TONY BENN'S FAVOURITE MOMENTS FROM HISTORY

The Independent on Sunday yesterday asked the veteran Labour MP and former minister Tony Benn for his own highlights of the century. Mr Benn, a vociferous critic of New Labour's desire to bury its socialist past and

one of Tony Blair's

chief tormentors, chose

a list guaranteed further to annoy.

n Formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900 which led to the creation of the Labour Party in 1906.

n Adoption of Clause 4 in 1918, committing Labour to "secure for the producers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible, upon the basis of the Common Ownership of the Means of Production".

n Creation of the Welfare State in 1945.

n Creation of the Open University by the Wilson government.

n Introduction by Barbara Castle, also under the Wilson government, of the link between pensions and earnings.

n Repeal in 1974 of Ted Heath's anti-union Industrial Relations Act.