The Benn Diaries: 1940-1990 (109 page)

I asked him how many men.

He replied, ‘At Nottingham, of the sixty-four policemen in our group, sixty-one were soldiers and only three were regular policemen – an inspector, a sergeant and one bobby. We didn’t wear any numbers, didn’t get paid overtime as the police did, and were told not to make any arrests because the police would do all that.’ He said the soldiers used were from the Military Police, the SAS and the Green Jackets. He himself had been a military policeman. ‘I shouldn’t really be saying all this because of the Official Secrets Act.’

Then he added, ‘Surely you could tell us because of the way we marched, and we had short hair. We were obviously the army. The police knew we were soldiers. Of course, you realise the army are now being used for civil defence.’

I told him he should write it all down before he forgot it.

He said, ‘There’s the Official Secrets Act, and I would deny I ever said it if you told anyone. But we must get rid of Thatcher.’

Wednesday 19 November

In the
Financial Times
this morning Mrs Thatcher was reported as saying that two more terms of office would exterminate socialism. I saw Clare Short, who asked if I had seen it, and I replied, ‘Yes, but I think she’ll have a job to outdo Kinnock.’

‘Don’t be so depressed,’ she said.

‘I’m not, I’m just being realistic.’

Thursday 27 November

Sat through Prime Minister’s Questions, listening to the Prime Minister trying to cope with the rising crisis in Australia; Sir Robert Armstrong has been sent there to stop the publication of
Spycatcher
but he will fail.

Went to the PLP meeting, and next week’s business was announced; it included Wednesday’s debate on the security services, called by the SDP. I chipped in to say I thought it was all very well making Thatcher look a fool, and having a lot of fun over Lord Rothschild and the ‘fifth man’, but the really important issue was that the security services were out of control. People thought Harold Wilson was paranoid when he claimed he was bugged, but he
was
bugged, and burgled; of course, Wilson himself had tapped trade unionists’ phones during the National Union of Seamen’s strike in 1966. I said we really did have to establish some principle of accountability through Parliament, a proper statute governing the security services’ conduct. It was the first time I’ve spoken at a PLP meeting for some time.

Wednesday 31 December

Looking back over 1986, I think the most important event on the world scene was probably the Reykjavik summit. Gorbachev offered total nuclear disarmament and Reagan accepted but insisted on Star Wars, which wrecked the summit but left on the table something that could officially be picked up if Star Wars were dropped – the total nuclear disarmament of Europe. This caused flutters of alarm through the European NATO members including Thatcher, Kohl and Mitterrand. What it did was to confirm the seriousness and purpose of the Russians, the Americans’ lack of seriousness and purpose and the Europeans’ utter commitment to nuclear weapons.

In Britain, Mrs Thatcher got into trouble over the Westland affair and lost Michael Heseltine, the Defence Secretary, and Leon Brittan, the Home Secretary, early in the year. She was in further difficulties about Leyland, and was unpopular also for authorising the use of British bases for the American raid on Libya. Later in the year,
Spycatcher
led Sir Robert Armstrong to face an arrogant, young, up-and-coming Australian barrister called Malcolm Turnbull; the humiliation should have put the Government
into an appalling position; but there was no credible opposition on the part of the Labour Party.

The Labour Party is a story of continuing tragedy. At the end of the year, despite everything that was done to boost Kinnock against the Left, the Tories had a lead of 8 per cent – which is quite unheard of on the eve of an Election after a party has been in government for seven years. It is a tragedy for the Party, but it is no exaggeration to say that 90 per cent of NEC time this year has been spent in trying and expelling people in Liverpool and hounding Militant in a general witch-hunt. It has led to great bitterness, though nobody speaks up for fear of ‘rocking the boat’.

A National Constitutional Committee is being elected; it was established after the Party Conference, in order to take some of the load of expulsions and discipline off the shoulders of the NEC.

