Civil society leaders paid tribute today to veteran Labour politician Tony Benn, who died this morning aged 88.

Acevo chief executive Sir Stephen Bubb said he first got to know the former MP when he first moved to London in 1976 and Benn’s wife Caroline chaired his local council ward in Holland Park. Then when Sir Stephen joined the Transport & General Workers union as a research officer, Benn was the energy secretary and they got to know each other even better.

Later in their careers, Bubb recalled having a number of discussions with Benn on the subject of charities running public services, “which he was very much against”.

“He thought I was a reactionary and trying to take us back to the Victorian era. He was properly for public services being delivered by public servants, and the idea that charities would be running them was abhorrent.

“But we would have very good debates and he was always prepared to listen and argue the point – he wouldn’t just say ‘oh, don’t be stupid Stephen’, he would argue why he thought I was wrong and explain it. And of course I would explain to him why he was wrong.

“He felt charities should be doing innovative and original things and once they had proved how these things worked, then the state should take over.”

Benn also spoke once at an Acevo chief executives’ summit. Bubb said: “He told such good stories and was very persuasive in the way he used analogy and stories.  It’s a great shame – he was quite a figure.”  

'Bottom-up, power-to-the-people, grassroots approach'

Dan Corry, chief executive of NPC, met Tony Benn a few times while he worked for the Labour Party. He said: “He was a controversial figure on the Left but he always represented a sort of bottom-up, power-to-the-people, grassroots approach to society and life which was much more akin to a lot of what the voluntary sector does and which has always been an important part of centre-left thinking  - and has now come back into fashion again.

“He was always a very charming, polite man even if you disagreed with what he was saying. He had strong convictions that I didn’t always agree with but the essence of what he believed in was that the people were more important than anything else.  

“People would make fun that he started every speech with the Chartists and the Tolpuddle Martyrs and all that, but that’s a very important part of that centre-left tradition and he was a key holder of that flame.”

Toni Pearce, president of the National Union of Students, said Benn was a great friend and ally of the student movement for many decades.

“We are so proud to have worked together with him in so many of our campaigns to shape a better, fairer world," she said.

“The solidarity, warmth, and friendship he showed to students will not be forgotten. His values, integrity, and passion have inspired so many of us.

“I was privileged to attend the Tolpuddle Martyrs festival last summer and to spend time with Tony, who remained kind, humane, and inspiring to the last.

"He was a thorn in the side of the establishment, a fierce critic of unaccountable elites, and a true champion of the powerless, the poor, and the dispossessed.

"Our thoughts today will be with the family and many friends of Tony Benn, who loved him dearly and he loved back.”