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| Hilary Benn’s speech on Syria could transform Labour | Hilary Benn’s speech on Syria could transform Labour |
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| Beware the instant theatrical excitement of the great parliamentary moment. Always read the health warnings before swallowing the claims about the House of Commons at its best. Real politics isn’t a Spielberg movie about slavery, or a West Wing episode, in which a great speech changes history and the credits roll. Real politics is mostly one damn thing after another – a big Commons vote, a shabby reselection campaign in Walthamstow, a lousy byelection result in Oldham. | |
| Yet Hilary Benn’s speech at the end of the Syria debate on Wednesday night was politically elevating all the same. It was riveting as he delivered it in real time on the night. It was still compelling when replayed in the cold light of morning. It was calm and without pomposity. And over the allotted 15 minutes it led unerringly to a climactic argument – that the right thing to do in Syria is to stand up to Islamic State’s fascism. | Yet Hilary Benn’s speech at the end of the Syria debate on Wednesday night was politically elevating all the same. It was riveting as he delivered it in real time on the night. It was still compelling when replayed in the cold light of morning. It was calm and without pomposity. And over the allotted 15 minutes it led unerringly to a climactic argument – that the right thing to do in Syria is to stand up to Islamic State’s fascism. |
| Related: Hilary Benn speech on Syria exposes political genes | Related: Hilary Benn speech on Syria exposes political genes |
| Fascism was the pivotal word in Benn’s speech, held back until nearly the end, as a great conductor does with the climax of a symphonic argument. Fascism is still a morally and historically charged word unlike any others, especially in a chamber where Churchill’s ghost still lurks on occasions such as these. Yet Benn’s final sentences skilfully invoked other traditions too, not least the plain, unvarnished English dissenting culture from which he himself springs. | |
| He finished with a particularly well judged bit of everyman’s English, a reprimand to speech writers everywhere, summoning the anti-fascist history of the Labour party and urging MPs: “Our party has always stood up against the denial of human rights and for justice. My view is that we must now confront this evil. It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria.” Single syllables have rarely been more effectively deployed. Do our bit. It was what the majority of MPs wanted to hear. The applause across the chamber was undeniably genuine. It was Benn’s finest hour. | He finished with a particularly well judged bit of everyman’s English, a reprimand to speech writers everywhere, summoning the anti-fascist history of the Labour party and urging MPs: “Our party has always stood up against the denial of human rights and for justice. My view is that we must now confront this evil. It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria.” Single syllables have rarely been more effectively deployed. Do our bit. It was what the majority of MPs wanted to hear. The applause across the chamber was undeniably genuine. It was Benn’s finest hour. |
| And, as such, it irresistibly evoked the legendary moment in September 1939 in which a Tory anti-appeaser, Leo Amery, shouted across the Commons chamber from behind the hapless Neville Chamberlain to Labour’s Arthur Greenwood at the height of the first debate of wartime: “Speak for England, Arthur!” The dissenting, internationalist, anti-imperialist Labour tradition has had no finer do-our-bit moment than that. Wednesday, small by comparison, echoed it. | And, as such, it irresistibly evoked the legendary moment in September 1939 in which a Tory anti-appeaser, Leo Amery, shouted across the Commons chamber from behind the hapless Neville Chamberlain to Labour’s Arthur Greenwood at the height of the first debate of wartime: “Speak for England, Arthur!” The dissenting, internationalist, anti-imperialist Labour tradition has had no finer do-our-bit moment than that. Wednesday, small by comparison, echoed it. |
| The speech also laid bare the raw divide between the shadow foreign secretary and the party leader. This in turn invites comparison with the late Geoffrey Howe’s resignation speech in 1990. There, too, a generally placid and unspectacular frontbencher found the steel to say what he really thought, to say it well, and to say it in such a way as to wound his leader, in Howe’s case Margaret Thatcher, whose career it ended. Howe’s speech still reads well 25 years on, by the way, above all as a defining text on the importance of Britain’s place in the EU. | The speech also laid bare the raw divide between the shadow foreign secretary and the party leader. This in turn invites comparison with the late Geoffrey Howe’s resignation speech in 1990. There, too, a generally placid and unspectacular frontbencher found the steel to say what he really thought, to say it well, and to say it in such a way as to wound his leader, in Howe’s case Margaret Thatcher, whose career it ended. Howe’s speech still reads well 25 years on, by the way, above all as a defining text on the importance of Britain’s place in the EU. |
| Whether Benn’s speech will do to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership what Howe’s did to Thatcher’s has to be doubtful, although it certainly raises the question. I know no critic of Corbyn who isn’t intensely queasy about any move against him any time soon, on both political and democratic grounds. Even the most apocalyptic pessimist thinks this is far too early, that the electoral evidence must be allowed to tell a story, assuming it does, that makes even Corbyn supporters pause for thought. But there is a counter-argument, that has to be taken seriously too. There is going to be blood, so get it over with. | Whether Benn’s speech will do to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership what Howe’s did to Thatcher’s has to be doubtful, although it certainly raises the question. I know no critic of Corbyn who isn’t intensely queasy about any move against him any time soon, on both political and democratic grounds. Even the most apocalyptic pessimist thinks this is far too early, that the electoral evidence must be allowed to tell a story, assuming it does, that makes even Corbyn supporters pause for thought. But there is a counter-argument, that has to be taken seriously too. There is going to be blood, so get it over with. |
