The Benn Diaries, 1940-1990

by Tony Benn

Neil Kinnock came to lunch, and Caroline advised me to let him talk. Well, there was no problem there because he talked for an hour. He hadn’t really thought deeply about the political situation and his conclusions were incredibly non-radical for a member of the Tribune Group. He believed that ‘Emperor Jim with his quiet-life policy’ was right for the Party and that this would be more comforting than Thatcher’s divisiveness. We couldn’t defeat right-wing populism, and his recommendations were so modest that they might have emerged from a latter-day Liberal. He often gave me the impression that he is not altogether serious. Not that he made jokes, but his arguments were just not convincing, and I found it rather depressing because I had looked to Neil for some sort of cutting edge. Brian Sedgemore told me later that Neil was playing it long and didn’t believe anything would happen until the late Eighties. But on his present performance I’m not sure he would have much to say even then.