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.

About the Author

adrian carpenteris the publisher of www.ibooks4you.co.uk