by Benn, Tony
All the rumours that Thorpe is implicated have turned out to be correct. It is the most tragic story. Here is a well-connected, brilliant, amusing man who won North Devon from the Tories in 1959, became Leader of the Liberal Party when he was in his thirties after Jo Grimond retired, and who in February 1974 carried the Party to its greatest electoral achievement since the war. And he has had this terrible anxiety on his mind, being blackmailed by this male model. The man is completely broken. The charge of conspiring to murder is obviously very serious, and if he is convicted there can be little doubt that he will go to prison. Inexpressibly sad.
The question now will be how much did Harold Wilson try to cover it up to protect Thorpe for political purposes?
Wednesday 6 September
Joan Lestor rang and told me that, at Brighton yesterday, Jim Callaghan had asked her where she was going to be over the next few days. She’s convinced an Election is imminent and thinks 28 September is a possibility, in which case the Election timetable would be very tight.
Thursday 7 September
Went into the office and found they were re-laying the carpet, which seemed very significant.
Cabinet at 10.30, and I was sure the Election was going to be announced. We met without officials present. Jim said that there had been much speculation and he had consulted his Ministers, especially Michael Foot and Denis Healey, but the responsibility was his, although it affected all our fates, and it was an enormous responsibility. He had considered other factors such as the Devolution Referendum, and the fact that according to most opinion polls Labour voters do not want an Election – though our activists do – and he announced that he’d written to the Queen last night to say that he did not propose to seek the dissolution of Parliament.
I was most surprised, and indeed angry that the Cabinet had not discussed a decision of this magnitude. The letter to the Queen had been sent, and that was it. I later discovered that he had decided this course on 17 August, so when he asked for our opinions last week, as a result of which I wrote to him, it was already a fait accompli.
He thought we might get a majority in Parliament on the Queen’s Speech debate and we would fight when we could see the prospect of outright victory. We could win now, but he said the position would be dearer once the improvement in the economy was felt more fully. He wanted to disprove the idea that governments just go for an Election at the first sign of a blue sky and he intended to make that point in his broadcast tonight. There would be difficulties ahead in the winter, but he wanted the electorate to see the full picture and not just the first stage of our recovery, because the real question was whether an early Election would help with unemployment, pay, or any of the problems facing us, and the answer was no. He said he would prefer that there be no discussion of this matter because he could not unwrite the letter to the Queen.
Sunday 24 September
To Hyde Park to address the Anti-Nazi League rally. There was a lorry with a steel band playing, and there were tens of thousands of young people. The average age was about twenty to twenty-five, and there were banners and badges and punk rockers, just a tremendous gathering of people. It was certainly the biggest meeting that I had ever attended in this country – bigger than the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders demos in Glasgow.
A speaker from the Socialist Workers’ Party spoke from the platform first, followed by Arthur Scargill and me. Tom Robinson, a gay pop star and a committed socialist, sang. Bill Keys, General Secretary of SOGAT, and Dennis Skinner were there. As far as I know, Dennis and I were the only two Labour MPs. Multiracial rock music has given the movement leadership and it is a tragedy that the Labour Party can’t give a firmer lead, but it has never done so.
Tuesday 26 September
Moss Evans and I talked for an hour and a half; considering he has the Ford pay claim and a national Ford strike on his hands, it was amazing that he could come at all. I asked him how it was going. ‘I notice Terry Beckett (Chairman of Ford) got an 80 per cent pay increase today,’ I said.
‘Oh,’ he said, ‘we’ve known that was coming for ages – profit-linked of course. It just isn’t on; Ford have made great profits and our people have contributed to it.’
Moss told me it would cost the union a quarter of a million pounds a week to keep the Ford strike going, and they could borrow more money, interest free, from other unions.
He looked out of the corner of his eye to see my reaction to all this. I was quite impassive, and I said, ‘I just want to know how we’re going to get out of it without being painted into a corner like Ted Heath was. Jim feels that reducing expectations is the right thing to do.’
