Joseph Edward Benton (born 28 September 1933) is a

British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...

politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

from

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

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 ...

Early life

Benton was born in

, Merseyside and was educated at the St Monica's

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Primary School on

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

Road and Secondary School in Bootle and the Bootle Municipal Technical College (now part of the

Hugh Baird College Hugh Baird College is an Ofsted outstanding college and University Centre situated in Merseyside, England. It is one of the largest providers of education and training in the area, delivering over 300 courses to more than 5,000 students. The colle ...

of Further Education). On leaving school in 1949 he received an apprenticeship as a fitter and turner. He entered

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in 1955 with the RAF. In 1958 he joined the

Pacific Steam Navigation Company The Pacific Steam Navigation Company () was a British commercial shipping company that operated along the Pacific coast of South America, and was the first to use steam ships for commercial traffic in the Pacific Ocean. At one point in the 1870s, ...

as a

personnel Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

officer, remaining in this position until 1981. In 1982 he became a personnel manager with

Girobank National Girobank was a British public sector financial institution run by the General Post Office that opened for business in October 1968. It was initially called ''National Giro'' then ''National Girobank'' and finally ''Girobank plc'', bef ...

. He has been a Justice of the Peace on the Bootle Bench since 1969. He was elected to serve as a councillor on

County Borough council in 1970, moving to

Sefton Borough Council Sefton Council, or Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, is the local authority of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It is a metropolitan borough council and provides the majority of local government services in the borou ...

after local government reform in 1973 and serving until his election to Parliament in 1990. Benton was member for the Derby ward from 1970 to 1991 and Leader of the Council from 1986 before being succeeded by

Peter Dowd Peter Christopher Dowd (born 20 June 1957) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bootle since 2015. From 2017 to 2020, he served as the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Early life and educ ...

. Dowd also succeeded Benton as MP for the

constituency in May 2015.

Parliamentary career

Bootle saw the death of two young Labour MPs in 1990. Allan Roberts died on 21 March after a long battle with cancer; Benton was on the shortlist to follow him but lost out to Mike Carr who won the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

on 24 May. Carr died on 20 July as a result of a heart attack just 57 days after his election. Benton won the selection to fight the second by-election in Bootle. He was elected comfortably on 8 November, obtaining 78% of the vote and nearly ten times that of his nearest rival, the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

James Clappison William James Clappison (born 14 September 1956), commonly known as James Clappison, is a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. He serves as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel group. Personal life The son of a Y ...

. Following the 2001 general election, he held the safest Labour seat in the country. Benton was appointed as an

opposition whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline (that members of the party vote according to the party platform rather than their constituents, individual conscience or donors) in a legislature. Whips a ...

by John Smith in 1994, but was not given a government post by

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

after the 1997 general election. Benton voted to restrict the availability of abortion, and opposes

embryo An embryo ( ) is the initial stage of development for a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male sp ...

research and

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

. He was also one of fifteen Labour MPs to oppose the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Bill which equalised the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual sex. In February 2012, Benton signed a petition sponsored by the

Coalition for Marriage The Coalition for Marriage, often abbreviated to C4M, is a Christian campaign group in the United Kingdom that opposes same-sex marriage. Founded in February 2012, the Coalition for Marriage is the main campaign group against same-sex marriage ...

which states "I support the legal definition of marriage which is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. I oppose any attempt to redefine it.". This aroused opposition in his constituency party, with some members feeling he was not prepared to listen to them, contributing towards a move to deselect him. In February 2013, Benton voted against the second reading of the

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (c. 30) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced same-sex marriage in England and Wales. Background Civil partnerships were Civil partnership in the United Kingdom, introduce ...

. Subsequently, in May 2013 the MP voted against the bill’s third and final reading, opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage within England and Wales. On 12 June 2014, Benton announced that he would not be standing again at the next election. This was after a vote taken by his

constituency Labour party A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency. In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituencies. In Sc ...

, which opted to open the selection process rather than automatically re-selecting Benton. His absence from the constituency and frequent work abroad were cited as reasons for members failing to support him.

Personal life

He married Doris Wynne in 1959 in

, who died in 2016, and the couple had four daughters. The tip of Benton's index finger was bitten off by a dog while out campaigning on 6 May 2010 in his Bootle constituency. He was hospitalised and could not vote in the 2010 general election as a result. On 21 June 2014,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

conferred a Knighthood of the Pontifical Equestrian

Order of St Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great (; ) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See. The honor is b ...

(KSG) upon Benton in recognition for the contribution he has made to ecclesiastical and civic life on a local and national level.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benton, Joe 1933 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Bootle UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015 British anti-abortion activists Politicians from Liverpool Councillors in Merseyside