Dare to be a Daniel

Tony Benn 1925-2014

The death of Tony Benn was announced today.  In his time and amongst many achievements, he had been; MP for Chesterfield, a lifelong committed socialist and a man of intellectual principle. Unknown to him, he was also my mother-in-law's and Toot's political hero!

Tony Benn's political career spans from our childhood to our fast approaching old age and in all that time Toot and I cannot recall a time in which he chose the easy road, he was a man of principle who would not succumb to political expediency or vested interest.

In his memoirs he recalled that his mother challenged him to 'Dare to be a Daniel'.  The record of his life bears testament to his complete success in achieving such an exacting objective.

On many issues, the current generation of British Politicians would do well to follow his lead :

"I did not enter the Labour Party 47 years ago to have our manifesto written by Dr Mori, Dr Gallup and Mr Harris" - Tony Benn Newspaper article, 1988.


Lets all try to 'Dare to be a Daniel' and make the world a better place!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18686794