From an early age he kept all his papers, the basement of his house in Holland Park, central London, becoming a massive personal archive, filled with every conceivable piece of office machinery. number of enemies during his political life – a great many of them In 2001 he retired 51 years after first entering the Commons "to devote more time to politics".The major elements of the Bennite critique of British capitalism were that Britain needed a siege economy to protect domestic industry; nationalisation or selective share ownership of the top 25-100 companies and joint stock banks; wide-ranging constitutional reform; withdrawal from the Common Market, Nato and Northern Ireland; unilateral nuclear disarmament, and so on. His reply: "I haven't yet decided what I want to do ... when I grow up".He supported unilateral nuclear disarmament and favoured closer ties between western and eastern Europe.It was hardly surprising then that he was vilified by the right and once denounced as "The Most Dangerous Man in Britain".But he also backed the abolition of capital punishment, the ordination of women priests and the televising of Parliament, showing himself way ahead of his time.His main aim was to achieve peace in the world - he campaigned against both wars in the Gulf, insisting they were about profit, oil and control of the region.The death of his wife Caroline, an educationalist and writer, in 2000, was a huge blow. News Obituaries Obituary: Tony Benn PC, politician Born: 3 April, 1925, in London. you agreed with him or disagreed with him, everyone knew where he The roots of Benn's socialism were stubbornly non-Marxist. An avuncular manner A national institution, instantly recognisable from his distinctive voice, intense self-belief and fondness for a mug of tea and a pipe, he was held in sufficient regard that even his critics usually found some aspect of his life or career to praise. The latter institution he once described as "the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians".Despite his popularity with the rank and file, he failed to beat Denis Healey in a contest for the deputy leadership of the party and his decision to stand saw a split on the left.His support for Sinn Fein and a united Ireland, together with his opposition to the British military action in the Falkland Islands, made him a target for the popular press.In 1983, boundary changes saw his Bristol South East seat disappear and, in what was seen as a shock result, he lost the new seat of Bristol East to the Conservatives.However, he was not out of Parliament for long and won Chesterfield in a by-election in 1984.During the miners' strike of 1984-85, he was a strong supporter of the NUM president, Arthur Scargill.After the return to work he attempted, unsuccessfully, to introduce a bill in the Commons giving an amnesty to all miners imprisoned for offences during the strike.After Labour's third successive election defeat in 1987, he stood for the leadership against Neil Kinnock but was heavily defeated. In 1942, he reluctantly gave up his Commons seat when called upon to bolster the wartime coalition's Labour contingent in the Lords, accepting a hereditary peerage as Viscount Stansgate.He and his wife, Margaret, created a happy, industrious and religious London household, with three sons (a fourth was stillborn); the Stansgate title came from their second home, by the Blackwater estuary in Essex. political orators from an age when the public meeting was a part of Died: 14 March, 2014, in London, aged 88. He narrowly missed out on election as Labour deputy action in which I am extremely cautious and conservative. Then he had an Indian summer as a national radical treasure, the Home Counties' favourite revolutionary. You can also choose to be emailed when someone replies The following year, he defended the right to revolt against the "oncoming" totalitarianism of the Thatcher governments, and in the aftermath of the 1987 stock market crash he predicted worldwide rioting in the streets and the meltdown of nuclear reactors.In 2003 he was dismissive of a woman whose family had been executed by Saddam Hussein as a CIA spy: her words were American propaganda.