When Tony Benn interviewed Saddam Hussein in 1990, the Iraqi dictator kept removing his revolver from his belt and playing with it. So this year's exchange was a piece of cake and didn't ruffle him a bit, Tony Benn told Katherine MacAlister.

Even the most fearless interviewer or journalist would have been slightly apprehensive about speaking to the most infamous leader on earth in front of the world's media, but not Tony Benn.

Tony Benn talks to reporters at the Ministry of Information in Baghdad

After all, he has already met Lloyd George, Churchill, Ghandi, Nixon, Mandela and the Shah of Iran. The furore that followed, about giving Saddam a platform to vent his distorted views, didn't worry him either.

From the start, Mr Benn suspected sour grapes "I'm sure the journalists in question were just angry I got the interview and they didn't," he says.

They must have been hopping mad after discovering that Tony Benn had landed the scoop of the century after writing a simple letter asking for some time to discuss the war.

Tony Benn was the ideal candidate anyway, being a famous pacifist.

"Saddam was a brutal dictator and everyone knew my views on that. But I asked him whether he had any weapons of mass destruction and he said no, and I asked about his connections with Al Qaida and he said there were none. The point was to give people the chance to see

another point of view and hear what he had to say."

Mr Benn is still cynical about the conflict.

"I don't believe the war had anything to do with weapons of mass destruction. We have not been told the truth yet."

Tony Benn also achieved notoriety by becoming the first public figure to be Ali G'd, and to come out of the ordeal more respected than when he started, quite an achievement when you regard the mess the TV

comedian makes out of less vocal characters.

"Ali G said that women only got pregnant to get benefits and was very derogatory. I argued very vigorously with him, which no one else did," Mr Benn says, rather proudly.

Ali G even phoned after the event to congratulate him on the way he conducted himself.

"I was angry to start with when I found out I'd been had, but then I realised the programme performed a useful function by exploding media myths and being very funny."

Tony Benn's main role over the years hasn't been on the television, but in parliament.

The famous socialist, who renounced his peerage and changed his name from Anthony Neil Wedgewood-Benn to the more proletarian Tony Benn, is still the longest serving MP this country has had.

He joined the Labour Party at the age of 18, went to Oxford University and in 1950 was elected as member for Bristol South East. He became a minister in 1964 and served in every Labour Cabinet until 1979.

Having retired in 2001 "to devote more time to politics', he now tours the country, selling out auditoriums, expounding his views on today's politics. In another show, he combines music, politics and poetry with his friend Roy Bailey, even appearing at Glastonbury last year.

So why doesn't he settle back and do what most pensioners his age are doing - sit back with the pipe and slippers?

The answer is that it's not just a day job to him. He lives, eats and breathes politics.

"I think people are interested in politics, but I also think people are very angry. They feel they are not listened to and don't believe what they are told. They do not connect with today's political system. I am just trying to explain what's going on and what they need to do about

it, that sort of thing," he says modestly.

"The way I see, it Iain Duncan Smith could be the Minister of Defence and Charles Kennedy the Home Secretary, because we are moving towards one party and there is not much difference between them any more, which is very dangerous."

Both trustworthy and compelling, Tony Benn scorns the spin-doctor modernity of politics.

"I do not judge anyone by how far up the ladder of life they have climbed," he says. "I just want to encourage people and help them understand the world."

While some might see his career as a calling, Mr Benn says that with a father and grandfather as MPs he is simply in the family business. One of his four children, Hilary, is already an MP.

"People are suddenly aware of the things I have been talking about for 20-30 years, and have been hammered into the ground over, such as pensions, students, privatisation, the environment and war, so public opinion does change. But as I always say, these things take time, just as it did when women got the vote, so I am quite optimistic."

His life sounds exhausting, with no sign of his schedule relenting. Caroline, his wife of 51 years, whom he courted in Oxford, died recently, leaving him alone in his London home. But while Mr Benn admits his passion for politics has not abated, he says he doesn't miss the House of Commons

or have any desire to be a backbencher again.

"I'll just carry on doing what I'm doing until my health collapses," he says. "But I'm feeling fit at 78."

The teetotal vegetarian has two remaining vices though - tea and a pipe, both of which he enjoys on stage.

As the interview ends he turns off his dictaphone, a trick that has reined in many a journalist over the years. He has recorded every interview since 1974, when he noticed that displaying it on the table noticeably reduced the

number of printed lies. The recordings also aid his famous diaries which have chronicled his life over the years in great detail - so far he has accumulated 15 million words.

As he prepares to leave he says: "A friend of mine met Mrs Thatcher recently and asked her what her greatest achievement was. She replied 'New Labour'."

The old ones are the best.

Tony Benn is appearing at the Oxford Apollo on June 6 at 7.30pm. Box office 0870 6063500.