Guest post from Louise Mensch: "Tony Benn represented something truly valuable in the world"

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I was so sad to hear - via Mumsnet in fact - of the death of Tony Benn, a man I never actually met. I did once tell his son Hillary, a Labour MP, how much I admired his father - but that was a close as I got.

Tony Benn represented something truly valuable in the world. He acted on what he believed. For his love of socialism, he was prepared to walk away from a peerage, and even from the nobility of his family name. No longer Viscount Stansgate, he wouldn't even allow people to call him Anthony Wedgewood-Benn - he was to be "Tony Benn". And so he remained, until he died.

There was that rumpled, brilliant look about the man that is so endearing to our clever, messy nation. Like JRR Tolkien, whom he resembled, he loved to smoke a pipe; a particularly English vice. He drank tea, and was well-read. He seems never to have regretted walking away from "my Lord" and the bowing and scraping of the era.

Benn also possessed, as well as conviction, a great generosity of spirit. His respect and affection for Margaret Thatcher showed him to be a man who understood that political opposition does not have to, and should not, equal enmity (more Labour MPs wrote me kind notes after I resigned my seat than Conservative ones, by the way). Benn said of Thatcher "she was a signpost, not a weathervane". That was why he respected her; and it is why I respected him.

He had convictions; he lived those convictions. He was true to himself, bright, and kind. He was raised by a feminist mother, and it showed, in the best possible way. Labourlist drew my attention to his generous piece on Thatcher which told this story:

"I remember her at the funeral of MP Eric Heffer. I was asked to make a speech and as I was waiting, there was someone behind me coughing. It was Mrs Thatcher, and at the end I thanked her for coming and she burst into tears. She had come out of respect for someone whose opinions she disagreed with."

I believe that there are a great many MPs and commentators who did not share any of Benn's beliefs, but who realise today that in him, we have lost a national treasure; a genuine servant of the people, who did not need to be a nobleman, to be a noble man. May many of us involved in politics on all sides learn from his lessons of authenticity, humility, generosity, and kindness.

So, the lesson to be learned from this thread (on several levels) is stick to what you know

I'll go along with that. It's an honest way to live your life, and serves to prevent you looking like a pillock on social networking sites (despite how much more money and brainsyou have than all the little people).

Amen Anyfucker

Amen again!

Kudzgirl,

That wasn't the question asked. Do I think I was well qualified to write a tribute? Yes, very, because as various mods have pointed out, I am an opponent of Benn's politics and it did not stop my admiration for the man. It's less interesting to me to read another Tory on Thatcher than Labour folk who admired her.

As to what I've learned, it is; always accept an invitation to pay tribute to a person you admire; do not sit in silence when falsely attacked; be confident in the quality of your own work; and it's been a tremendously enjoyable experience. I felt upset at one point but after watching Sangria twist on the personal attacks stuff I cheered up immensely.

I would do it again in a heartbeat. I'm glad the piece had the impact it did. I'm proud of it and its reception, because the majority of posters here are so sharply contrasted by other bigger sources.

Laura - but I haven't given up my career. I am a novelist and a columnist for the biggest paper in the UK. I have a third job I can't yet discuss. That's three jobs. As to the resignation of my seat, it was forced. I wish I could go further but I cannot. I am still a Conservative party member and activist. As a journalist, I'm a political commentator for a paper with a very wide reach.

Although I do not condemn any woman's life choices I am the type of person who needs to work. I have worked since I graduated (before that too) and I will work til I retire. Although my husband is very successful, I have never seen that as a reason to down tools myself. It's not in me.

The Telegraph didn't think so highly of it Louise. It wasn't quite the blanket cheerleading you affirm it as. And secondly this forum is called Mumsnet. It has quite a few members. As a blogger on here, agreeing to an ill judged request for your opinion, your primary objective is to provide content we value. Not like- value. The two need not concur. Saying you value the opinion of a few media outlets outside of MN is like courting approval of your right wing policies from the Communist Party. You have desperately sought approval from the wrong people in this case.

And as for those 'bigger' sources- print media is dying a death. I do believe that this little 'ole website has a reach and readership that other 'bigger' outlets can only dream about. That is why we are attacked so vociferously by newspapers such as The Daily Fail and why people like you leap at the chance to write on here because it has a very powerful reach. If these bigger outlets are so wonderful and aspirational, why didn't you write this for them - or weren't they interested in hearing from you? Much easier to mine a free site such as this for lazy second hand content.

PS I wouldn't brag about The Sun. I'd be desperately ashamed about that. Really. And don't make the lazy assumption that such comments like this are borne of envy or jealousy. Many of us (including myself) have great careers, ones that help others and make real difference in this world and contribute to a sound internal locus of control.

