Emily Benn

Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn (born 4 October 1989) is an English politician, who has represented the Ward of Bread Street on the Court of Common Council of the City of London since 2022.

Benn unsuccessfully contested both the 2010 and 2015 UK general elections as a Labour Party parliamentary candidate. At the 2014 local elections, Benn was elected to the West Thornton Ward of Croydon Borough Council, serving until 2016. At the 2022 local elections, she was elected to represent Bread Street Ward on the City Common Council.

The granddaughter of the late Labour MP Tony Benn, she is the eldest child and only daughter of the 3rd Viscount Stansgate by his wife Nita Clarke (née Bowes).

Early and family life Emily Sophia Wedgwood Benn was born 4 October 1989 in Croydon, London, where the 1989 Labour Party Conference was being held, as the daughter of a viscount, she is entitled to be styled as The Honourable. Benn is a quarter-Indian on her mother's side. She claims that her first political experience was campaigning for her grandfather in his Chesterfield constituency during the 1992 general election aged two and she joined the Labour Party at the age of 14.

Education Benn attended Wallington High School for Girls She then studied Music, History and Latin for A-levels at St Olave's Grammar School, Orpington, before reading History and Politics at New College, Oxford.

Professional career After university, Benn joined the graduate training programme at UBS Investment Bank, then the multi-asset sales team at the bank in London.

In 2018 Benn was a graduate research assistant at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, helping to write a book on ageing demographics with Camilla Cavendish. She later worked as Chief of Staff for Jonathan Powell before becoming Chief of Staff of Tortoise Media.

Political career Parliamentary candidate On 12 September 2007, three weeks before her eighteenth birthday, Benn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for the West Sussex constituency of East Worthing and Shoreham at the 2010 general election.

The sitting MP, Conservative Tim Loughton, defending a majority over Labour of 8,183 votes from the 2005 general election,

On 16 July 2014, Benn was selected as the Labour Party candidate for Croydon South for the 2015 general election. 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. In May 2014, she was elected top of the ballot with a majority of 1,777.

Benn served on the Board of Trustees of the London Youth Games and London Mozart Players.

Benn returned to local politics in 2022, being elected to the Ward of Bread Street on the City of London Common Council as an Independent at the 2022 election. Fisher was suspended. The Guardian also stated that 'Fisher Supporters' had pointed out that a page titled 'Emily Benn for Croydon South' on Facebook published a retweet suggesting Labour members who were '"disappointed" with Corbyn's "male dominated" leadership join the Women's Equality Party.

Electoral history

2022 City of London Corporation election

2015 general election

2010 general election