Tony Benn is the son, grandson and father of MPs and he retired from the

House of Commons in May 2001, after fifty years in Parliament making him the

longest serving Labour MP in the history of the Labour party having been

first elected in 1950. Tony Benn is also known affectionately as "Wedgie"

Benn, after his middle name, Wedgwood. Tony Benn is still saying the same

things at 81 years old that he has always said. Tony Benn was a formidable

politician with a reputation as one of the House of Common's finest orators

and had a passionate concern for democracy. He was a member of every Labour

Cabinet from 1964 to 1979, a former Chairman of the Party. He is now a

Visiting Professor of Politics at the London School of Economics. Tony Benn

was one of Britains most distinguished politicians. Tony Benn is an

unfailingly polite, warm, courteous and gentle man with one of the best

political brains the Commons has ever seen. Tony Benn was a rare politician

who could hold an audience enthralled for an hour and more.

Whilst in Government he believed passionately in democratic structures. In

the Labour government of 1974 Benn became Secretary of State for Industry,

but in 1975 he was moved to Secretary of State for Energy, following his

unsuccessful campaign for a "No" vote in the referendum on the UK's

membership of the EEC.

Late each night for over twenty-five years, the Labour MP sat alone and

dictated onto tape his account of daily events at the heart of government. In his autobiography, he recaptures the immediacy, passion and mood of those

recordings is striking, as he unburdens himself of the pressure and stress,

and the trials and tribulations, of government and opposition - with accounts

veering from anecdotal to almost confessional.

His autobiography is now available in two volumes as two downloadable

audiobooks in which he recalls events in the first of these unique and

remarkable recordings - originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 which include

Harold Wilson's surprise resignation in 1976, the potentially catastrophic

1977 strike at Windscale, the year-long miners' strike in 1984, and the

general election in 1992.

In the second volume he reveals what he discovered from his scrutiny of the

nuclear industry and why he now believes nuclear power is unsafe. He recalls

what really happened during Cabinet reshuffles by Harold Wilson and Jim

Callaghan and he traces the split in the party following its 1979 defeat, the

emergence of the Social Democratic Party and his challenge to the deputy

leader, Denis Healy. Listen to a snippet of the audiobook at http://www.ibooks4you.co.uk/Title.aspx?titleId=7698&srch=tony+benn

About the Author

adrian carpenter is the publisher of www.ibooks4you.co.uk