Emily Benn
Councillor The Honourable Emily Benn |
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File:Emily Benn Photograph.jpg
Emily Benn, in Mumbai in 2009
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Croydon Council West Thornton Ward |
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Assumed office 23 May 2014 Serving with Bernadette Khan, Stuart King |
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Majority | 1,777 |
Personal details | |
Born | Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn 4 October 1989 Croydon, London, England[1] |
Nationality | British |
Political party | Labour |
Alma mater | New College, Oxford.[2][3] |
Occupation | Sales team at investment bank[4] |
Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn (born 4 October 1989) is an English Labour politician. She is the eldest child and only daughter of Stephen Benn (Viscount Stansgate) and Nita Clarke (née Bowes), and the granddaughter of the late Labour MP Tony Benn. She was an unsuccessful Parliamentary candidate in both the 2010 and 2015 UK general elections. At the 2014 local elections, Benn was elected to the West Thornton ward of Croydon Borough Council.[5] She works on the "multi-asset sales team" at investment bank UBS.[4]
Contents
Personal life
Early and family life
Benn was born in 1989 in Croydon, England, at the time that the Labour Party Conference of that year was being held.[6] Benn is a quarter-Indian on her mother's side,[7] and lives in South Norwood.[8] Benn claims that her first political experience was campaigning for her grandfather in his Chesterfield constituency in the 1992 general election at age two, and she joined the Labour Party at age 14.[8]
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, John Williams Benn and Daniel Holmes.[9]
Education
Benn attended Wallington High School for Girls[2][10] where she achieved 11 A* grades in her GCSEs.[11] She then studied music, history and Latin for A level at St Olave's Grammar School,[8][12][13] and later studied History and Politics at New College, Oxford.[2][3]
Political career
Candidacy for Parliament
On 12 September 2007, three weeks before her 18th birthday, Benn was selected as the Labour candidate for the West Sussex constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham at the 2010 general election.[8]
The sitting MP, Conservative Tim Loughton, was defending a majority over Labour of 8,183 from the 2005 general election.[6] In the election, Benn came third, 4,276 votes behind the second-placed Liberal Democrats, while Loughton increased his majority to 11,105.[14]
On 16 July 2014, Benn was selected as the Labour candidate for Croydon South for the 2015 General Election.[15][16] She increased the Labour vote share by 4.8%, but was defeated by Conservative candidate Chris Philp.
Local councillor
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.[17][18] In May 2014, she was elected top of the ballot with a majority of 1,777.[5]
Andrew Fisher complaint
In the Autumn of 2015, Benn formally complained about Andrew Fisher, Jeremy Corbyn's head of policy, for supporting the Class War party at the general election earlier that year;[19] Fisher was suspended.[20] The Guardian also stated that 'Fisher Supporters' had pointed out that a page titled 'Emily Benn for Croydon South' on Facebook published a re-tweet suggesting Labour members who were 'disappointed' with Corbyn's 'male dominated' leadership join the Women's Equality Party.[21]
Electoral history
2015 general election
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 Democrat | 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[24] | 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
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Tim Loughton (incumbent) | 23,458 | 48.5 | +4.6 | |
Liberal Democrat | 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 Democrats | Clive Maltby | 389 | 0.8 | N/A | |
Majority | 11,105 | 22.9 | |||
Turnout | 48,397 | 65.4 | +3.6 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
References
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- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Teenager to take on Tory Tim at election, Littlehampton Gazette, 25 September 2007
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (subscription required)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Benn's granddaughter runs for MP, BBC News, 25 September 2007
- ↑ Tony Benn, Dare to be A Daniel: Then and Now (Arrow Books, 2006, ISBN 0-09-947153-1)
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Benn's granddaughter to stand at the next election The Independent, 25 September 2007
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Tony Benn’s grand-daughter selected for West Thornton ward Inside Croydon, 15 July 2013
- ↑ Tony Benn: Croydon politicians pay tribute to veteran Labour MP Croydon Advertiser, 14 March 2014
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ https://www.croydon.gov.uk/sites/default/files/articles/downloads/Croydon-South-election-results_0.pdf
- ↑ http://www.classwarparty.org.uk/the-candidates/jon-bigger-croydon-south/
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Pages containing links to subscription-only content
- Use dmy dates from June 2013
- Pages with broken file links
- 1989 births
- Living people
- Alumni of New College, Oxford
- Councillors in Croydon
- Daughters of viscounts
- English people of American descent
- English people of Indian descent
- English people of Scottish descent
- Labour Party (UK) councillors
- Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
- People educated at Wallington High School for Girls
- People from South Norwood
- Tony Benn