Hilary Benn

The Rt Hon Hilary Benn
Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
In office 6 October 2003 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Valerie Amos
Succeeded by	Douglas Alexander
Member of Parliament for Leeds Central
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 May 1999
Preceded by	Derek Fatchett
Majority	11,866 (40.7%)
Personal details
Born	(1953-11-26) November 26, 1953 Hammersmith, London
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Sally Christina Clark
Children	Michael, James, Jonathan and Caroline
Alma mater	University of Sussex
Website	http://www.hilarybenn.org

Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (November 26, 1953) is a British politician, a current member of the British cabinet as Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Labour Member of Parliament for the West Yorkshire constituency of Leeds Central. In October 2006 Benn announced he was running for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party, but lost out to Harriet Harman MP.

Early life

Born in Hammersmith, London, Hilary Benn is a fourth generation MP as the second son of former Labour Cabinet Minister Tony Benn and the educationalist Caroline Benn. He attended Holland Park School and University of Sussex where he graduated in Russian and East European Studies. In 1973, whilst at university, he married fellow student Rosalind Retey, who died of cancer at age 26 in 1979; Benn subsequently married Sally Christina Clark in 1982. He has four children, Michael, James, Jonathan and Caroline. He and his family live in Chiswick, West London.

Political career

On leaving university, Benn became a Research Officer with the ASTMS and rose to become Head of Policy for Manufacturing Science and Finance. In 1979 he was elected to the Ealing Borough Council where he was Deputy Leader from 1986 to 1990. He was the Labour candidate for Ealing North in both the 1983 General Election and 1987 General Election. On both occasions he was defeated by the Conservative candidate Harry Greenway.

When Labour won power in 1997, Benn was appointed Special Adviser to David Blunkett as Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 1999 he was quickly selected as the Labour candidate for the Leeds Central by-election following the death of Derek Fatchett. Benn won the by-election on June 10, 1999 on a very small turnout, by just over 2,000 votes. He made his maiden speech on June 23, 1999.

Ministerial career

Following the 2001 General Election, he joined the Labour Government as Clare Short's deputy in the role of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for International Development (DFID). In May 2002, he moved to the Home Office, where he became Minister for Prisons and Probation, and in May 2003 he returned to DFID under its new Secretary of State, Baroness Valerie Amos with the more senior position of Minister of State. When Amos was appointed Leader of the House of Lords in October 2003, he replaced her as Secretary of State. He became a Member of the Privy Council in 2003.

Deputy Leadership

Benn was the bookmakers' favourite for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party. The early polls in the Deputy Leadership contest showed him to be the grassroots' favourite - in a YouGov poll of party members, Benn was top on 27%, followed by Education Secretary Alan Johnson on 18%, Environment Secretary David Miliband on 17%, Justice Minister Harriet Harman on 10%, and Labour Party Chair Hazel Blears on 7%. He had a strong degree of support in the youth of the party. The contest was formally launched on 14 May 2007 after the resignation of incumbent Deputy leader John Prescott, Benn had some initial difficulties securing the necessary 45 nominations required to get on the ballot paper but he acquired the support needed to join five other candidates - Hazel Blears, Harriet Harman, Alan Johnson, Peter Hain and backbencher Jon Cruddas. Supporting nominations from constituency Labour Parties showed Hilary Benn obtaining 25%, Jon Cruddas 22%, Harriet Harman 19%, Alan Johnson 14%, Hazel Blears 12% and Peter Hain 8% of the constituency parties that voted. The Labour leadership contest closed on Sunday 24 June 2007 with Harriet Harman winning the contest. Benn was eliminated in the 3rd round of voting having reached a total of 22.33% of the votes. Harriet Harman was elected in the 5th round with 50.43% of the vote.

Further notes

Benn strongly resembles his father in his speaking style and delivery, although he is viewed as more mainstream in his political outlook. For example he is in favour of continuing the war in Iraq, while his father is opposed. He famously describes himself as "a Benn, but not a Bennite".[1]. Like his father, he is teetotal. [2]

External links

• HilaryBenn.org official site
• Benn4Deputy.org Hilary Benn's Deputy Leadership site
• DFID - Hilary Benn MP Department for International Development official biography
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Hilary Benn MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Hilary Benn MP
• Close family, distant politics Observer interview with Benn and his father