A few days ago, the British Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, a Conservative, began an important address in an unusual way. Speaking on the subject of ‘Deterrence in the Cyber Age,’ he quoted Tony Benn, the late left-wing Labour politician and peace activist.
Mr Benn, he observed, had written in his book ‘Arguments for Democracy’ that there were five questions every citizen should ask of those who hold power: “What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?”
Of these, Mr Hunt said, the most important was the last, noting that in response Mr Benn had said, “If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.”
