The Searchers
By Andy Beckett
Review by Harry
Published shortly before the start of Keir Starmer’s first time in government, The Searchers chronicles the life and times of five iconic figures of the British hard-Left. Tony Benn (Cabinet minister in the Wilson Governments), Ken Livingstone (Mayor of London), Jeremy Corbyn (party leader 2015-2020), Dianne Abbot (shadow Home Secretary under Corbyn), and John McDonnell (shadow Finance Minister under Corbyn).
Beckett provides an account that is neither partial nor partisan. The reader will enjoy the time that is taken to explore the formative periods of these titans of the Left – a real portrait emerges of the humans behind the mythos. We see Tony Benn’s transition from pedestrian centrist to ‘the most dangerous man in Britain’ not as a process of extremist radicalization, but as gradual evolution stemming from his intellectual and social exploration of why the systems he grappled with as a minister were proving unable to address the ‘omnicrisis’ of his time (the late 1960s and ‘70s). The legacy of Benn’s formulation of a new ‘democratic left’ continues to serve as the basis and inspiration for elements of the radical Left today.
Beckett’s talent is in allowing the subjects of this work to be presented warts-and-all, writing with empathy but not hagiography. The reader will not just learn the granular ups-and-downs of electoral politics on the Left but take away something far greater – the lessons learned about character, relationships, the foibles and the quiet goodness in human beings. Taking its title from the famous Western, this text is ultimately an uplifting read in its portrait of what drives humans to pursue something greater than themselves, even at the expense of their own self-preservation.
