1. Hilary James Wedgwood Benn was born on 26 November 1953 and is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024.
52 Facts About Hilary Benn
1. 2.
Hilary Benn previously served in various ministerial positions under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 2001 to 2010.
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Hilary Benn 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.
4.
Hilary Benn was elected as a councillor on Ealing Borough Council in 1979 and was Deputy Leader of the Council from 1986 to 1990.
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Hilary Benn was the unsuccessful Labour parliamentary candidate for the Ealing North constituency at both the 1983 and 1987 general elections.
6.
Under Tony Blair, Hilary 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.
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Hilary Benn returned to the Department for International Development as a Minister of State in May 2003.
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In 2007, Hilary Benn was a candidate for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but lost to Harriet Harman, finishing in fourth place.
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Hilary Benn later served under Gordon Brown as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2007 to 2010.
10.
Hilary Benn returned to opposition following the 2010 general election and became Shadow Environment Secretary in the First Shadow Cabinet of Harriet Harman.
11.
Under Ed Miliband, Hilary 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.
12.
Hilary Benn was dismissed from the position in 2016 after he expressed no confidence in Corbyn's leadership.
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Hilary Benn returned to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland under Keir Starmer in the 2023 British shadow cabinet reshuffle.
14.
Hilary Benn was born on 26 November 1953 in Hammersmith.
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Hilary Benn is the second son of former Labour Cabinet Minister Tony Benn and American-born educationalist Caroline Benn.
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Hilary Benn was educated at Norland Place School and Westminster Under School, both prep schools in London, and then at Holland Park School, a state comprehensive secondary school.
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Hilary Benn studied Russian and Eastern European Studies at the University of Sussex, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974.
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Hilary Benn has an older brother, Stephen, a younger sister Melissa and younger brother, Joshua.
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Hilary Benn was the Labour Party candidate for Ealing North at the 1983 and 1987 general elections.
20.
Hilary Benn applied to become head of Labour Party research under the leadership of John Smith, but was unsuccessful.
21.
In 1999, Hilary Benn was selected as the Labour candidate for a by-election in Leeds Central following the untimely death of Foreign Office Minister Derek Fatchett at the age of 53 years old.
22.
Hilary Benn made his maiden speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday 23 June 1999.
23.
Hilary Benn acted as the Department's Commons spokesperson, as then-Secretary of State for International Development, Baroness Amos, was a member of the House of Lords.
24.
In 2003, Hilary Benn was promoted to the cabinet from his position as Minister of State to become Secretary of State for International Development, after Baroness Amos was appointed as Leader of the House of Lords.
25.
In February 2004, Hilary Benn said that restoring security in Iraq would be "absolutely fundamental" to a reconstruction effort.
26.
In July 2004, Hilary Benn set out five stages to end the Darfur War that had begun in February 2003.
27.
Hilary Benn has been credited with helping to found the Central Emergency Response Fund.
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Hilary Benn led the UK negotiating team at the 2006 Darfur peace negotiations.
29.
In late October 2006, Hilary Benn announced that he would be standing in the 2007 Labour Party deputy leadership election.
30.
In 2007, Hilary Benn was the bookmakers' favourite for the Deputy Leadership of the Labour Party.
31.
In 2007, Hilary Benn was appointed as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, following the election of Gordon Brown as Party Leader, and the promotion of David Miliband to Foreign Secretary.
32.
The Guardian stated: "When all Westminster MPs' total expenditures are ranked, Hilary Benn's bill is the fifteenth least expensive for the taxpayer".
33.
Hilary Benn supported Caroline Flint in the deputy leadership election, and Andy Burnham in the leadership election.
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However, Hilary Benn subsequently supported plans laid out by the Prime Minister, and said he would not resign over his disagreement with Corbyn because he was "doing [his] job as the Shadow Foreign Secretary".
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Hilary Benn had voted in favour of the Iraq War in 2003 and the 2011 military intervention in Libya, but voted against military intervention against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2013.
36.
On 2 December 2015, Hilary Benn made the closing speech for the official opposition in the House of Commons debate on airstrikes against ISIL in Syria.
37.
Hilary Benn has asked shadow cabinet colleagues to join him in resigning if the Labour leader ignores that request.
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Hilary Benn then supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.
39.
In September 2016, Hilary Benn announced his intention to stand for chairman of the new Exiting the European Union Select Committee, a House of Commons select committee.
40.
Hilary Benn stated that his intention was to "get the best deal for the British people".
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Hilary Benn's bid was supported by former Labour leader Ed Miliband, as well as other senior Labour Party figures including Angela Eagle, Dan Jarvis, and Andy Burnham.
42.
Hilary Benn sponsored the European Union Act 2019, consequently known as the Benn Act, which received Royal assent on 9 September 2019, obliging the Prime Minister to seek a third extension had no agreement been reached at the subsequent European Council meeting in October 2019.
43.
Hilary Benn's appointment was welcomed by Doug Beattie, leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, who remarked that "the appointment of an individual with such an extensive political career is an indication of the importance the Labour Party leader places on Northern Ireland".
44.
In June 2024, Hilary Benn was selected as the Labour candidate for Leeds South at the 2024 general election.
45.
Hilary Benn is one of two cabinet ministers to serve under three Labour premiers.
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Hilary Benn later declined to state how much money the government might be willing to contribute towards the redevelopment.
47.
Hilary Benn defended the government's decision to cut winter fuel payments for almost 250,000 pensioners in Northern Ireland, stating that "being in government is about making difficult choices" given the state of public finances.
48.
In November 2024, Hilary Benn voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.
49.
In 1973, while at university, Hilary Benn married fellow student Rosalind Caroline Retey.
50.
Hilary Benn subsequently married Sally Christina Clark in 1982, and the couple have four children.
51.
Hilary Benn was shortlisted for the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award in 2015 for his work on increasing aid at DfID, and remains in the directory of the Grassroot Diplomat Who's Who publication.
52.
Hilary Benn has won the Channel 4 Political Awards Politicians' Politician 2006, Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year 2016 and the Political Studies Association Parliamentarian of the Year 2019.