Emily Benn

Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn (born 4 October 1989), styled as The Honourable Emily Benn socially, is a research assistant and formerly an English Labour politician. She is the eldest child and only daughter of The 3rd 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]

The Honourable

Emily Benn
Emily Benn, in Mumbai in 2009
Councillor for Croydon London 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
Croydon, London, England[1]
NationalityBritish
Political partyLabour
ParentsStephen Benn
Nita Clarke
Alma materNew College, Oxford[2][3]
OccupationSales team at investment bank[4]

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] 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.[7][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, Sir John 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] and later read History and Politics at New College, Oxford.[2][3]

Professional career

After university, Benn joined the graduate training programme at UBS Investment Bank. She later joined the multi-asset sales team at the bank in London.[13][4] In 2016 she started working for UBS in New York.[14]

As of 2018, Benn is a graduate research assistant at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[15]

Political career

Candidacy for Parliament

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.[8]

The sitting MP, Conservative Tim Loughton, was defending a majority over Labour of 8,183 votes from the 2005 general election.[6] At the election, Benn finished in third place, 4,276 votes behind the Liberal Democrat candidate in second place, while Loughton increased his majority to 11,105 votes.[16]

On 16 July 2014, Benn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Croydon South for the 2015 general election.[17][18] She increased the Labour vote share by 4.8%, but was defeated by Conservative candidate Chris Philp.[19]

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.[20][21] In May 2014, she was elected top of the ballot with a majority of 1,777.[5] She resigned as a councillor in 2016 after accepting a job in New York.[14]

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;[22] Fisher was suspended.[23] 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.[24]

Electoral history

2015 general election
General election 2015: Croydon South[25][26]
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[27] 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
General election 2010: East Worthing and Shoreham[28][29]
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

References
  1. "Statement of Persons Nominated" (PDF). London Borough of Croydon. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  2. "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.
  3. "Oxford Union Manifestos" (PDF). Oxford Union. 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  4. 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.
  5. "Croydon elections: West Thornton results". Croydon Advertiser. Local World. 23 May 2014. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  6. "Teenager to take on Tory Tim at election". Littlehampton Gazette. JPI Media. 25 September 2007.
  7. Naughton, Philippe. "Times Online". The Times. (subscription required)
  8. "Benn's granddaughter runs for MP". BBC News. 25 September 2007.
  9. Tony Benn, Dare to be A Daniel: Then and Now (Arrow Books, 2006, ISBN 0-09-947153-1)
  10. "A Life in the Day: Emily Benn". Sunday Times. Times Newspapers. 4 November 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2014.(subscription required)
  11. de Casparis, Lena (4 October 2007). "Age is just a number". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  12. Deedes, Henry (25 September 2007). "Benn's granddaughter to stand at the next election". The Independent.
  13. Merrick, Jane (23 December 2012). "Red Princes and Princesses: Labour grandees' offspring are following in their parents' footsteps". The Independent. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  14. O'Mahony, Daniel (10 March 2016). "Emily Benn resigns as Croydon councillor for West Thornton". Croydon Guardian. Newsquest (London & Essex). Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  15. Zeffman, Henry (1 September 2018). "Emily Benn ready to quit Labour over trolls". The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  16. "Election 2010: Worthing East & Shoreham". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  17. "Emily Benn, Tony Benn's granddaughter, bids to become MP". BBC News. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  18. "Tony Benn's granddaughter offered a selection open goal". Inside Croydon. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  19. "Croydon South". Election 2015. BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  20. "Tony Benn's grand-daughter selected for West Thornton ward". Inside Croydon. 15 July 2013.
  21. "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.
  22. 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.
  23. Eaton, George (6 November 2015). "Corbyn policy head Andrew Fisher suspended from Labour over tweets". NewStatesman. NS Media Group. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  24. 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.
  25. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  26. 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.
  27. "Jon Bigger - Croydon South". Class War.
  28. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  29. "Worthing East & Shoreham". BBC News. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
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