Hilary Benn | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Official portrait, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 5 July 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Chris Heaton-Harris | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chair of the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union[a] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 19 October 2016 – 16 January 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Office established | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Office abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Gordon Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | David Miliband | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Caroline Spelman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Secretary of State for International Development | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 6 October 2003 – 28 June 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | The Baroness Amos | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Douglas Alexander | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Member of Parliament for Leeds South Leeds Central (1999–2024) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 10 June 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Derek Fatchett | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Majority | 11,279 (35.6%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Hilary James Wedgwood Benn 26 November 1953 Hammersmith, London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouses |
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Children | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Relatives |
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Alma mater | University of Sussex | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | hilarybennmp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South, formerly Leeds Central, since 1999. He previously served in various ministerial positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 2001 to 2010.
Born in Hammersmith, London, he is the second son of veteran Labour MP Tony Benn and educationalist Caroline Benn. He studied Russian and Eastern European Studies at the University of Sussex and went on to work as a policy researcher for two trade unions, ASTMS and MSF. Benn was elected as a councillor on Ealing Borough Council in 1979 and was Deputy Leader of the Council from 1986 to 1990. He was also the unsuccessful Labour parliamentary candidate for the Ealing North constituency at both the 1983 and 1987 general elections. Following the 1997 general election, Benn was appointed a special adviser to Education Secretary David Blunkett before winning a by-election in Leeds Central in 1999.
Under Tony Blair, Benn served as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development from 2001 to 2002 and for Prisons and Probation from 2002 to 2003. He returned to the Department for International Development as a Minister of State in May 2003. In October 2003, he was appointed to Blair's Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development. In 2007, Benn was a candidate for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but lost to Harriet Harman, finishing in fourth place. Benn later served under Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2007 to 2010.
Benn returned to opposition following the 2010 general election and became Shadow Environment Secretary in the First Shadow Cabinet of Harriet Harman. Under Ed Miliband, Benn was the Shadow Leader of the House of Commons from 2010 to 2011, and Shadow Communities and Local Government Secretary from 2011 to 2015. After the 2015 general election, Benn became the interim Shadow Foreign Secretary under Harriet Harman before he was reappointed to the role under Jeremy Corbyn. He was dismissed from the position in 2016 after he expressed no confidence in Corbyn's leadership. On the backbenches, he was Chair of the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union from 2016 to 2021.[a] He returned to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland under Keir Starmer in the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle. Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Benn was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the Starmer ministry.
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