‘Yes,’ said Moss, ‘when you talk to Jim he says, “The mass of the people are with us and will continue to support us”, but, you know, the rank and file of our people are the public too. We have a million and a quarter T&G workers and we are just as much members of the public as those who don’t want wage increases. You can’t re-create the Social Contract, you just can’t do it. You’ve got to have flexibility now, we’ve got to be able to renegotiate in industry.’
Friday 29 September – Labour Party Conference, Blackpool
Sir Fred Catherwood, Chairman of the Overseas Trade Board, Terence Beckett, and today Joe Gormley and Ray Buckton have all been attacking the rigidity of the 5 per cent pay limit. Jim is digging his heels in and Denis Healey had been in Washington saying the same thing to the IMF.
Saturday 30 September
Pope John Paul died yesterday after only thirty-three days as Pope.
Barbara Castle is extremely keen to have a vote tomorrow, though she herself intends to abstain. She is anxious to crucify the Executive over the very issue on which she was crucified in 1969, when she was forced to drop In Place of Strife.
Sunday 1 October
To the National Executive to consider the motions to Conference. Barbara Castle had an emergency resolution opposing the EMS but she took twenty minutes to speak on it. She quoted Harold, Jim, Roy Jenkins, the Party, the TUC and so on. She doesn’t know when to stop.
Anyway, we voted, and Barbara’s motion denouncing and rejecting the EMS was carried by 16 to 9 – a tremendous success.
There is great excitement and there is no doubt it is the Left’s Conference. Jim can’t ignore that completely.
Monday 2 October
Joan Lestor delivered her Chairman’s address, ending with a quote from Tawney, and that was followed by an overwhelming vote against smoking at the Conference, so that was the end of my pipe.
Denis Healey breezed in and made an awful speech about how we must all support Jim and so on. After Michael had wound up with a call for loyalty, to everyone’s amazement the motion against the 5 per cent was not remitted but carried by about 4 million to 1 million, and the alternative strategy motion was carried without a vote. The Right tried to be clever by endorsing the Government’s stand on economic and monetary policy and calling on the Movement to support it, as part of a general vote of thanks to the Labour Government. They thought they’d get it through but it was actually defeated by 3 million to 2.8 million. The result was dazzling, and Jim’s whole position now is endangered.
It’s hard to know how to react, because the IMF and the City of London may withdraw their support from the Government, and Heath and Steel might offer to back Jim up. The trade union leaders will be embarrassed by all this, but their rank and file had to be allowed to speak. We can’t do anything without the support of the whole Labour Movement.
I refused all requests for interviews because it only makes trouble.
In the evening I went with Caroline and Stephen to Tiffany’s Ballroom for the Labour Agents’ Ball, where the big news was that Jim had decided not to attend – the first time in years that he’d missed it. The agents, who are mostly right-wing machine men, were utterly demoralised by the vote.
Tuesday 3 October
Yesterday’s vote against the Right’s motion in support of the Government was significant because it preve
nted the Conference from facing both ways, as it did last year.
So Jim started the day with a handicap, though I must say he went on to make the best speech I had ever heard from a Party leader at Conference. He was modest and fair, and he said that nowhere else could such an intelligent debate about pay policy be held. Yesterday’s debate was outstanding for its relevance, and for the experience of those who argued the case.
‘But the White Paper stands,’ he said, ‘and we have to prevent inflation from rising. Conference defeated the Government’s pay policy yesterday and that was a dramatic moment.’
He went on to talk about the Government’s achievements, about the caring society and participation and pressure groups. I sent him a little note, which I heard later was well received.
Wednesday 4 October
Dennis Skinner was fresh from his NEC victory and looked slightly manic and aggressive. Eric said, ‘That man frightens me. Is he really democratic?’ Dennis is a pyrotechnic; he isn’t frightening at all. He’s just pleased because it’s another left-winger on the NEC.
