone laughed, because the one thing she must have a million of is silver coffee-pots. So anyway, Audrey Callaghan had gone out and found one and it was brought in and put on the table. It is Victorian and, since it will cost each member of the Cabinet £15, it is worth at least about £370.
I said, ‘I assume that as it is a Cabinet coffee-pot it won’t leak?’ Jim said, ‘You can say that to the Queen yourself.’
We went on to Carter, and Jim reported on his trip with David Owen to the United States. He said Jimmy Carter is a very fast reader, has an amazing capacity to absorb his briefs; he reads at something like 3,000 words a minute. ‘About the same speed that Harold Wilson writes his books,’ I said. Jim went on to say Carter was a great supporter of the Labour Party, and when Jim had told him, ‘Well, we may save the country but lose the Election’, Carter had replied, ‘Well, I hope you succeed with both.’
Friday 18 March
To Bristol, and was met at Temple Meads by someone from the Independent Businesses Association. I had geared myself up to sympathise with small businesses and at the same time I was rather nervous of them because I thought they would all be potential National Front people.
Well, I couldn’t have had more of a surprise because Mr Tucker, who met me, a man of about sixty-five, born in Bristol, couldn’t have been nicer or more politically sympathetic. He hated the Common Market and had been Labour all his life. We and his son, who looked like a really tough self-made Tory businessman, drove in a Rolls Royce to Transport House, Bristol, where I met the small businessmen in the company of Harry Wright of the CSEU. It was an absolutely fascinating hour.
They talked about being inadequately represented. Their voice was not heard. They can live with a lot of legislation, but, said Mr Tucker, the big firms control the paper-money empires and they want recognition of their role.
A printer who employed thirty-five people said, ‘I may look wealthy on paper with my premises and plant but I work very hard. I want to pass it on to my sons, but the business would have to be sold to pay for death duties.’ He stated that half the people in this country are employed by small businesses; but corporation tax, VAT, PAYE, CTT, CGT, masses of civil servants and a huge inflation of tax levels made things very difficult.
Then Mr Tucker’s son said, ‘Equality and fairness are not the same. We are not speculators or big businessmen, we are all professional managers, and we are oppressed by the weight of the legislation. We want to be reasonable but it is a weight, and we would rather employ more people than pay more tax.’
It was a very useful meeting; I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Monday 21 March
The papers are full of Election fever. Everybody is steamed up about it but I am rather calm because I am absolutely sure a deal will be done with the Liberals (Michael made it pretty clear last night) and because if there isn’t a deal and there is an Election we won’t do all that badly.
Also in the papers today, the Cambridge Review, to which Francis Cripps contributes, forecasts a rise in unemployment to about two million; and the press has given it very little coverage.
The Labour Party – Trade Union Liaison Committee met at 10.30. It was agreed we would set aside the agenda and discuss the current parliamentary situation. Jim was asked to speak, and began, ‘Well, Chairman, I think . . .’ And Barbara as usual said, ‘Would you speak up, Jim.’ Barbara’s a bit deaf, I think.
So Jim continued, ‘Well, I was trying to think of what to say!’
Listening to the discussion, I came to this conclusion. David Basnett, Len Murray, Hugh Scanlon and Jack Jones all want the Government to survive and would be perfectly content to do a deal. They are critical of the Left because they think the Left would bring the Government down. So the trade union leaders ask what is the lesser of two evils in the present situation. Well, the Labour Government is the lesser of two evils compared to the Tories, and Labour with a bit of Liberal support is still the lesser of two evils. No doubt they would carry it further and say, ‘Look, if you put up with the Common Market, which limits the freedom of action of the Government, and with the IMF, which limited the freedom of action of the Government, then clearly the Liberal limitation on freedom of action will be less.’
If you take that view – that Jim must be kept as Prime Minister (which is different now from having a Labour Party in power) – that is the only conclusion you can reach. I might add that the trade union leaders are terrified that their own position will be put at risk, if their members say: Well, you delivered us tied hand and foot into the hands of the Tory Government.
Tuesday 22 March
I had a morning at home till 11.30. More speculation about the deals that are being done, and I am quite clear in my mind that one is being done.
At 12.40 Francis and Frances came in and we had a blazing row because I said I thought that in my speech to the trade union group of MPs this evening I should say something that bore upon the current political situation. Frances disagreed. She was going to have lunch, so I worked in my room and wrote a few things and had some sandwiches, then she came back and we went over it again. She said, ‘Let them discredit themselves. Just sit back and do nothing, say nothing.’
