THE STORY of Tony Benn's week of triumph the Labour Party conference can in part be to in his own words. triumph. To stories told by Benn meetings at last week's conference.
appointed Postmaster Buckingham Palace and was given a bit of pap called a royal commission which said "to t right trusty and honourable Anthony Benn. make you Postmaster General'. It piece of paper, but it didn't mention the electio had gomebau appointed Postmaster General. which I pledged colleagues in the Cabinet were doing anythi hostile to the royal interest I was to report them Secret Act and said:
days. And let me say, when I asked "do I have take the privy councillor's oath?" 'no, lots of other people would like to Postmaster General".
Civil servants are non-political, so I am told. But they give y a brief when you become a minister, a big or brief which was headed Labour victory with Mr Benn secretary of state, and one for the secretary sent me the wrong brief.
Labour ministers.
would secretary ended up in the Department of Energy.
"I sat in the Cabinet — experience up the government, had a word told us and cut public expenditure by £4,00 and we cut public expenditure by £4,000m you still read in unions who run the country. Chrysler work for Chrysler.
lending wouldn't buy government funding raised the minimum lending rate by 1 per And what happened the following day! Th was a killing in the City of 1200m in one year.' Socialist Challenge 11 October 1979 Page 8 . So too can the meaning of t begin with, here are a series at a number of frin 'In 1964 I was elected for Bristol and w General. went was a ni been blessed and had be "Then there was the privy councillor's oath myself that if any of once. Then a man came along with the Offic "Everything you de If you blow your nose that's an offic "That was only the beginning, the first the they ss "Then you meet your civil servants. Now th During elections they write briefs for each si When we won the second election in 1974 am was re-appointed Minister of Industry I got "Secretary of State 1 Industry (if not Mr Benn)". They had prepa three briefs — one for a Tory victory, one fo back again state they hoped would be appointed. And th 'I'll tell you the deal the civil servants offer They say: "You do what permani said to me when I was appoint Minister of Industry in 1974: "I take it you're l going ahead with your manifesto, because if do you'll cross the Rubicon." But I did an - it was an astonishi — when in 1976 the IMF sent a m into London under an assumed name. He ra De Healey, and told us that if we didn't do what we'd be finished. And we did what we were ti A the newspapers that it's "The same with the Chrysler experience. TI came to us and said they needed money and if didn't give them money they would go away. away? Who created the wealth for Chryster this country in the first place? The people w "In March this year the City of London w on strike and said to us that if we didn't raise !
rate by 1 per cent gilt-edged securities for depends. The Cabi because of the raising of the minimum lendi rale That very same week I was negotiating w the miners and what was on the table was ! million, for a quarter of a million miners, for ‹