The Viscount Stansgate | |
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![]() Official portrait, 2022 | |
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.
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[1] after spending two decades in a similar role for the Royal Society of Chemistry.[2] He is also a vice-president of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.[3]
Benn succeeded to the title Viscount Stansgate on the death of his father in March 2014.[2][4][5][6] 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:[7]
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.[8][9]
Stansgate married Ashika Nita Bowes in 1988. They have two children:[10]
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.