The policy of the Party is now vaguer and more muddled than ever before. The ‘Jobs and Industry’ campaign was followed by the ‘Freedom and Fairness’ campaign; and now ‘A Modern Britain in a Modern World’ has been launched to put forward our defence arguments. But actually it is the biggest fallback from our position there could be, because although we are going to decommission the Polaris it doesn’t say when; the Americans will be asked to leave their nuclear bases in Britain by agreement; and the money spent on nuclear weapons is to go into conventional defence. So I don’t think that will help us much.

I do find the House of Commons an extremely unpleasant place at the moment. Talking in the Chamber itself is like being in a zoo where the animals bray at you. The PLP is like an icebox; they are terrified anything you say might lose them their seats. Being on the NEC is like being a member of the Inquisition.

I should think David Owen will try to merge the SDP with the Tory Party and leave the Liberals in the lurch, having used them as a launching pad in the interim – because that man is not going to be content to go through life as just a sort of independent media commentator.

Nevertheless, I look forward immensely to 1987. There will almost certainly be a General Election, and my guess is that, with a completely gutless and right-wing Labour leadership, the Tories could win outright.

Saturday 7 February 1987

Today we heard that now the NGA has pulled out of supporting the strike against Rupert Murdoch. The printers, like the miners, are strong, and that is why the Government has gone for them. Until there is a really big change of attitude by the trade unions, the Labour Movement will continue to be entirely subservient to Thatcher.

Sunday 8 February

We went to see Sally and Hilary’s new baby, who hasn’t got a name yet. He
has webs about a third of the length of his toes, and when I looked at mine I found I have the same!

Monday 16 February

Today we had a meeting of the NEC and the Shadow Cabinet – the first, I think, since Neil Kinnock became Leader.

Kinnock introduced the meeting and spoke for about twenty minutes on how we were geared for Election victory. My general impression was of a very insecure chairman of a company addressing shareholders, or rather sales representatives in the field – we were told what to do, and there was no sense of being genuinely consulted at all.

We went on to the polling presentation, and Peter Mandelson said a few words. I find Mandelson a threatening figure for the future of the Party. He came in from the media eighteen months ago and has taken over, and he and Kinnock now work closely together. Whitty is just a figurehead, and Geoff Bish has been pushed into the background.

Then the Shadow Agency, or Shadow Communications Agency as it is called, analysed their findings. They said that there had been a shift from the collective to the individual, and that people were afraid of the loony Left, afraid of the future, afraid of inexperience. It was totally defensive; but on the positive side we had ‘a leader in control’ and so on.

There was a discussion, in which Denis Healey said, ‘Not for the first time, I agree with 95 per cent of what Tony Benn has said. The psychosis of the Cold War has had to be revived to justify the Trident. There are important changes in the Soviet Union, and it would be a historic crime to miss the opportunity that Gorbachev is opening up. The Trident depends on American targeting. Britain is not in the first division any more, it is in decline, and because of the Falklands War and our attitude to South Africa we are not taken seriously in the UN Security Council.’ We had another twenty-five minutes of Neil Kinnock summing up.

Tuesday 17 March

My first visitors at 9 am were Alan Plater, the playwright, Mick Jackson and Sally Hibbin, who are turning Chris Mullin’s book
A Very British Coup
into a three-part television series. They wanted to ask me what situation would face an incoming radical Prime Minister, what his relations would be with the security services, the Americans, the Governor of the Bank of England, and so on.

In a way, Chris’s book has been a bit overtaken by events in a number of respects. First of all, the likelihood of a left-wing Labour leader is absolutely minimal. Secondly, there won’t be a Labour government. Thirdly, when Chris wrote about ‘dirty tricks’ in 1982 they were considered a bit way out but are now sort of taken for granted. However, the general idea is interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them.

Saturday 28 March

Kinnock and Healey returned from America today, Reagan having given them less than half an hour. It was a disaster, whereas Thatcher’s visit to Moscow has been trumpeted everywhere. It’s sad for the Party, because all Kinnock did was to reassure Reagan that Britain would remain in NATO and never put Labour policy forward at all, as far as I can make out. Healey is angry about it.

Sunday 26 April

A beautiful day, the blossom is out, and London looks lovely.

It is clear the Election will be in June, and the Tories have an 11 per cent lead.

