ABSTRACT
Tony Benn, who was elected to Parliament in 1950 and served as a minister in several Labour governments, is one of those rarities in politics and life generally. Benn’s experience of holding government office, and the process of ageing, resulted in him becoming more rather than less radical over time. Likewise, on the issue of European integration, he broke the mould. While many on the left shifted from an anti-European Union (EU) position towards a more favourable stance, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s, Benn moved the other way, becoming one of the most vociferous critics of the European Union on the left. I will briefly trace this journey, highlighting Benn’s economic and political arguments against the European Union, thus setting the scene for his contribution to this book.
