Tony Benn

The Right Honourable Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (born April 3, 1925), known as Tony Benn, formerly 2nd Viscount Stansgate, is a British politician regarded as being on the left of the Labour Party. He was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963.

Retirement

In 2001 he retired from Parliament "to devote more time to politics". He became a leading figure of the British opposition to the War on Iraq, and in February 2003 he travelled to Baghdad to again meet (and interview) Saddam Hussein. The interview was shown on British television. He also spoke out against the Iraq war at the protest in London organised by the Stop the War Coalition, attended by over 1 million people.

Related Topics:
2001 - War on Iraq - 2003 - Baghdad - Saddam Hussein - Stop the War Coalition

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He has toured with a one-man stage show, and also appears regularly in a two-man show with folk singer Roy Bailey. In 2003 his show with Bailey was voted Best Live Act at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Related Topics:
Roy Bailey - 2003 - BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards

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In October 2003, Benn was a guest of British Airways on the last-ever scheduled Concorde flight from New York to London.

Related Topics:
British Airways - Concorde - New York - London

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In February 2004 he was elected as the first President of the Stop the War Coalition.

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In June 2005 Benn was a panellist on a special edition of BBC1's 'Question Time' (shown 30 June 2005). The special edition was edited entirely by a school age film crew selected by a BBC competition, highlighting his enduring popularity and image as a straight-talking politician.

Related Topics:
BBC1 - Question Time - 30 June - 2005

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On June 21 2005 Benn presented a show on democracy as part of the Channel 5 series 'Big Ideas That Changed The World', he presented a left wing view of democracy as the means to pass power from the 'wallet to the ballot'. He argued that traditional social democratic values were under threat in an increasingly globalised world in which powerful institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the EU Commission remain unelected and unaccountable to those whose lives they affect daily.

Related Topics:
June 21 - 2005

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On September 27 2005 Benn was taken ill at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton and taken by ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hosptial after being treated by paramedics at the Brighton Center. Benn reportedly fell and struck his head. He was to be kept in hospital for observation but was described as being in 'comfortable condition'. He was subsequently fitted with an Artificial pacemaker to help regulate his heartbeat.

Related Topics:
September 27 - 2005 - Brighton - Artificial pacemaker

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