Hilary Benn

The Right Honourable Hilary Benn MP
Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Caroline Flint
Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
In office 8 October 2010 – 7 October 2011
Leader	Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Rosie Winterton
Succeeded by	Angela Eagle
Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In office 11 May 2010 – 8 October 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman Ed Miliband
Preceded by	Nick Herbert
Succeeded by	Mary Creagh
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	David Miliband
Succeeded by	Caroline Spelman
Secretary of State for International Development
In office 6 October 2003 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	The Baroness Amos
Succeeded by	Douglas Alexander
Member of Parliament for Leeds Central
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 May 1999
Preceded by	Derek Fatchett
Majority	10,645 (28.5%)
Personal details
Born	26 November 1953 (1953-11-26) Hammersmith, London, England
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Rosalind Caroline Retey (1973-1979) Sally Christina Clark (1982-present)
Relations	Tony Benn (father) Caroline Benn (mother, deceased)
Children	Michael, James, Jonathan, Caroline[citation needed]
Alma mater	University of Sussex
Website	Official website

Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds Central since 1999. He served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development from 2003 to 2007 and as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2007 to 11 May 2010. Since October 2011, Benn was the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. In June 2007, Benn ran for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party, coming fourth out of six candidates.

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 educationalist Caroline Benn. He attended Norland Place School, Westminster Under School (a private school), Holland Park School and University of Sussex where he graduated in Russian and East European Studies. Benn has an older brother, Stephen, a younger sister Melissa and a younger brother, Joshua.

Member of Parliament

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 10 June 1999 on a very small turnout, by just over 2,000 votes. He made his maiden speech on 23 June 1999.

In government

Hilary Benn has held the following positions^{[citation needed]}:

• 2001-2002 - Parliamentary under Secretary of State at the Department for International Development
• 2002-2003 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons & Probation
• 2003 - Minister of State at the Department for International Development
• 2003-2007 - Secretary of State for International Development
• 2007-2010 - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Bid for 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%. 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.

Bovine TB

As Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, it was the responsibility of Hilary Benn to respond to the threat to UK cattle from Mycobacterium bovis, colloquially referred to as Bovine Tuberculosis (TB). The recommended option^{[citation needed]} from the Chief Scientific Advisor until 2007, Sir David King, was a badger cull.

In July 2008, in a House of Commons debate after Hilary Benn had made clear that a badger cull would not be pursued^{[citation needed]}, Anne Snelgrove (Labour) asked:

Was one of the practicalities that he envisaged that, in constituencies such as mine, with a densely populated centre surrounded by great swathes of countryside, it would be very difficult to undertake a cull and persuade people in the densely populated centre that that was the right thing to do?

Hilary Benn replied:

That was one factor that I was bound to take into account in reaching my decision, because there are strong views on all sides and public opinion can have an impact on the practicality of a cull. It was entirely legitimate for that to be one of the factors that I weighed up in my mind, but above all the decision has been taken as a result of the science.

In April 2010, a badger cull was announced in Wales, after the high court in Cardiff rejected a legal challenge from The Badger Trust.^{[citation needed]}

May 2009, "MP expenses controversy"

Hilary Benn was picked out by several national newspapers as one of only three senior members of the Labour Party to have presented expenses beyond reproach. "When all Westminster MPs' total expenditures are ranked, Benn's bill is the 15th least expensive for the taxpayer," said The Guardian.

June 2009, "War on Waste"

Relating to the huge amounts of food wasted (according to WRAP 33% of all food produced), Hilary Benn launched the "War on Waste" program to reduce this amount. Whilst Benn proposed to scrap the "best before" date altogether, others proposed enhancing the validity date with other solutions such as time temperature indicators.

In Opposition

Benn briefly served as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2010 during Harriet Harman's interim leadership of the Labour Party. In Ed Miliband's first Shadow Cabinet, announced on 8 October 2010, he was appointed Shadow Leader of the House of Commons. When Miliband reshuffled his team on 7 October 2011, he was named Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Personal life

In 1973, whilst at university, he married fellow student Rosalind Retey, who died of cancer at age 26 in 1979;^{[citation needed]} Benn subsequently married Sally Christina Clark in 1982.^{[citation needed]} He has four children, Michael, James, Jonathan and Caroline.^{[citation needed]} He and his family live in Chiswick, West London.^{[citation needed]}

Benn strongly resembles his father, Tony Benn, in his speaking style and delivery, but is a political centrist and New Labour loyalist. It is in this vein that he famously describes himself as "a Benn, but not a Bennite". Like his father, he is a teetotaller and a vegetarian.

External links

• HilaryBenn.org official constituency website
• Hilary Benn MP official Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) profile
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Close family, distant politics, Nicholas Watt, The Observer, 3 June 2007 interview with Benn and his father
• Adapting to Climate Change Rt Hon Hilary Benn, Royal Institute of British Architects, Gleeds TV, video
• Love Food, Hate Waste

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Derek Fatchett	Member of Parliament for Leeds Central 1999–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by The Baroness Amos	Secretary of State for International Development 2003–2007	Succeeded by Douglas Alexander
Preceded by David Miliband	Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2007–2010	Succeeded by Caroline Spelman
Preceded by Nick Herbert	Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 2010	Succeeded by Mary Creagh
Preceded by Rosie Winterton	Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 2010–2011	Succeeded by Angela Eagle
Preceded by Caroline Flint	Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 2011-present	Incumbent