Wednesday 29 April

I was driven early to the BBC for a television interview about
Spycatcher
and M15. Just before I went on the air, the producer leaned over to my seat and said, ‘You cannot mention any of the allegations in the Wright book.’ Since I was there to
discuss
the allegations in the Wright book, it seemed to me incredible, so I asked why, and she said, ‘Our lawyers have advised us.’ I was expected to sit there and discuss
Spycatcher
without saying what it was about I said, ‘I’m very sorry, but I’m not prepared to do that.’

So when we came to the broadcast I not only spelled out the allegations with absolute clarity but mentioned the attempted assassination of Nasser. I also stated that I had been approached just before we went on air not to talk about the allegations.

Monday 11 May

Spent most of the morning waiting for news of the Election date, and it was announced at about 2.15 – 11 June, as we’d expected.

Tuesday 12 May

Went into the Commons, then to the Clause 5 meeting which was being held in Transport House to discuss the manifesto. There was a huge crowd outside with red balloons, and television cameras filming it. Neil was standing on the steps waving – it had all been stage-managed. The members of the Shadow Cabinet and the NEC filed in.

Not having seen the manifesto in advance, I didn’t know what would be in it, but I had typed out a whole range of ‘amendments’, which I called a checklist, and gave copies to Larry Whitty, Audrey Wise, Geoff Bish, Jo Richardson, Joan Maynard, Dennis Skinner, and Linda Douglas, the NEC Young Socialist. Looking round the meeting, I was reminded of Brezhnev’s Central Committee; the same thing which brought the Stalin era to an end in Russia will bring the Labour Party domination of British politics to an end – an authoritarian, right-wing, passionately anti-democratic streak.

At the end, Kinnock said, ‘We’ve discussed this for two hours, and the meeting has been held in goodwill; nobody should go away with animosity. It is not only policy we’re talking about but our presentation.’ He stressed our unity.

By 30 to 6, which is a ratio of 5 to 1, that meeting overturned Conference policy which itself had been carried by 5 to 1. I couldn’t find anyone sympathetic except our little gang.

Wednesday 13 May

The press today had all the headlines Kinnock would have wanted – ‘Kinnock Beats the Left’ and so on. He wants to begin the Election with a victory over the Left to show he is in charge. The
Evening Standard
said that, if he wins, he’ll be able to disregard the Left and the Conference. But, if he loses, nobody will be able to say that the Left lost him the Election, because it will be his personal victory or his personal defeat.

Typed my Election address, including a warm tribute to myself, and left it on the photocopier at the Commons. When I returned to retrieve it, Ivan Lawrence and another Tory MP were sitting there with it.

Ivan said, ‘Not bad. If I were a Labour man in Chesterfield, I think I’d vote for you. I’ve never thought of describing myself in such glowing terms; I’ve always left that to my admirers.’

‘I suppose, if you wrote it yourself, you could say it was written by an admirer!’

They laughed.

Friday 15 May

A poll published today gives the Tories an 18 per cent lead. Mrs Thatcher was so confident and clear on the television news, and Kinnock was so boastful and wordy and weak. His popularity is falling rapidly.

Thursday 21 May

I watched the party political broadcast, which opened with the title ‘Kinnock’. It began with a bomber flying, then a bird flying, then Neil and Glenys on a mountain top, then Kinnock talking straight to camera about his inspiration, a woman from Wales saying, ‘We always knew he would make it’; he talked about his parents and Glenys was brought in again. They showed speeches by Kinnock, with tremendous applause. The centre point was his attack on Militant at the Bournemouth Conference, and the camera flashed to Derek Hatton. The high peak of his strength is that he attacked the Militant Tendency. It made my blood run cold.

Friday 22 May

Spent most of the day in Duckmanton and Poolsbrook, mining villages on the outskirts of Chesterfield. Visited a few old people’s homes. Quite a few
people said they thought the Kinnock broadcast was brilliant and would have a tremendous impact.

Wednesday 27 May

Got the papers, and the slanging match between the leaders goes on.

Reagan has said how much he admires Mrs Thatcher and how he thinks he would be able to live with a Labour government. His intervention must make people hopping mad, I would imagine.