The Benn Diaries: 1940-1990 Read online

  Monday 23 June

  In the evening I had a talk with John Silkin, Peter and Gerald Kaufman, who was quite awful. I haven’t talked to him for a very long time; he is completely cynical now, blown up with his own importance and feeding into Harold the most unsatisfactory ideas, which make Harold think that he is God Almighty and everybody else has got to fall into line. It was clear that John Silkin is in the doghouse and Peter is now hated by Harold for what he did on the industrial relations thing. Indeed last Sunday’s papers were full of briefings by Harold on how certain Ministers had let him down.

  Friday 11 July

  This morning I went with Ivor Manley by helicopter to the Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor at Winfrith for the Queen’s visit. It was a most beautiful day and we had a lovely flight down. When I got there I had a talk to John Hill about the centrifuge and the reorganisation of the AEA and he wants to come and have a talk with me.

  The Queen arrived and looked extremely angry. I think the truth is that she is bored but feels she has to look interested or something, anyway she walked round and I followed behind with the Duke of Edinburgh. Of course a Minister during a royal visit is just an office boy.

  At lunch the Queen was really rather different, indeed she was very pleasant. First of all we talked about the television programme made about the royal family. She said it might have to be cut for showing in the United States; the American Ambassador had used very long words and made himself look rather ridiculous.

  I asked her if royalty had to be so formal. The Queen said that it is just that you have to dress up and be told what to do for Privy Council. Obviously she did not much like the suggestion that the thing was more formal than was necessary.

  We talked about the Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ meeting and I asked her what impression she had formed of Trudeau. She said that he had been rather disappointing. I gave my view in support of disposable politicians – that, in fact, you could not do more than a certain amount of work before you had to go and refurbish yourself.

  Then we moved on to the subject of the Royal Prerogative. I asked her whether, when there was a dissolution contemplated, she ever consulted the Speaker, because he was impartial. She said, ‘I am supposed to be impartial but, of course, I can call in whom I like.’

  So I asked her, ‘Well, suppose, for example, there had been a row on the industrial relations legislation and the Prime Minister had come and asked for a dissolution. It was at least arguable that another Prime Minister would have held together a government without a dissolution.’ She said, ‘Well, we had to look up all the precedents on the dissolution,’ and I pointed out that it might well have become real if the Parliamentary Labour Party had rejected an Industrial Relations Bill.

  We got on to talking about the Lords and the Commons and she raised the redistribution of parliamentary boundaries. I think she wanted to provoke me into saying something but I didn’t comment on it.

  She told me that the royal train was bulletproof and had two diesels, which had its origins in 1937 when one diesel had broken down and the train had got stuck. That led to Concorde and she said how she wished Trubshaw had seen people applaud when Concorde went over on her birthday and I told her what I had told George Thomas, that if Concorde had crashed into the Palace that day, the occasion would have turned into a coronation.

  She said, ‘You can’t cancel Concorde.’ I pointed out the question was whether we could sell it: that was the real test.

  We talked about the Civil Service machine and I remarked that a new Minister coming into a Ministry really was in a position to put the brakes on. ‘Presumably,’ I said, ‘the machine thwarts you too?’ I do not think that had quite occurred to her. I went on and talked about the desirability of having a longer government with Ministers who retired at a certain stage in order to cope with the rate of change.

  She is not clever, but she is reasonably intelligent and she is experienced: she has been involved in government now for eighteen years. She knew about the test routes for Concorde and that they would be going up the West of Scotland. So either she had been reading Cabinet papers or her Private Secretary had briefed her on this particular matter.

  I proposed her health, having got my Private Secretary, Ivor Manley, to speak to Sir Martin Charteris, her Assistant Private Secretary, a typical pyramid operation, rather than asking her directly, ‘Should I propose a toast?’

  On the way out I had a brief word with the Duke who, as usual, was talking about high taxation as a major disincentive.