If you have an issue with us being anonymous then take it up with the website facilitating this. What people in the public eye lose sight of is just how abnormal it is to lay all your private line out in the name of self promotion. Our anonymity is by far the more psychologically sound. Maybe not for the purpose of trolling or what you deem personal attacks but certainly there is nothing cowardly about anonymous contribution to a debate in general.

And I notice too that you again miss the point. We are not objecting to a Tory point of view. What we are objecting to is a politically lightweight point of view by somebody who failed in politics. Somebody who used the most fatuous pop cultural references in her 'tribute'.

I (and many others who have told you repeatedly) would be happy to read a tribute by a senior Conservative (Or God forbid is there any such thing?) a senior LIb Dem. You do not meet that job description.

Kudzugirl

So effectively you've learned nothing. Wow.

I wouldn't be too proud of writing for the paper that lied so viciously and repeatedly about Hillsborough either. The Scum doesn't have much of a reach in the North West.

I would settle for any kind of sense that MNHQ have learnt from this thread. I truly hope LM does not end up having to doggedly defend herself again when the real problem was not her.

Rather unusual and egotistical misinterpretation of what Sangria was actually saying too.

Unless of course you were just trying to remember some Lou Reed lyrics, Louise.

"after watching Sangria twist on the personal attacks stuff I cheered up immensely"

Sangria is a middle aged woman with very little twist in her dearheart.

Are we missing an apostrophe there perchance?

Grammar is really not your thing, is it?

Nor have I been on TV any time recently, so you haven't "watched" me doing anything. (watch- transitive verb used with things that move)

Goddam bloody internet- posted too soon.

I have little faith that MNHQ will 'learn' anything from this. This place is succumbing to click bait culture.

Dear me, no, kudz, that wasn't in the slightest my mission. My mission was to write a good tribute to Tony Benn. And I succeeded in that. Your opinion of it is of no moment to me whatever.

You don't actually give one about what the readers of your article think do you Louise?
I doubt this will be the last word, you'll get that one in won't you.

They were interested Kudz. I think you came in a bit late. Newsnight asked me on to pay tribute. And I wrote another tribute to Benn in my Sun column last week.

I can't write for any other papers as I have an exclusive content. But blogging is always free, as is tweeting. I think it's important to have a reach in new media as well as old. You're absolutely right that Mumsnet has a wide reach and once the piece was up it was heartening to see so many Labour folk I follow liked it. When a link from any site is shared, few people read the comments. In other words 'readership' is a much bigger number than 'registered readers who also comment'. This is a fact of Internet life for any blog or site of any kind, not just MN.

I remember doing an anti-alcohol blog on Joyhacks.com on New Year's Day. It had about 30 comments if memory serves but 12,000 views. It's not always so lopsided but readership is inevitably multiples of comments.

So Twitter loves it and that makes it incisive political comment does it?

It was a bad piece of writing from an author who should have known better but whose ego is writing cheques her talent can't cash.

Your arrogance is breathtaking.

You believe clicks matter more than comments. You don't care what those who read your 'tribute' think. You have learned absolutely nothing.

You honestly think that writing for The Sun makes you intellectually, morally and commercially superior yo the test of us.

You are digging your hole deeper each time you post. Thank fuck you gave up your political power.

• to the rest of us

Apologies. That's what happens when you spend an evening in Westminster with actual MPs ;)

No, I do care what they think. I don't care too much what the tiny fraction of those readers who are bitter enough to post hideous things about the author of a tribute to a very kind, ideological public servant underneath that tribute instead of concentrating on him.

Both numerically and in temperament you represent a tiny minority of readers.

To be fair, it was ripped apart on twitter more than a wee bit and the telegraph called it 'perhaps the most ridiculous memorial'. I think claiming it was well received outside of MN is a bit of a stretch. I'm happy to be corrected though, if anyone can tell me who the deliciously vague 'bigger sources' are.

Both numerically and in temperament you represent a tiny minority of readers

Madam, please do not presume that silence equates to personal support. I have not commented on this thread before, because I felt uncomfortable with the idea, although I have certainly been reading it since last Friday. But I am not prepared to have my clicks misconstrued as tacit approval or appreciation of your posts.

This is actually rather entertaining now....
HRH..I doff my (metaphorical) cap to you :)

Is having a column is The Sun newspaper something one brags about nowadays?
Golly!
How time have changed.
Back in my day anyone who wrote for that excuse for a newspaper was automatically assumed to be c list cleb fodder at best...

Maybe Louise aspires to being a Page Three girl - nothing would surprise me. How anyone can claim to be a feminist and write for The Sun is beyond me but I am a simple soul.