Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn (born 4 October 1989) is an English politician, who has represented the

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

Bread Street Bread Street is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London, wards of the City of London, the name deriving from its principal street, which was anciently the city's bread marketplace, market; already named ''Bredstrate'' (to at least 1180) for by ...

on the

Court of Common Council The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. City of London Corporation elections , Elections are held at least eve ...

of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

since 2022. Benn unsuccessfully contested both the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

UK general election United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...

s 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. At the 2022 local elections, she was elected to represent Bread Street Ward on the City Common Council. The granddaughter of the late Labour MP

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and political activist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabine ...

, she is the eldest child and only daughter of the 3rd Viscount Stansgate by his wife Nita Clarke (''née'' Bowes).

Early and family life

Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn was born 4 October 1989 in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, London, where the 1989

Labour Party Conference The Labour Party Conference is the annual conference of the British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. It is formally the supreme decision-making body of the party and is traditionally held in the final week of September, during the party conferen ...

was being held, as the daughter of a

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. The status and any domain held by a viscount is a viscounty. In the case of French viscounts, the title is ...

, she is entitled to be styled as ''

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (Commonwealth English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style ...

''. Benn is a quarter- Indian on her mother's side. She 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. Four generations of her family have served as British Members of Parliament (MP) – her uncle

Hilary Benn Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South, formerly ...

, her grandfather

, her great-grandfather

William Wedgwood Benn William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate, (10 May 1877 – 17 November 1960) was a British Liberal politician who later joined the Labour Party. A decorated Royal Air Force officer, he was Secretary of State for India between 1929 and ...

and her great-great-grandfathers, Sir John Benn and Daniel Holmes.

Education

Benn attended Wallington High School for Girls where she achieved 11 A* grades in her

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

s. She then studied Music, History and Latin for

A-level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

s at St Olave's Grammar School,

Orpington Orpington is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St Mary Cray, sou ...

, before reading History and Politics at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

Professional career

After

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, Benn joined the graduate training programme at UBS Investment Bank, then the multi-asset sales team at the bank in London. In 2016 she started working for UBS in New York City. In 2018 Benn was a graduate research assistant at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, helping to write a book on ageing demographics with Camilla Cavendish. She later worked as Chief of Staff for Jonathan Powell before becoming Chief of Staff of Tortoise Media.

Political career

Parliamentary candidate

On 12 September 2007, three weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Benn was selected as the Labour Party

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

for the West Sussex constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham at the 2010 general election. The sitting MP, Conservative Tim Loughton, defending a majority over Labour of 8,183 votes from the 2005 general election, 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. On 16 July 2014, Benn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Croydon South for the 2015 general election. She increased the Labour vote share by 4.8%, but was defeated by Conservative candidate

Chris Philp Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp (born 6 July 1976) is a British politician who has served as Shadow Home Secretary since November 2024. He held the post of Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire from October 2022 to July 2024. He w ...

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. In May 2014, she was elected top of the ballot with a majority of 1,777. She resigned as a

Councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

in 2016 after accepting a job in New York City. Benn served on the Board of Trustees of the London Youth Games and London Mozart Players. 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.

Andrew Fisher complaint

In the autumn of 2015, Benn formally complained about Andrew Fisher,

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

's head of policy, for supporting the group

Class War Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...

at the general election earlier that year; Fisher was suspended. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' also stated that 'Fisher Supporters' had pointed out that a page titled 'Emily Benn for Croydon South' on Facebook published a

retweet A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include Image, images, Video, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, Mention (blogging), m ...

suggesting Labour members who were '"disappointed" with Corbyn's "male dominated" leadership join the Women's Equality Party.

Electoral history

2022 City of London Corporation election

2015 general election

2010 general election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benn, Emily 1989 births Living people Alumni of New College, Oxford Emily Tony Benn Councillors in the London Borough of Croydon Councilmen and Aldermen of the City of London 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 Croydon People from South Norwood UBS people UK councillors 2014–2018 UK councillors 2022–2026 Women councillors in England