The Benn Diaries: 1940-1990 by Tony Benn Page A

scuttles away to get into his Austin 7 driven by his son. ‘The Chairman of the S.W. Area Gas Board’ the flunkey announces . . . and so it goes on. Now we know the secret and slip out the back door and catch a bus.
    30 September – 4 October – Labour Party Conference, Brighton
    This week at Brighton was a very exciting one. Everyone thought it was going to be the dullest Conference ever, but they turned out to be wrong.
    The elections offered no surprises and Jim Callaghan displaced Sydney Silverman from the National Executive. I stood for the first time. I missed election by two places and 48,000 votes. But to get 517,000 on first standing was wonderful.
    The first day we spent in condemning the Government’s economic policy and bringing forward our own emergency resolutions on rents. Of course all this can only work if there is co-operation between the trade union movement and the Labour Government. What has to be got across discreetly to the public is that this co-operation will be forthcoming without any binding undertaking on either side.
    We then reached two very important decisions on pensions and publicownership. After excellent debate the national superannuation scheme was adopted. The new policy of share-purchasing in place of nationalisation was also overwhelmingly adopted after an important speech by Hugh Gaitskell. Finally, in a day full of drama the Party decided to continue with the manufacture of the H-bomb, although it expressed its readiness to suspend tests unilaterally.
    The Party thus can claim to have reached firm decisions about important matters and to have done so in an atmosphere of unity. The decay of this Cabinet and the prospects of a Labour government within a short period has helped to bring us to our senses again in our personal relations. The triumphs of individuals are worth recording. Harold Wilson delivered two speeches: one on the economic situation which was well received, and one on public ownership which was less well received. I admit I never find him very convincing although he has great ability. Nye Bevan cut away his left-wing support by his cruel wording during the speech on the H-bomb. Though I think he was right in the line he took, it was a very unhappy speech. It earned praise from the
Daily Telegraph
and the
Daily Worker
. Neither of those is a good indication of his talent and I still distrust him profoundly.
    Dick Crossman was probably the greatest personal success. After his difficult change of front over the years and the rage he had stirred from the Bevanites he had then annoyed the trade unionists with his unwise article in the
Mirror
saying that only a handful were fit for high office. Therefore when he rose it was to a polite handclap. But so brilliant was his speech and so lucid his exposition that he sat down to a thunderous ovation that carried him to the inner councils of the Party.
    Tuesday 5 November
    The trouble about a personal diary is that it is entirely subjective. It is not a history, nor has it any value except such as it gets from the personal slant it shows on events. But of course these events are the framework on which the thin personal story is woven. Every now and again one has to step back a little and assess the changes that are taking place outside.
    This is particularly true this autumn. The staggering news in October of the launching of the Russian satellites, Sputnik I and II, has really changed the course of world history. It shows the brilliance of Soviet technology, alters the balance of military power, and more important than either of these two, it marks the beginning of the space age. As long as recorded history exists, 4 October will be remembered and remarked upon. It is far more momentous than the invention of the wheel, the discovery of the sail, the circumnavigation of the globe, or the wonders of the industrial revolution.
    Looking at the political situation there are not so many momentous events to report.
    The Government