Streatham South Councillor - Mark Bennett

Councillor Mark Bennett

Councillor Mark Bennett has been Labour Councillor for Streatham South Ward since October 2005:

When and why did you first become interested in politics?
The eighties – going through a comprehensive school in Thatcher’s Britain, it wasn’t hard to become politically aware. There were huge tensions in the country around issues like mass unemployment, the miners’ strike, Northern Ireland, the Ethiopian famine and the shadow of nuclear war. My first full-time job, at seventeen, was as a hospital porter. So I saw, behind the scenes, the dire state the NHS was in under the Tories.

Like many people, I felt very angry about the poll tax. I finally joined the Labour Party in the very early nineties when I was at university in Stoke-on-Trent. Collieries like Silverdale in Staffordshire were being closed by the then Tory government and I saw families living in the teeth of real hardship. I realised I wanted to do something to stop people and communities being neglected, so I signed up to Labour.

What inspired you to become a councillor?
I wanted to stand up for Streatham and help residents get a better deal from their council. Streatham South deserves far more investment and attention than it had from the dysfunctional Lib Dem Tory alliance that ran Lambeth – and its finances – into the ground. Only a Labour council has the ability to work with the Labour Government and the Labour Mayor to stop waste, incompetence and fraud and deliver sustained improvement right across Lambeth.

Has it been worth it?
So far, so good! Labour has inherited an unholy mess to sort out, so there’s a lot of work to be done.

What’s your greatest fear and your greatest hope?
My greatest fear is another Tory government, which I believe would dismantle much of the good work Labour has done in Britain for the economy, for equality and for education. Don’t believe their hype - the Tories are still the party of cuts, charges and privatisation, of boom and bust, ‘them and us’ and crumbling classrooms. My greatest hope is another Labour government, protecting economic prosperity and promoting social justice for the many, not the few.

What’s the first thing you would do if you ruled the world for a day?
I’d do what I always do - have a big mug of tea. Then I’d end poverty, creating a better future for billions of people.

What single thing would most improve your area?
Investment - in a better local environment, in public services and in retail opportunities in Streatham.

What fictional character do you identify with, and why?
Jefferson Smith, the James Stewart character from Mr Smith Goes to Washington. He’s an idealist who isn’t afraid to speak out against lies and corruption.

As he says: “You fight for the lost causes harder than for any other. Yes, you even die for them.”

I should add I’ve no great desire to go to Washington - unless it’s Washington in the North East, which happens to be represented in Parliament by two good friends of mine, Sharon Hodgson and Fraser Kemp.

What’s your favourite film?
I’m a part-time film critic so that’s a really hard question to answer! If I have to be tied down to one film, it’s probably Singin’ in the Rain. Great song and dance numbers in a highly entertaining look at Hollywood’s awkward transition from silents to talkies.

What does Lambeth do particularly well?
Puts residents’ backs up. But when it isn’t annoying the entire population, it’s good at encouraging diverse communities and lifestyles to flourish together. Lambeth’s environmental record is good too.

What do you consider your greatest political triumph?
Helping Labour win three elections within 365 days – the May 5th 2005 General Election, the Streatham South by-election on October 20th 2005 and Lambeth on May 4th 2006.

What was your most embarrassing moment?
Totally forgetting to attend a friend’s wedding, despite buying a present and spending weeks looking at the invitation on the shelf in my hall. Or maybe arriving for another friend’s wedding after the service had finished, again having spent weeks studying the invitation. Or perhaps wearing a black suit to a Hindu wedding, which I gather is bad luck. Actually, the bad luck was mostly my own as I leant in some chewing gum on the train to Leicester and had to dash into a dry cleaners on arrival. I seem to be a bit jinxed with weddings!

What is the biggest problem with local government today?
The majority of residents only get involved with their council to object to something happening, not to help positive changes happen. Totally understandable – people have busy lives – but they could make a huge contribution for the better.

How would you solve it?
Engage more – give residents more of a voice in local decision-making, and confidence that their councillors are listening to and reflecting their views.

Who is your political hero, and why?
I admire George Lansbury a lot. His common humanity, his energy, his commitment to making sure the less well-off had fair access to recreational activities, his unswerving support for women’s suffrage and his lifelong pacifism – though I have to say, if I had lived in the thirties I would have fought against fascism, as my grandfather did.

As Labour Mayor of Poplar, Lansbury led the Poplar Rates Rebellion in 1921, marching to prison with 30 councillors, in protest about unfair rates distribution in London, which diverted money away from desperately poor boroughs like Poplar. They held council meetings in Brixton Prison, with six female councillors - one pregnant - brought by cab from Holloway.

Lansbury was a man of principle who had no qualms about going to jail, several times, for issues he passionately believed in.

In 1933 when he broke his leg, he received a telegram the next day saying: 'Hope accident not serious may God spare you'. The sender? Mahatma Gandhi. I think that shows the measure of both men.

When and where are you most happy?
At home, with my strongest supporter and fiercest critic.

What’s your theme song, and why?
“I Am What I Am” - it’s about having the courage to know yourself and be yourself, without shame or compromise: “It’s my world that I want to have a little pride in; my world and it’s not a place I have to hide in. Life’s not worth a damn till you can say - hey world, I am what I am.”

What one book would you take with you to a desert island?
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, illustrated by Sidney Paget.

To get in touch with Mark please complete the form below, or read about other councillors: