The Viscount Stansgate | |
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Director of Parliamentary Affairs for the Royal Society of Biology | |
Assumed office 2011 | |
Member of the House of Lords | |
as an elected hereditary peer 6 September 2021 | |
By-election | 15 July 2021 |
Preceded by | The 3rd Baron Rea |
Personal details | |
Born | Stephen Michael Wedgwood Benn 21 August 1951 |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Nita Clarke |
Children | 2,including Emily |
Parents |
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Relatives |
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Alma mater | Keele University |
Stephen Michael Wedgwood Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate (born 21 August 1951), is a British hereditary peer and Labour member of the House of Lords.
Stansgate's father, Tony Benn, and his younger brother, Hilary Benn, have both been senior Labour politicians. His mother was Caroline Benn, an educationalist and writer, and his sister is Melissa Benn, a feminist writer.
He was educated at Holland Park School from 1962 to 1968 and at Keele University, where he was awarded a doctorate (PhD) in 1984 for a thesis entitled "The White House Staff". [1]
Stansgate was an elected member of the Inner London Education Authority from 1986 to 1990.
In 2011, he was appointed director of parliamentary affairs for the Society of Biology [2] after spending two decades in a similar role for the Royal Society of Chemistry. [3] He is also a vice-president of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee. [4]
Benn succeeded to the title Viscount Stansgate on the death of his father in March 2014. [3] [5] [6] [7] His acceptance of the title was recorded on 10 November 2014 with a note in the minutes of Proceedings from the House of Lords, stating: [8]
He stood for election as a Labour hereditary peer in the House of Lords and was elected unopposed on 10 July 2021, replacing Lord Rea who died in 2020. He took the oath on 6 September that year and made his maiden speech on 14 October 2021 in a Regional Strategy debate, with his brother Hilary Benn looking on. [9] [10]
Stansgate married Ashika Nita Bowes in 1988. They have two children: [11]
Emily, an investment banker by occupation, pursued a political career and sat on the Croydon London Borough Council as a Labour member until she resigned in 2016 on moving to New York. In 2022 she was elected to the City of London Common Council.
The Peerage Act 1963 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permits female hereditary peers and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be disclaimed.
William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate, 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 1931 and Secretary of State for Air between 1945 and 1946. He was the father of Tony Benn and the paternal grandfather of Hilary Benn.
Viscount Stansgate, of Stansgate in the County of Essex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1942 for the Labour politician, former Secretary of State for India and future Secretary of State for Air, William Wedgwood Benn. He was the second son of Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet, of The Old Knoll. Stansgate's eldest son and heir apparent, Michael Benn, was later killed in the Second World War. Consequently, he was succeeded in the title by his second son, the Labour politician Tony Benn, who disclaimed the peerage on 31 July 1963, the day the Peerage Act 1963 passed into law and made it possible for him to do so. As of 2022, the title is held by Tony Benn's eldest son, Stephen Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate.
Viscount Chandos, of Aldershot in the County of Southampton, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and held by a branch of the Lyttelton family. It was created in 1954 for the businessman and public servant Oliver Lyttelton. He was the son of the politician and sportsman Alfred Lyttelton, eighth son of George Lyttelton, 4th Baron Lyttelton, whose eldest son, the 5th Baron Lyttelton, also succeeded his kinsman The 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos as 8th Viscount Cobham in 1889. As of 2017 the title of Viscount Chandos is held by the first Viscount's grandson, the third Viscount, who succeeded his father in 1980. He lost his seat in the House of Lords after the passing of the House of Lords Act of 1999, which removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the upper chamber of Parliament. However, in 2000 he was given a life peerage as Baron Lyttelton of Aldershot, of Aldershot in the County of Hampshire, and was thus able to return to the House of Lords, where he now sits on the Labour benches. Lord Chandos is also in remainder to the viscountcy of Cobham and its subsidiary titles the barony of Cobham, the barony of Lyttelton, the barony of Westcote and the baronetcy of Frankley.
Viscount Tenby, of Bulford in the County of Pembroke, is a hereditary title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, created in 1957 for former Home Secretary, the Hon. Gwilym Lloyd George, second son of Prime Minister David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor.
The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of November 2024, there are 801 hereditary peers: 30 dukes, 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 109 viscounts, and 439 barons.
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the Dukedom of Edinburgh awarded for life to Prince Edward in 2023, all life peerages conferred since 2009 have been created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 with the rank of baron and entitle their holders to sit and vote in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as age and citizenship. The legitimate children of a life peer appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958 are entitled to style themselves with the prefix "The Honourable", although they cannot inherit the peerage itself. Prior to 2009, life peers of baronial rank could also be so created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 for senior judges.
The Life Peerages Act 1958 established the modern standards for the creation of life peers by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom.
William Matthew Wand Addison, 4th Viscount Addison is a British peer. The son of Michael Addison, 3rd Viscount Addison, he succeeded the Viscountcy on the death of his father in 1992.
Malcolm Archibald James St Clair was a British Conservative Party politician and Army officer.
Jan David Simon, 3rd Viscount Simon, was a British hereditary peer and member of the House of Lords.
The 1961 Bristol South East by-election was a by-election held on 4 May 1961 for the British House of Commons constituency of Bristol South East in the city of Bristol.
Thomas Orlando Lyttelton, 3rd Viscount Chandos, Baron Lyttelton of Aldershot, is a British hereditary and life peer and politician for the Labour Party.
Charles Mark Townshend Colville, 5th Viscount Colville of Culross, is a Scottish television producer, director and hereditary peer.
David Stephen Geoffrey Pollock, 3rd Viscount Hanworth, is a British professor and a Labour elected hereditary peer.
The Benn family is a British family that has been prominent in UK politics, government, public service, and business since the late nineteenth century.
Re Bristol South-East Parliamentary Election is a 1961 United Kingdom election court case brought about by an election petition by Malcolm St Clair against Anthony Wedgewood Benn, 2nd Viscount Stansgate, the winner of the 1961 Bristol South-East by-election where Benn had won the most votes but was disqualified from taking his seat in the House of Commons as he had inherited a hereditary peerage as 2nd Viscount Stansgate. Benn argued that as he had not applied for a writ of summons, he was not a member of the House of Lords and that the voters had the right to choose who they wanted to represent them.
Jonathan William Berry, 5th Viscount Camrose is a British hereditary peer and Conservative politician.
Edward Sebastian Grigg, 4th Baron Altrincham, is a British hereditary peer and Conservative member of the House of Lords.
Peter George Penny, 2nd Viscount Marchwood was a British soldier, businessman and hereditary peer who was a Conservative member of the House of Lords from 1955 to 1979.