A Touching Portrait of Old Age

As I turned the last page of "A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine" The Last Diaries of Tony Benn and was listening in the background to Rachmaninov's 'Vocalise' I felt a sudden sense of irrevocable loss and melancholy. And I did shed a quiet tear for 'the best political diarist of our time'. Tony Benn, formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate, turned his back on his inherited peerage in the early 60s and became someone who many considered to be the most dangerous politician in Britain in the 1970s.

My sense of loss is amplified by the fact that this is the first of the Benn diaries I have read. Can one really go back to earlier volumes? Would that perhaps change my opinion of this now gentle man who I had never had much time for? Perhaps. Tony Benn has always been a champion for left wing politics. He detested 'New Labour' and disliked Tony Blair. He entered politics in 1950 and during his career held several ministerial posts. He is now approaching the age of 90 and these last diaries clearly reflect that. He suffers bouts of depression, often thinks about death, which he believes is 'just around the corner', and he gets very tired. This inevitability is understandable as he reflects on his waning influence on political life.

But for all that the diaries are full of anecdotes about people that come up to him in the street and tell him how wonderful he is, about meetings and marches he attended during this late stage of his life, and his love for his family shines through every page.

I am not left wing but I do find myself agreeing with Tony Benn on several issues such as parliamentary sovereignty, civil liberties and Europe. The Last Diaries have endeared me to the man.

I wish I had met him.