| If it happens, Benn now finds himself very well positioned to be the beneficiary – or perhaps the human sacrifice. Respected on all wings of the party, but beholden to none of them, bearing a legendary tribal name, over the last few weeks, Benn has been climbing quietly up the lists of the potential Corbyn successors. Ready for Hilary – Benn not Clinton – had already crossed the Atlantic before the shadow foreign secretary said a single word on Wednesday night. The speech has shortened Benn’s odds at a stroke. He has gone from being one among many generally rather problematic possibilities into, Tom Watson permitting, probably the most likely next leadership challenger from the centre of the party if there is a contest. In time, he could be the unifier that Labour lacks. | If it happens, Benn now finds himself very well positioned to be the beneficiary – or perhaps the human sacrifice. Respected on all wings of the party, but beholden to none of them, bearing a legendary tribal name, over the last few weeks, Benn has been climbing quietly up the lists of the potential Corbyn successors. Ready for Hilary – Benn not Clinton – had already crossed the Atlantic before the shadow foreign secretary said a single word on Wednesday night. The speech has shortened Benn’s odds at a stroke. He has gone from being one among many generally rather problematic possibilities into, Tom Watson permitting, probably the most likely next leadership challenger from the centre of the party if there is a contest. In time, he could be the unifier that Labour lacks. |
| Related: It’s Cameron, not Corbyn, who is the terrorist appeaser | Simon Jenkins | Related: It’s Cameron, not Corbyn, who is the terrorist appeaser | Simon Jenkins |
| To believe what some Labour MPs are saying, it may be Benn himself who eventually ends up in the political gutter, not his leader. Nobody knows how many heads will roll in the sand if Corbyn refuses to call off the dogs that those around him are so gleefully unleashing in his name against apostate Labour MPs. Leeds is a relatively prosperous place, but Benn’s Leeds Central constituency is precisely the kind of hollowed-out inner-city Labour seat that a rush of new Corbyn backers might transform if the sitting member hasn’t been paying attention. On the other hand, to try to take out Benn now would surely be a risk that even the hard left machine will not take. | To believe what some Labour MPs are saying, it may be Benn himself who eventually ends up in the political gutter, not his leader. Nobody knows how many heads will roll in the sand if Corbyn refuses to call off the dogs that those around him are so gleefully unleashing in his name against apostate Labour MPs. Leeds is a relatively prosperous place, but Benn’s Leeds Central constituency is precisely the kind of hollowed-out inner-city Labour seat that a rush of new Corbyn backers might transform if the sitting member hasn’t been paying attention. On the other hand, to try to take out Benn now would surely be a risk that even the hard left machine will not take. |
| Wednesday was certainly a reminder that speeches can still make a difference in politics. It was, though, a Victorian political event in a digital age. Benn’s speech was electrifying in the chamber. It triggered an instant Twitter storm among what may have been several hundred BBC Parliament watchers. But most people watch other things. Most people still don’t know who Hilary Benn is, let alone that he made a well regarded speech. And the sleepless digital news caravan has already moved on. | Wednesday was certainly a reminder that speeches can still make a difference in politics. It was, though, a Victorian political event in a digital age. Benn’s speech was electrifying in the chamber. It triggered an instant Twitter storm among what may have been several hundred BBC Parliament watchers. But most people watch other things. Most people still don’t know who Hilary Benn is, let alone that he made a well regarded speech. And the sleepless digital news caravan has already moved on. |
| So where exactly does Wednesday night leave things? Above all, it helped the government to get its big majority for attacking Isis in Syria. Most of the votes were already in the bag, but Benn’s speech gave Labour’s pro-engagement MPs moral permission to support David Cameron. The proof of their judgment is now in other hands. A speech doesn’t resolve a civil war or stop a terrorist. But this one challenged the anti-war MPs’ absurd claim to exclusive possession of moral virtue. | So where exactly does Wednesday night leave things? Above all, it helped the government to get its big majority for attacking Isis in Syria. Most of the votes were already in the bag, but Benn’s speech gave Labour’s pro-engagement MPs moral permission to support David Cameron. The proof of their judgment is now in other hands. A speech doesn’t resolve a civil war or stop a terrorist. But this one challenged the anti-war MPs’ absurd claim to exclusive possession of moral virtue. |
| The biggest impact of the speech, though, is personal. It has transformed Benn. Overshadowed by his father, competent but underwhelming as a minister and shadow minister, high-minded and ascetic in his habits, Benn had seemed set to go through a political life without leaving a great mark. Now he has done so. If his father, in Harold Wilson’s words, immatured with age, Hilary Benn has now done the opposite. Whether you agree with his speech or whether you don’t, he has risen to the occasion and redefined himself. He has proved himself when it mattered. In the end, that’s enough. | The biggest impact of the speech, though, is personal. It has transformed Benn. Overshadowed by his father, competent but underwhelming as a minister and shadow minister, high-minded and ascetic in his habits, Benn had seemed set to go through a political life without leaving a great mark. Now he has done so. If his father, in Harold Wilson’s words, immatured with age, Hilary Benn has now done the opposite. Whether you agree with his speech or whether you don’t, he has risen to the occasion and redefined himself. He has proved himself when it mattered. In the end, that’s enough. |