  Friday 15 August

  Pelting with rain all day. Caroline worked on an article on women’s education and Stephen got his ‘A’-level results envelope. He said nothing all day.

  Today we heard on the news that UK troops had been committed to maintain law and order in Deny during the troubles that arose out of the Apprentice Boys’ annual march.

  We had discussed this in Cabinet before the end of July and agreed that troops could be used, so long as the Prime Minister, the Home Secretary, the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary kept in touch with each other. So it looks as though civil war in Ulster has almost begun.

  Saturday 16 August

  Stephen woke us at 2.45, having finally opened his results, and told us he had got an A in History, a B in Music, and a C in Pure Maths.

  Hilary went off to Scotland with his friend Alan Burton.

  Sunday 17 August

  I had a message last night from Ivor Manley saying there would be an emergency Cabinet on Tuesday to consider the situation in Ulster.

  The crisis in Northern Ireland had been slowly building up with riots in July and August. On 12 August in Londonderry fighting broke out between Protestants and Catholics during the Apprentice Boys’ march, and in the ensuing violence Catholics’ homes were burned. Troops were moved into Londonderry, and then into Belfast, where the trouble had spread, after appeals to Roy Hattersley, the Minister of Defence for Administration, who was deputising for Denis Healey, from the Royal Ulster Constabulary and from Bernadette Devlin, Independent Unity MP for Mid-Ulster.

  Tuesday 19 August

  Ron Vaughan took me to London and Caroline came with me. We arrived home at 11 and found the Comprehensive Schools Committee, which uses my office in the basement, in action. I went off to the Cabinet.

  I had underestimated the immense excitement over the Ulster thing. Downing Street was cordoned off and there was a mass of photographers and television cameras outside Number 10.

  There were jokes in Cabinet about my new beard and Michael Stewart reminded me of what Attlee had said when Sydney Silverman, MP for Nelson and Colne, grew a beard. He had said, ‘I move previous face’ and indeed Harold began by saying, ‘Motions to move previous face are out of order.’

  We then settled down to discuss the Ulster situation. A paper by Jim Callaghan was passed around, which made five recommendations.

  First, that the 12,000 B Specials [the Protestant Ulster Special Constabulary] should be disarmed; second, that we consider a Bill transferring some authority to Westminster; third, that there should be advisers attached to the Northern Ireland Government; fourth, that we might consider a coalition or, at any rate, more elements brought into the Northern Ireland Government; and fifth, that a Community Relations Organisation might be set up, possibly with a Minister on the spot, to examine complaints of discrimination.

  Jim opened quietly and extremely well. He said he had been prescient in July in warning us that there was a very poor Intelligence Service in Ulster; he had seen Chichester-Clark and asked him about the demonstrations before they occurred and had not wanted them banned. He said Hattersley had done an extremely good job at the Ministry of Defence in Denis’s absence, the troops had been welcomed by the people and indeed there had been many appeals for help at different stages.

  The Stormont Govrnment say it is the IRA who are the cause of the trouble but this does not conform to British Intelligence. The Catholics were defending themselves with
ferocity, as Jim put it, and it was really because of that fear that the situation had got out of control. Jim said we must remove the cause of the fear, ie get rid of the B Specials, and he would like to see Peacocke, the Inspector-General of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, replaced by a British Chief Constable. The Northern Ireland Labour Party agreed the recommendations in his paper but they fear that if the B Specials are disarmed, there will be secret arms caches kept and used. Jim pointed out that the B Specials got no police training, only shooting practice.

  The meeting was quiet and Jim, I thought, did very well. Harold was all right except that, as usual, he was much too tactical and there was too little thinking about the future. Denis was realistic in seeing that he might find himself in a position of sending in the troops against all the Protestants. I wonder whether people understood how serious the situation was – whether, in fact, this was not the beginning of ten more years of Irish politics at Westminster which would be very unpleasant. None of us had thought it out very carefully.

