Emily Benn

Cllr The Honourable
Emily Benn

Emily Benn, in Mumbai in 2009
Croydon Council
West Thornton Ward
Assumed office
23 May 2014
Serving with Bernadette Khan, Stuart King
Majority 1,777
Personal details
Born Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn
(1989-10-04) 4 October 1989
Croydon, London, England[1]
Nationality British
Political party Labour
Alma mater New College, Oxford.[2][3]
Occupation Sales team at investment bank[4]

Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn (born 4 October 1989) is an English Labour politician. She is the eldest child and only daughter of Stephen Benn, 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] She works on the "multi-asset sales team" at investment bank UBS.[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] Benn is a quarter-Indian on her mother's side,[7] and lives in New York City.[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, John Williams 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][13] and later studied History and Politics at New College, Oxford.[2][3]

Political career

Candidacy for Parliament

On 12 September 2007, three weeks before her 18th birthday, Benn was selected as the Labour 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 from the 2005 general election.[6] In the election, Benn came third, 4,276 votes behind the second-placed Liberal Democrats, while Loughton increased his majority to 11,105.[14]

On 16 July 2014, Benn was selected as the Labour candidate for Croydon South for the 2015 General Election.[15][16] She increased the Labour vote share by 4.8%, but was defeated by Conservative candidate Chris Philp.

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.[17][18] In May 2014, she was elected top of the ballot with a majority of 1,777.[5] She resigned as a councillor in 2016.

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;[19] Fisher was suspended.[20] The Guardian also stated that 'Fisher Supporters' had pointed out that a page titled 'Emily Benn for Croydon South' on Facebook published a re-tweet suggesting Labour members who were 'disappointed' with Corbyn's 'male dominated' leadership join the Women's Equality Party.[21]

Electoral history

2015 general election

General election 2015: Croydon South[22][23]
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 Democrat 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[24] 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[25][26]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Tim Loughton 23,458 48.5 +4.6
Liberal Democrat 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. 1 2 3 "A Life in the Day: Emily Benn" (Sunday Times). Talkin ’bout Global Warming Test. 4 November 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Oxford Union Manifestos" (PDF). Oxford Union. 2009. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Labour is using 18-year-olds as sacrificial lambs. It's a vicious gimmick". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Croydon elections: West Thornton results". Croydon Advertiser. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  6. 1 2 Teenager to take on Tory Tim at election, Littlehampton Gazette, 25 September 2007
  7. ↑ Naughton, Philippe. "Times Online". The Times. (subscription required)
  8. 1 2 3 4 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 Ltd. 4 November 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  11. ↑ "Age is just a number". The Guardian. 4 October 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  12. ↑ "Emily, the fifth generation of the Benn dynasty to enter the cut-throat world of politics". Mail Online. Associated Press. 29 September 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  13. ↑ Benn's granddaughter to stand at the next election The Independent, 25 September 2007
  14. ↑ "Election 2010: Worthing East & Shoreham". BBC News. 7 May 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  15. ↑ "Emily Benn, Tony Benn's granddaughter, bids to become MP". BBC News. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  16. ↑ "Tony Benn's granddaughter offered a selection open goal". Inside Croydon. 16 July 2014. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  17. ↑ Tony Benn's grand-daughter selected for West Thornton ward Inside Croydon, 15 July 2013
  18. ↑ Tony Benn: Croydon politicians pay tribute to veteran Labour MP Croydon Advertiser, 14 March 2014
  19. ↑ "Tony Benn's granddaughter delivers blow to Corbyn by calling for policy chief to go". The Guardian. 25 October 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  20. ↑ "Corbyn policy head Andrew Fisher suspended from Labour over tweets". newstatesman.com. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  21. ↑ "Corbyn adviser 'backed non-Labour candidates at least three times'". The Guardian. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  22. ↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  23. ↑ https://www.croydon.gov.uk/sites/default/files/articles/downloads/Croydon-South-election-results_0.pdf
  24. ↑ "Jon Bigger - Croydon South". classwarparty.org.uk.
  25. ↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  26. ↑ "Worthing East & Shoreham". BBC News Online. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
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