Today, on the day of his funeral, I'm raising a cup of tea to Tony Benn. He was the most admirable politician of my lifetime. If he'd achieved nothing else, the renunciation of a hereditary title in favour of standing for election to the House of Commons is enough to make him a hero of democracy.

I didn't agree with him on every subject - Europe and global warming amongst them, but I always felt he was very definitely on my side, and he was certainly the greatest public speaker I've ever seen in person. RIP sir!