  I went home and waited and waited in case there was another Cabinet meeting but in the end Harold managed to carry Chichester-Clark on the proposals which were published this evening; not to disarm the B Specials but to bring them under the control of General Freeland the GOC, Northern Ireland. It is a compromise because he will actually collect their arms and keep them in armouries. That is the most effective way of dealing with them.

  Caroline and I got back to Stansgate about I am, both pretty tired.

  Sunday 28 September – Labour Party Conference, Brighton

  Conference, and a late lie-in and after lunch we had the NEC. I moved that the press be admitted because everything had been leaked. This was very nearly carried.

  I got as near as I could to proposing that there should be a referendum on our decision to go into the EEC. I had almost got it out when Harold realised what I was going to say, and stopped it I didn’t fight the issue. But I know perfectly well that no government will agree to go into the EEC if there isn’t more enthusiasm than there is at the moment.

  Saturday 4 October

  To Number 10, where of course Ministers affected by the reshuffle had been coming and going all day. Harold told me he wanted me to remain Minister of Technology and take over the whole Ministry of Power, all the industry divisions from the Board of Trade and their industrial location work, and the industrial side of the DEA. I called Otto in and he knew exactly what it involved. This evening I had just a bit of time to think it all over. It is an enormous job that I have effectively been given and I must say I was staggered to find the whole Ministry of Power coming over to me but I couldn’t ring anybody up to talk about it.

  Sunday 5 October

  I planned what I was going to do with this new huge department and at 6 the announcement was made on TV. The growth of the Ministry of Technology was the news; there was no question this was the main story of the day. Crosland has been given the job of Secretary of State for England, co-ordinating transport and housing and he is obviously very sick about it because he doesn’t think there is anything in the job. I have been effectively given the Ministry of Industry job which is what I really wanted.

  Wednesday 5 November

  Came home for fireworks and worked late. Gradually emerging from a couple of weeks of real exhaustion.

  I only had one bit of business at home tonight. I have been trying to put my oar in to be sure that the British don’t join in the American underground tests of nuclear weapons without, at least, a meeting of Ministers to discuss it. Denis Healey has been determined to get British nuclear weapons tested underground in the US, and since I put my foot down, he has been trying to get at me. In the end I decided to ring Number 10, and I put the points to a Private Secretary to pass on to the Prime Minister; I said I would abide by his decision, but I don’t know whether Harold cares one way or the other.

  Monday 17 November

  At 11, I went to the Campaign Committee, where David Kingsley presented a report on the first round of the advertising campaign for the next Election, ‘Labour has Life and Soul’ and ‘When it Comes Down to it Aren’t Their Ideals Yours as Well?’

  Denis Healey said we must present ourselves as a government that could govern. Jim Callaghan warned that people might not like change and might want a quieter life, which I thought was a bit of a dig at the dynamic Ministry of Technology! Generally there was a consensus and it was agreed we would do a television programme before Christmas and a party political broadcast at the end of the year, in which I would be the party spokesman.

  Incidentally, The Times had an amusing two-column article by David Wood called ‘Sandwiches with Benn’. It began by mocking me about my sandwich lunches, then said how industrialists were working happily with me and that the Tories were worried about it.

  We had the Mintech board lunch. Harold Lever responded to The Times by producing some smoked salmon, freshly baked bread and cheese and some other things. It has become a bit of a joke. Next week I am going to take my sandwiches in a red handkerchief and see whether I can’t lower our standards still further.

  We discussed the need to ensure that there was adequate supply of stocks of fuel for the winter: corrosion in the bolts in the Magnox power stations has led to a 25 per cent cutback in their utilisation, and it is potentially a great tragedy if corrosion prevents these nuclear power stations from being used at all.

  Wednesday 19 November

  The Apollo 12 landed this morning and there was a moon walk, which, unfortunately, we weren’t able to see because the television set had broken down.