‘That’s very cynical,’ I replied.
‘Well, being in this place has made me cynical.’
So I said, ‘Well
, surely we must sustain the government campaign for our policies and get re-elected with a big enough majority to implement them?’
‘No, no, if you go along with this, you are going along with a coalition.’
‘Well, shall I resign?’
‘No, don’t resign. Just stay there.’
It was an awful meeting, and she was very upset and left the room.
Francis Cripps stayed and I talked to him, probing him. He said, ‘You can’t put it right with a speech. You have got to quietly make contact with all the people in the Labour Movement who are thinking it out for themselves and support them and encourage them and gradually re-create a new Labour Party from inside the wreck of this one.’ He was quite sensible. I’m sorry I was cross with Frances Morrell, but she is a difficult woman and I am a difficult man, and when I think I am right I am usually wrong.
Caroline and I went together to the Waldorf for the annual party given by the Thompson brothers, the Labour Party’s solicitors. The general rumour is there is a deal and we heard on the 10 o’clock news that Pardoe had said there would have to be a written deal.
Wednesday 23 March
A momentous day. As you might expect, the press was full of rumours of deals and talks. I thought about it again this morning, and after talking it over with Caroline I decided I would oppose any long-term deal with the Liberals. I had a message before I left at 9.30 to say that the Cabinet had been called for 12.
I went to the Cabinet at 12 and there were crowds of people in Downing Street, including hundreds of photographers.
Jim opened the Cabinet absolutely red-faced. I have never seen him so red. It was strange; he was scarlet. Michael was white and drawn.
Jim said the Cabinet would recall that last week the Chief Whip reported we would lose the vote of confidence tonight, and that at the TUC-Labour Party Liaison Committee last Monday it was clear the trade union leaders did not want an Election. They had encouraged us to hold discussions with other parties while preserving the integrity of our party. ‘In the last two days,’ he said, ‘I have been engaged in talks and plans, including contingency plans for an Election on 5 May and the Budget problems associated with that. I am grateful for the forbearance of colleagues and I will now report the result of these discussions.
‘We began with high hopes for the support of the Ulster Unionist MPs and it is not clear yet what they are going to do. Jim Molyneaux and Enoch Powell would like to support us, and in these discussions we have not neglected the interests of Gerry Fitt and the SDLP. The Ulster Unionists have proposed that we recommend to a Speaker’s Conference that there should be more Ulster Members, and legislate to that effect.
‘Now,’ said Jim, ‘I won’t take the Cabinet through the long discussions which took place, but last night an agreement was reached with the Liberal Party which I will read, and will circulate. I would ask members of the Cabinet to return their copies.’ He said the documents would be signed by himself and David Steel; then he went through the details of the agreement.
By 20 votes to 4 – the four being Peter Shore, Stan Orme, Bruce Millan and myself – the Cabinet consented to the Lib-Lab Pact.
It was now about 1.20 and Jim said, ‘I must now ask those who have voted against it if they are prepared to go along with it.’
Stan Orme said, ‘Yes, Prime Minister.’
I said, ‘I can’t answer that question because, despite Denis’s comment that the Prime Minister speaks for the Party, all you can do round this table is commit the Cabinet. You can’t commit the Party. The Cabinet does not control the Parliamentary Party, or the National Executive, or the Party in the country, and therefore the best I can say to you, Prime Minister, is that there will have to be consultations with the PLP, with the Executive and, in my case, with my own constituency Labour Party, and I am afraid I cannot answer your question until those consultations are complete.’ He didn’t press me.
That was it and, feeling very sick, I went over to my office. Frances was in the canteen and I scooped her up before she began her lunch and we had a talk. She was immensely agitated about the whole thing. ‘This is the Left losing again and we must do something immediately,’ she said.
So that is it. Without any consultation with Cabinet colleagues as a whole, Jim and Michael have negotiated something absolutely contrary to what Michael had told me on Sunday night.
Thursday 24 March
On the way to the office I went to Metyclean, which is one of my favourite ports of call when things are going wrong. I bought myself a Casio quartz clock computer which has the most fantastic facilities – gives you the time, works as a stopwatch and as a calculator, and has four alarms. It weighs four ounces and fits into your pocket I was thrilled with it.
