Years of hope : diaries, letters and papers, 1940-1962

This volume of Benn's diaries covers the event for which he is probably most famous, the renunciation of his peerage. It reveals his early career, touching on his schooldays, RAF wartime service and his early involvement with politics. As a young man, Tony Benn had dealings with Attlee, Bevan, Morrison, Gaitskell and all the major politicians of the post-war Labour government. This one will be more personal than previously published volumes of his diaries, drawing as it does upon letters and other documents, as well as the diaries themselves. Throughout is revealed the extraordinary consistency of Benn's political views.