  Wednesday 26 November

  To the Economic Policy Committee, where the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders problem came up. They have got into serious difficulty and want a substantial sum of money, and Jack Diamond was in favour of liquidating. In my paper I said we couldn’t justify any more money on industrial grounds, but Harold chipped in and said that on political grounds, we couldn’t have 8.5 per cent male unemployment on the Clyde – which I agree with absolutely. So we decided to set up a committee to see what was the minimum we could give to keep them going.

  Monday 1 December

  I had a very sad and painful meeting with Peter Masefield and the board of Beagle to tell them that the Government was not prepared to continue to support them and there was no alternative but to ask the bank to set up a receiver and manager.

  At the House of Commons for an all-night sitting.

  Thursday 25 December

  Melissa and Joshua woke up at 4.30 am and exchanged their presents. We had ours in the bedroom. It was a wonderful Christmas, Caroline having done all the work. After lunch Stephen, Hilary and Melissa played a madrigal, and we had the usual call from Cincinnati. In the evening Stephen and I took a bottle of whisky to the Mintech night guard, finished up with Mother and Buddy and finally got to bed about 1 am.

  Wednesday 31 December

  Went to Bradwell Power Station today and Sir Stanley Brown, and Mr Weeks, head of the CEGB study group on the Magnox corrosion, were there. I was met by the Station Superintendent and accompanied by people who had come straight down from London – Jack Rampton, who is the Deputy Secretary in charge, Trevor Griffiths, the Chief Nuclear Inspector, and John Bowder, my Assistant Private Secretary. I spent about an hour and a half with the working model, seeing exactly what the problem was, then went to have a look at the refuelling operation by closed-circuit colour TV, and to the control room. I saw a film of the removal of the sample basket which had taken place last year, and had lunch with the group.

  I’m very glad I went because it indicated the real nature of the problem, which is seen by the CEGB not so much as a safety problem but as a problem that might affect the economics of the power station. The danger is that the very high temperature CO2 gas which goes through the fuel elements has had the effect of oxidising or corroding the bolts holding the core restraint, and corroding all the other bolts in the reactor.

  If, by any chance, there were any
displacement of the graphite blocks in which the fuel elements run or, even more serious, of the channels into which the control rods drop, you might lose control of the reactor and it is possible that one of the fuel elements might melt. If there was at the same time a rupture in the head exchanger circuit you could get a tremendously overheated reactor with the fuel elements melting, causing a major nuclear accident that would kill many thousands of people in the area of Bradwell and would create a radioactive cloud that might kill people in London.

  The real question is, do the control rods go in and out easily and could this be affected by further corrosion? They currently drop in 100 of them in 1.2 seconds and there’s no reason to believe at the moment that this will change. But the position is being watched very carefully.

  Mr Griffiths told me that he would keep an eye on the situation in order to lay down the rules about a shutdown for further inspection if he thought that the temperatures being operated were too high. The temperatue has risen progressively since the station’s inception in the early Sixties, although recently it was reduced from 390 degrees Centigrade to 360 degrees. But in view of the problem of the fuel situation this winter, the fear of a power strike and the cold weather, the GEGB has decided to increase the temperature to 380 degrees, with the result that the old rate of corrosion, about twice the rate of corrosion at 360 degrees, has resumed. This is taking a calculated risk, so as not to dislocate industry.

  I wrote a brief report on this and I am now trying to get an independent engineer to take on the job of reading all the documents and advising me.

  Tuesday 6 January 1970

  I went to the Campaign Committee this morning. Mark Abrams, chairman of Research Services Ltd, reported on the attitude of younger voters. I found one or two things interesting but also discouraging. For example, young people were not interested in education, that is to say they were against the raising of the school leaving age. This made a big impact on the Prime Minister and Jim Callaghan and one or two others who don’t want to raise the school leaving age. All of a sudden one could see how very big decisions could be taken by government on the basis of the most inadequate evidence which confirms their prejudices. I realise we will have to fight very hard on that.