Tony Benn
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The Right Honourable Tony Benn |
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Benn in 2007
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| Secretary of State for Energy | |
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In office 10 June 1975 – 4 May 1979 |
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| Prime Minister |
Harold Wilson James Callaghan |
| Preceded by | Eric Varley |
| Succeeded by | David Howell |
| Secretary of State for Industry | |
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In office 5 March 1974 – 10 June 1975 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Peter Walker (at DTI) |
| Succeeded by | Eric Varley |
| Chairman of the Labour Party | |
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In office 20 September 1971 – 25 September 1972 |
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| Leader | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Ian Mikardo |
| Succeeded by | William Simpson |
| Minister of Technology | |
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In office 4 July 1966 – 19 June 1970 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Frank Cousins |
| Succeeded by | Geoffrey Rippon |
| Postmaster General | |
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In office 15 October 1964 – 4 July 1966 |
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| Prime Minister | Harold Wilson |
| Preceded by | Reginald Bevins |
| Succeeded by | Edward Short |
| President of the Stop the War Coalition | |
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In office 21 September 2001 – 14 March 2014 |
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| Vice President | Lindsey German |
| Preceded by | Office created |
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Member of Parliament for Chesterfield |
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In office 1 March 1984 – 7 June 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Eric Varley |
| Succeeded by | Paul Holmes |
| Majority | 5,775 (11.2%) |
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Member of Parliament for Bristol South East |
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In office 20 August 1963 – 9 June 1983 |
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| Preceded by | Malcolm St Clair |
| Succeeded by | Constituency Abolished |
| Majority | 1,890 (3.5%) |
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In office 30 November 1950 – 17 November 1960 |
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| Preceded by | Stafford Cripps |
| Succeeded by | Malcolm St Clair |
| Majority | 13,044 (39%) |
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Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
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In office 17 November 1960 – 31 July 1963 Hereditary Peerage |
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| Preceded by | William Wedgwood Benn |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn 3 April 1925 Marylebone, London, UK |
| Died | 14 March 2014 (aged 88) London, England, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Caroline DeCamp (m. 1949; d. 2000) |
| Children | |
| Alma mater |
Westminster School New College, Oxford |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
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| Service/branch |
 Royal Air Force
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| Rank | Pilot officer |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), originally known as Anthony Wedgwood Benn, but later as Tony Benn, was a British politician, writer, and diarist. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for 47 years between the 1950 and 2001 general elections and a Cabinet minister in the Labour governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the 1960s and 1970s. Originally a "moderate", he was identified as being on the party's hard left from the early 1980s, and was widely seen as a key proponent of democratic socialism within the party.
Benn inherited a peerage on his father's death (as 2nd Viscount Stansgate), which prevented his continuing as an MP. He fought to remain in the House of Commons, and then campaigned for the ability to renounce the title, a campaign which succeeded with the Peerage Act 1963. In the Labour Government of 1964–70 he served first as Postmaster General, where he oversaw the opening of the Post Office Tower, and later as a "technocratic" Minister of Technology.
He served as Chairman of the Labour Party in 1971–72 while in opposition, and in the Labour Government of 1974–1979, he returned to the Cabinet, initially as Secretary of State for Industry, before being made Secretary of State for Energy, retaining his post when James Callaghan replaced Wilson as Prime Minister. When the Labour Party was again in opposition through the 1980s, he emerged as a prominent figure on its left wing and the term "Bennite" came into currency as someone associated with radical left-wing politics. He unsuccessfully challenged Neil Kinnock for the Labour leadership in 1988.
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