Tony Benn, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Tony Benn

British Labour Party politician

Date of Birth: 03-Apr-1925

Place of Birth: Marylebone, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 14-Mar-2014

Profession: politician, autobiographer, diarist

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Aries


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About Tony Benn

  • Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014) was a British politician, writer, and diarist.
  • He was a Member of Parliament 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 onward, 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 him from continuing to serve 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.
  • He was an active member of the Fabian Society and served as Chairman from 1964 to 1965.
  • In the Labour Government from 1964 to 1970, 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 National Executive Committee in 1971–72 while in opposition.
  • In the Labour Government of 1974–1979 he returned to the Cabinet, initially as Secretary of State for Industry, and subsequently Secretary of State for Energy.
  • He retained that post when James Callaghan succeeded Wilson as Prime Minister.
  • When the Labour Party was in opposition through the 1980s, he emerged as a prominent figure on the left-wing of the party, and the term "Bennite" came into usage as someone associated with radical left-wing politics.
  • He unsuccessfully challenged Neil Kinnock for the Labour leadership in 1988. Benn was described as "one of the few UK politicians to have become more left-wing after holding ministerial office".
  • After leaving Parliament, Benn was President of the Stop the War Coalition from 2001 until his death in 2014.

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