Got back to my room at 7.40 and the phone rang. It was Jim. ‘There’s a letter going round criticising the arrangement with the Liberals,’ he said. ‘I just want to tell you that, if you sign it, it will be incompatible with your membership of the Government.’
So I said, ‘Well, I’ve already signed it.’
‘In that case I want your resignation.’
‘I had better think about it,’ I replied.
‘You know you have been sailing very close to the wind.’
‘Jim, all it says is that we should have a special meeting of the Executive. It doesn’t comment on the Liberal thing.’
‘Yes, but it has been started by Mikardo, and anything Mikardo does is bound to be damaging to the Party.’
I said, ‘Actually Eric Heffer asked me to sign it at the Party meeting.’
‘Well, that’s it,’ he said. ‘I want your resignation.’
I told him I wanted to think it over and he continued, ‘I know you saw Mikardo yesterday and it was a pretty uncomradely thing to tell him what went on in the Cabinet And it was pretty uncomradely to tell the newspapers.’
I said it wasn’t a very comradely thing for me to hear about the deal with the Liberals from Pardoe forty-eight hours before the Cabinet was told.
‘Well, we were very busy,’ said Jim.
‘Maybe you were. If you want to get rid of me I fully understand; perhaps having done a deal with Steel you don’t need me any more.’
Jim insisted that that wasn’t the case but he wanted an answer by tonight, as he was leaving for Rome in the morning.
After 11, I rang Number 10 and asked to speak to the duty officer. After a long pause, Jim came to the phone.
‘Oh, Jim – Tony Benn. I’ve withdrawn my signature.’
‘Well, I appreciate that very much,’ he said. ‘If it comes out that your name was withdrawn, will you say it was a mistake?’
Then I rang Frances and told her it was all over. ‘You should never have signed it,’ she said. ‘It has weakened your position.’
‘Don’t attack me, please, Frances. Don’t criticise me.’
Actually she is under pressure at the moment. She told me this morning she couldn’t go on, the strain was too great.
That’s the end of another immensely eventful day.
When I reflect on it, I probably should not have signed that letter.
Sunday 27 March
Caroline and I decided that we would not attend any more of the Sunday night dinners. I’m not saying some of the participants couldn’t be brought in in some way – Stan Orme and Peter Shore certainly could – but it must be on the basis that we really are trying to work out how to re-create the Party and not just stumbling on.
Tuesday 29 March
Brussels for the meeting of Energy Ministers of the EEC. I had breakfast in my room in Donald Maitland’s beautiful house. The room had heavy shutters which opened on to a balcony, overlooking a lovely garden bathed in bright spring sunshine. It was very cold, however, and flurries of snow were settling on the frozen grass.
We sat from 7 in the morning until 5.30 the following morning, but frankly I don’t think the discussions were interesting enough to relate in detail. I took my white mug and got tea brought to m
e throughout the day.
I took the chair, and the first thing I did in the session was to ask whether Ministers would agree to having the Energy Council conducted in the open. I went round each representative in turn and every one of them found reasons why it couldn’t be done – except Dick Mabon, bless him, who said yes. So that disposed of that idea.
The French are so good at Europe. I do admire them. They are clear-headed, logical, quiet, and they present their arguments in a Community spirit. The Germans, on the other hand, are blunderers and end up banging the table. The little five hate the big countries and band together to keep us in order, but they are frightened of the industrial and economic strength of Germany, whose geographical position allows her to dominate Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Everybody worships France because of her skill in diplomacy and her grandeur. Italy is just a beggar on the southern flank, a transparently devious beggar.
I’m being very blunt because I’m angry! The Irish are trying to be helpful, but they don’t want to be thought of as an appendage of Britain. Indeed, to be lined up with the British all the time is a slight embarrassment for Dublin on the Continent, and so we can’t really rely on them for support.
Anyway, bed at 5.30 am.
Saturday 9 April
Slept till after 10, had a mug of tea and dictated my diary for the last four days.
I should mention that on Thursday night President Carter announced that the Americans were going to wind down their reprocessing operations and stop work on the fast-breeder reactor because of the risk of proliferation from the manufacture of plutonium. It was a tremendous statement, and the BBC took it up immediately. John Hill attacked it on Friday’s 1 o’clock news, while Brian Flowers welcomed it.
I had a message from Number 10 that I was not to comment on it, which made me very angry – a British Energy Minister forbidden to comment on American energy policy! The nuclear lobby has obviously got at Jim, saying it will wreck our relations with the Common Market and upset the French and the Germans.
