Stephen Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate


Stephen Michael Wedgwood Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate, is Director of Parliamentary Affairs for the Royal Society of Biology and a Vice-President of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee.

Early life

His father, Tony Benn, and younger brother, Hilary Benn, have both been senior Labour politicians. His mother was Caroline Benn and his sister is Melissa Benn, a feminist writer.

Education

He is a graduate of Keele University. He was an elected Member of the Inner London Education Authority from 1986 to 1990.

Personal life

Lord Stansgate has a daughter, Emily, born in 1989, and a son, Daniel John Wedgwood Benn, born in 1991. Emily, an investment banker by occupation, pursued a political career, and sat on the Croydon London Borough Council as a Labour member until she resigned in 2016.

Career

In 2011, he was appointed director of parliamentary affairs for the Society of Biology after spending two decades in a similar role for the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Benn succeeded to the title of Viscount Stansgate on the death of his father in March 2014, a title he officially accepted prompting speculation that he may take advantage of his entitlement to stand for election as a hereditary peer in the House of Lords upon the next hereditary vacancy. His active acceptance of the title was recorded on 10 November 2014 with a note in the minutes of Proceedings from the House of Lords, stating: