Emily Benn

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The Honourable
Emily Benn
Benn in 2009
Common Councillor for City of London Common Council
Assumed office
24 March 2022
Councillor for Croydon Borough Council
In office
23 May 2014 – 10 March 2016
WardWest Thornton
Majority1,777
Personal details
Born
Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn

(1989-10-04) 4 October 1989 (age 34)
Croydon, London, England
Political party
Parents
Relatives
Alma materNew College, Oxford
OccupationInvestment banking
Websitedemocracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=2871

Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn (born 4 October 1989) is an English Local government politician, who has represented the Ward of Bread Street on the Court of Common Council of the City of London since 2022.[1]

Benn unsuccessfully contested both the 2010 and 2015 UK general elections as a Labour Party parliamentary candidate. At the 2014 local elections, Benn was elected to the West Thornton Ward of Croydon Borough Council, serving until 2016.[2] At the 2022 local elections, she was elected to represent Bread Street Ward on the City Common Council.[3]

The granddaughter of the late Labour MP Tony Benn, she is the eldest child and only daughter of the 3rd Viscount Stansgate[4] by his wife Nita Clarke (née Bowes).[5]

Early and family life[edit]

Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn was born 4 October 1989 in Croydon, London, where the 1989 Labour Party Conference was being held,[6][7] as the daughter of a viscount, she is entitled to be styled as The Honourable. Benn is a quarter-Indian on her mother's side[8] Benn claims that her first political experience was campaigning for her grandfather in his Chesterfield constituency during the 1992 general election aged two and she joined the Labour Party at the age of 14.[9]

Four generations of her family have served as British Members of Parliament (MP) – uncle Hilary Benn, grandfather Tony Benn, great-grandfather William Wedgwood Benn and great-great-grandfathers, Sir John Benn and Daniel Holmes.[10]

Education[edit]

Benn attended Wallington High School for Girls[11] where she achieved 11 A* grades in her GCSEs.[12] She then studied Music, History and Latin for A-levels at St Olave's Grammar School, Orpington,[9][13] before going up to read History and Politics at New College, Oxford.[11][14]

Professional career[edit]

After university, Benn joined the graduate training programme at UBS Investment Bank, then the multi-asset sales team at the bank in London.[15][16] In 2016 she started working for UBS in New York.[17][16]

In 2018 Benn was a graduate research assistant at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, helping to write a book on ageing demographics with Camilla Cavendish.[18] She later worked as Chief of Staff for Jonathan Powell before becoming Chief of Staff of Tortoise Media.[19]

Political career[edit]

Parliamentary candidate[edit]

On 12 September 2007, three weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Benn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the West Sussex constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham at the 2010 general election.[9]

The sitting MP, Conservative Tim Loughton, defending a majority over Labour of 8,183 votes from the 2005 general election,[6] defeated Benn, who finished in third place, 4,276 votes behind the Liberal Democrat candidate in second place, while Loughton increased his majority to 11,105 votes.[20]

On 16 July 2014, Benn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Croydon South for the 2015 general election.[21][22] She increased the Labour vote share by 4.8%, but was defeated by Conservative candidate Chris Philp.[23]

Local councillor[edit]

In July 2013, Benn was selected as one of three Labour candidates for the Ward of West Thornton on Croydon Borough Council in the 2014 local council elections.[24][25] In May 2014, she was elected top of the ballot with a majority of 1,777.[2] She resigned as a Councillor in 2016 after accepting a job in New York.[17]

Benn served on the Board of Trustees of the London Youth Games and London Mozart Players.[26]

Benn returned to local politics in 2022, being elected to the Ward of Bread Street on the City of London Common Council as an Independent at the 2022 election.[3]

Andrew Fisher complaint[edit]

In the autumn of 2015, Benn formally complained about Andrew Fisher, Jeremy Corbyn's head of policy, for supporting the group Class War at the general election earlier that year;[27] Fisher was suspended.[28] The Guardian also stated that 'Fisher Supporters' had pointed out that a page titled 'Emily Benn for Croydon South' on Facebook published a retweet suggesting Labour members who were '"disappointed" with Corbyn's "male dominated" leadership join the Women's Equality Party.[29]

Electoral history[edit]

2022 City of London Corporation election[edit]

Bread Street (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Emily Benn 105 37.5 N/A
Independent Giles Shilson* 84 30.0 Decrease10.1
Independent Stephen Hodgson 60 21.4 N/A
Women's Equality Harini Iyengar 31 11.1 N/A
Turnout 280 —
Independent hold

2015 general election[edit]

General election 2015: Croydon South[30][31]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Chris Philp 31,448 54.5 +3.6
Labour Emily Benn 14,308 24.8 +4.8
UKIP Kathleen Garner 6,068 10.5 +6.1
Liberal Democrats Gill Hickson 3,448 6.0 -16.9
Green Peter Underwood 2,154 3.7 +2.0
Putting Croydon First! Mark Samuel 221 0.4 N/A
Class War Jon Bigger[32] 65 0.1 N/A
Majority 17,410 29.7
Turnout 57,712 70.4 +1.1
Conservative hold Swing -0.6%

2010 general election[edit]

General election 2010: East Worthing and Shoreham[33][34]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Tim Loughton 23,458 48.5 +4.6
Liberal Democrats James Doyle 12,353 25.5 +1.2
Labour Emily Benn 8,087 16.7 −8.8
UKIP Mike Glennon 2,984 6.2 +1.4
Green Susan Board 1,126 2.3 N/A
English Democrat Clive Maltby 389 0.8 N/A
Majority 11,105 22.9
Turnout 48,397 65.4 +3.6
Conservative hold Swing +1.7

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Member details - The Honourable Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn". democracy.cityoflondon.gov.uk. 8 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Croydon elections: West Thornton results". Croydon Advertiser. Local World. 23 May 2014. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Emily Benn: Tony Benn's granddaughter elected London councillor". BBC News. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  4. ^ "Burke's Peerage". burkespeerage.com.
  5. ^ "Nita Clarke OBE". Involvement & Participation Association. 9 October 2017.
  6. ^ a b "Teenager to take on Tory Tim at election". Littlehampton Gazette. JPI Media. 25 September 2007. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016.
  7. ^ "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). London Borough of Croydon. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Butter, Susannah (24 July 2014). "Emily Benn: why politics is a family business". Evening Standard.
  9. ^ a b c "Benn's granddaughter runs for MP". BBC News. 25 September 2007.
  10. ^ Tony Benn, Dare to be A Daniel: Then and Now (Arrow Books, 2006, ISBN 0-09-947153-1)
  11. ^ a b "A Life in the Day: Emily Benn". 4 November 2007. Archived from the original (Sunday Times) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014 – via Talkin ’bout Global Warming Test.
  12. ^ de Casparis, Lena (4 October 2007). "Age is just a number". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  13. ^ Deedes, Henry (25 September 2007). "Benn's granddaughter to stand at the next election". The Independent.
  14. ^ "Oxford Union Manifestos" (PDF). Oxford Union. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  15. ^ Merrick, Jane (23 December 2012). "Red Princes and Princesses: Labour grandees' offspring are following in their parents' footsteps". The Independent. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  16. ^ a b Rivlin, Jack (4 December 2013). "Labour is using 18-year-olds as sacrificial lambs. It's a vicious gimmick". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  17. ^ a b O'Mahony, Daniel (10 March 2016). "Emily Benn resigns as Croydon councillor for West Thornton". Croydon Guardian. Newsquest (London & Essex). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  18. ^ Zeffman, Henry (1 September 2018). "Emily Benn ready to quit Labour over trolls". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  19. ^ "Emily Benn Archives - Tortoise". 10 October 2021. Archived from the original on 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  20. ^ "Election 2010: Worthing East & Shoreham". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  21. ^ "Emily Benn, Tony Benn's granddaughter, bids to become MP". BBC News. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  22. ^ "Tony Benn's granddaughter offered a selection open goal". Inside Croydon. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  23. ^ "Croydon South". Election 2015. BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  24. ^ "Tony Benn's grand-daughter selected for West Thornton ward". Inside Croydon. 15 July 2013.
  25. ^ "Tony Benn: Croydon politicians pay tribute to veteran Labour MP". Croydon Advertiser. Local World. 14 March 2014. Archived from the original on 16 April 2014.
  26. ^ "Emily Benn".
  27. ^ Helm, Toby; Zeffman, Henry (25 October 2015). "Tony Benn's granddaughter delivers blow to Corbyn by calling for policy chief to go". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  28. ^ Eaton, George (6 November 2015). "Corbyn policy head Andrew Fisher suspended from Labour over tweets". NewStatesman. NS Media Group. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  29. ^ Wintour, Patrick (28 October 2015). "Corbyn adviser 'backed non-Labour candidates at least three times'". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  30. ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  31. ^ Shahul-Hameed, Cllr Manju (8 May 2015). "DECLARATION OF RESULT OF POLL - Election of a Member of Parliament for Croydon South" (PDF). London Borough of Croydon. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
  32. ^ "Jon Bigger - Croydon South". Class War. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
  33. ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  34. ^ "Worthing East & Shoreham". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
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