Rip: Tony Benn – “We’ll Never Have Democracy As Long As Big Business Can Buy Both Parties
Political foes and allies paid tribute to Tony Benn, the totem of the British left who spearheaded the movement against the Iraq war, following his death on Friday aged 88.
A Labour cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s, Benn was a widely respected orator who clashed with his party's leadership over its drift away from the radical socialism he espoused.
Benn also forced a change in the law allowing hereditary members of parliament's upper House of Lords to renounce their titles, after he was disqualified from his seat in the elected lower House of Commons on inheriting his father's Viscount Stansgate title in 1960.
After recently spending a month in hospital he died peacefully at his west London home surrounded by his family, his four children said in a statement.
"We are comforted by the memory of his long, full and inspiring life and so proud of his devotion to helping others as he sought to change the world for the better," they said.
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