Benn attacks Labour chiefs

Mr Benn has been a Labour MP for 50 years

Veteran left-winger Tony Benn has hit out at life as a Labour MP.

Mr Benn, who is stepping down at the next election after more than 50 years in the Commons, said being a Labour MP was like being "an Avon lady".

You're like an Avon lady being told what to say when you knock on the front door

Tony Benn

In an interview with the Radio Times, Mr Benn criticised being told what to say by Labour chiefs.

He warned that the party's determination to control its MPs would kill the democratic process.

He said: "I receive a personalised fax from Labour HQ every morning saying, 'Mr Benn welcomes compulsory homework for pensioners,' or whatever the latest gimmick is, and I'm expected to fax it on to my local paper.

"You're like an Avon lady being told what to say when you knock on the front door.

"Mind you, they stopped recently but that sort of control is destructive of the political process and leads to people switching off, and a low turnout.

"Democracy will be killed by people not voting, rather than someone burning Buckingham Palace and running the red flag up."

Retirement

Mr Benn said he was looking forward to devoting more time to politics when he stands down as MP for Chesterfield.

"I said, and mean it, that I'm leaving parliament to devote more time to politics. People laughed, but it wasn't a joke."

Mr Benn also spoke about his spoof interview with Channel 4 comedian Ali G.

"I was completely taken in. Even after I left the studio I thought it was genuine, although I was a bit suspicious when he said Margaret Thatcher was a communist.

"When I discovered I'd been duped I was angry with Channel 4, but I enjoyed the video that my children showed me.

"I treated him much the same as I do anyone who comes to me with ridiculous ideas.

"It's a very clever political programme. It helps viewers see the nonsense of the prejudice they read in the tabloids."

'A formidable woman'

Last November, his wife Caroline died of breast cancer after 51 years of marriage.

"I met her at Oxford in 1948 - we were both students - and proposed to her nine days later on a bench.

"It was in the front garden, but I've taken it to her graveside at our house in Essex.

"She was a very formidable woman, and I miss everything about her.

"She wrote the two best books on comprehensive education and a brilliant life of Keir Hardie.

"I've had 3,000 letters since she died. People stop me in the street and say how much they admired her."