Monday 9 October
It is a fortnight tomorrow since I last wrote to Merlyn Rees reminding him about my question of whether my telephone had been intercepted, so I decided to write again.
Dear Merlyn,
I wrote to you on 12 September to ask you if my telephone calls are or ever were tapped by the security services. Having received no acknowledgement or reply I wrote again on 26 September and asked if you had received my earlier letters. Your Private Secretary telephoned my Private Office the same day. The message did not, however, confirm that you personally had received or even seen my letters.
I enclose copies of these letters and of your office message. Two more weeks have now elapsed without any word from you. The questions I put were quite straightforward. When may I expect your personal reply?
Tony Benn
I don’t know why I have plucked up my courage so much, but I have no intention of being diverted from it now.
Tuesday 10 October
Anthony Tucker of the Guardian came to see me, and I told him that I believed he was right about being victimised over his stand on nuclear issues. He said, ‘It’s not just me. Professor Lindop of Bart’s Hospital, who is a member of the Flowers Commission and is a well-known expert on radiological protection, wrote an article for a paper in the East of England. She was violently attacked in a letter from Michael Michaels.’ (Michael Michaels was my Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Technology.)
He also pointed out that there was a Euro-nuclear link, in that pro-Common Market people were also pro-nuclear, as I am well aware. He maintained that John Hill, Chairman of the AEA, had complained to the Editor of the Guardian about what he, Tucker, had been writing. As a result, Tucker had been undermined. He gave me a copy of a memorandum that he had written to the Editor and I drafted a minute saying that I would not have the Department penalising journalists because they were critical of our policy. When I showed it to James Bretherton afterwards, he advised me to consult Bernard Ingham, since it did imply a criticism of him.
Wednesday 11 October
As I was about to go to a press conference at 5, I saw a brown envelope marked ‘Personal’ in my tray and, though I yearned to open it, I went to the press first.
Back upstairs I read the letter, which was from Merlyn Rees, and it was astonishing. He apologised for the delay, said that he thought the acknowledgement made it clear he had seen my letter, but that I could not be told whether or not my telephone was being intercepted. That had been the practice and he was not prepared to vary it in respect of a Member of Parliament. The fact that I am a Privy Councillor, a Cabinet colleague and a senior member of the Government made no difference to him.
He pointed out that, in respect of West German telephone-tapping, the European Court of Human Rights had not ruled that this was an infringement of human rights, and he mentioned that the Machinery of Government Committee of the NEC had not suggested that these matters should be covered by a Freedom of Information Act.
I should add that Merlyn mentioned that he had sent copies of the correspondence to the Prime Minister.
I came home and wrote an eight-page memorandum on the security services and the case for an inquiry.
Tonight, addressing the Tory Party Conference, Ted Heath pledged his full support to Jim Callaghan on pay. That can’t be right.
Monday 16 October
A new Pope was elected today – Cardinal Wojtyla from Cracow. He’s taken the title of Pope John Paul II and he is the first non-Italian Pope since 1522, so it’s quite an event. He was in a German POW camp or concentration camp. I think he’s a good choice.
Wednesday 25 October
Lunch with Frances, Geoff Bish, Francis, Michael Meacher and Bryan Gould. Frances Morrell and Brian Sedgemore think I should be quiet now and just drift into the leadership of the Party by doing nothing. That may be the right tactic, but I just feel we are fighting a battle and I am impatient to be in it. They don’t understand my attitude on this. We analysed Jim’s views on the EMS and drew some interesting conclusions as to what he must be thinking: that Britain was ungovernable and therefore we needed a federal European government; that there was great political value in being associated with Schmidt; that there would be a fear of a run on the pound before the Election. He didn’t really have any faith in the pay policy, so international monetarist disciplines would be the best way of holding the unions in check.
At 5 I, went to see Jim alone in the Cabinet Room about my paper on reform of the security services, which I had put to the Home Policy Committee.
He said, ‘On this business of the security services. Why did you ask whether you were tapped?’
I told him about the delay in Merlyn’s reply to my note.
‘That’s because it came to me,’ he said.
‘It’s a serious issue, Jim.’
‘It is all under ministerial control,’ he replied. ‘We hardly bug anybody. Incidentally, your telephone isn’t tapped.’
‘I didn’t say it was. But my son picked up my voice on the radio the other day, and my daughter made a call and heard a recording of what I had just said.’
‘It’s all under control,’ he repeated.
‘But how do we know that?’
‘Look,’ Jim replied, ‘there must be an element of trust on this.’
I assured him I wasn’t suggesting that I distrusted him, but you had no idea what the secret services were up to.
‘Well,’ he said, ‘I have just changed the heads of MI5 and MI6, as a matter of fact. I have appointed Sir Howard Smith as head of MI5, and I have known him for years.’
‘So have I.’
Jim told me that Howard Smith had just come back from our embassy in Moscow, and Jim had informed him, ‘Say goodbye to Gromyko – tell him you’re coming back to take charge of MI5.’
‘Well, if the Russians can know who the head of MI5 is, why can’t it be published here?’ I asked.
‘He might be a target,’ Jim said,’ an IRA target.’
‘Lots of people are targets.’
He didn’t tell me who the head of MI6 was, so I said, ‘I heard from an American, who was on President Carter’s Commission, that a man called Sir Leonard Hooper was head of MI6. These names ought to be known.’
‘Just makes them targets for the IRA,’ Jim muttered. ‘The whole thing is under control.’
‘Well, you say that, Jim, but I heard of a WEA course on William Morris, in Wales, where the police wanted to find out who had enrolled because they thought that Morris was a Marxist.’
‘Well, let me give you an example,’ Jim replied. ‘Two MPs went to some Anti-Apartheid meetings and they complained to me that they had been followed by plainclothes men. I’ll tell you why the men were there – to keep an eye on BOSS, the South African secret service, and to find out which meetings they were attending.’
I didn’t say, but I found that hard to believe because Specia
l Branch and MI5 work together with BOSS.
‘Let me give you another example,’ I said. ‘Harold Wilson, in my presence, told the CBI at a dinner in March 1971 that the TUC were bugged. I didn’t learn that as a Minister.’
‘Oh, Harold is just a Walter Mitty. Once, in his study upstairs, he turned round the picture of Gladstone and there was a hole in the wall. He called Ken Stowe in and put his hands to his lips and said, “Shhh!”, pointing to the hole. He’s just a Walter Mitty.’
‘Well, maybe, but the Pencourt File stated that he thought he was being bugged; and Chapman Pincher was certain Wilson was bugged.’
‘Pincher’s links with the services ended five years ago,’ said Jim.
‘Well, he has just published a book, Inside Story, saying that five members of the Cabinet are Communists and one is in touch with Moscow. Presumably he thinks it’s Michael Foot.’
‘Oh, that’s all stopped. Chapman Pincher has nothing to do with the security services now.’
I reminded Jim of my efforts to appoint Jack Jones to the NEB, and that I was told he was a security risk, at a time when he was carrying the whole Government on his shoulders. I was told I couldn’t have Hugh Scanlon on the British Gas Corporation because we needed somebody who was loyal to the country. How did we know security was under control?
‘It is. And your telephone isn’t tapped.’
‘How many telephones are tapped?’
‘139,’ he replied, ‘and each one has to be authorised by the Home Secretary on a warrant. Every three months the Permanent Secretary and the Home Secretary go over the list and discuss whether or not to continue tapping individual numbers. Not even all the foreign embassies are tapped.’
‘Well, the POEU are of the opinion that between 1,000 and 2,000 phones in London alone are tapped.’
‘That is not so,’ said Jim. ‘It has got to be a question of trust.’
‘But a lot of people are worried, and I think we ought to have an inquiry.’
Jim said, ‘I am not making available anything that is secret.’
