Editing Tony Benn (section)

==Early life and family==
Benn was born in Westminster, London,<ref>Oxford National Biography.</ref> on 3 April 1925.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tonybenn.com/Biography.html|title=Tony Benn – Official Website|publisher=tonybenn.com|access-date=2 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030207081541/http://www.tonybenn.com/Biography.html|archive-date=7 February 2003}}</ref> He had two brothers, Michael (1921–1944), who was killed in the Second World War, and David (1928–2017), a specialist in Russia and Eastern Europe.<ref>{{cite news|last=Webb|first=Alban|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/01/david-wedgwood-benn-obituary|title=David Wedgwood Benn obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=1 March 2017|access-date=2 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301190056/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/mar/01/david-wedgwood-benn-obituary|archive-date=1 March 2017|url-status=live}} The youngest of his brothers, Jeremy, was still-born.</ref> Following the [[1928 Thames flood|Thames flood in January 1928]] their house was uninhabitable so the Benn family moved to Scotland for over 12 months.<ref>Tony Benn - A biography - Jad Adams (p. 8).</ref> Their father, [[William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate|William Benn]], was a [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] Member of Parliament from 1906 who [[crossed the floor]] to the Labour Party in 1928 and was appointed [[Secretary of State for India]] by [[Ramsay MacDonald]] in 1929, a position he held until the Labour Party's landslide [[1931 United Kingdom general election|electoral defeat in 1931]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/william-wedgwood-benn-mp-and-war-hero/|title=William Wedgwood Benn, MP and war hero|date=14 July 2014|work=Great War London|access-date=3 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903150915/https://greatwarlondon.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/william-wedgwood-benn-mp-and-war-hero/|archive-date=3 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

William Benn was elevated to the [[House of Lords]] and Tony Benn was subsequently titled with the honorific prefix, ''The Honourable.'' William Benn was given the title of [[Viscount Stansgate]] in 1942: the [[Churchill war ministry|new wartime coalition government]] was short of working Labour peers in the upper house.<ref>{{cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/30705?docPos=2|title=Benn, William Wedgwood|url-access=subscription |last1=Hale|first1=Leslie|last2=Potter|first2=Mark| date=January 2008|access-date=2 May 2010|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/30705}}</ref> In 1945–46, William Benn was the [[Secretary of State for Air]] in the [[Attlee ministry|first majority Labour Government]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1551373/The-Benn-dynasty.html|title=The Benn dynasty|last=Watts|first=Robert|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=12 May 2007|access-date=3 September 2018|issn=0307-1235|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903151026/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1551373/The-Benn-dynasty.html|archive-date=3 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Benn's mother, [[Margaret Benn]] (''née'' Holmes, 1897–1991), was a theologian, feminist and the founder President of the [[Congregational Federation]]. She was a member of the [[League of the Church Militant]], which was the predecessor of the [[Movement for the Ordination of Women]]; in 1925, she was rebuked by [[Randall Davidson]], the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]], for advocating the [[ordination of women]]. His mother's theology had a profound influence on Benn, as she taught him that the stories in the Bible were mostly about the struggle between the prophets and the kings and that he ought in his life to support the prophets over the kings, who had power, as the prophets taught [[righteousness]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Benn|first=Tony|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UsYKitlTrdYC&q=tony+benn+free+radical|title=Free Radical|year=2003|publisher=Continuum|page=226|isbn=978-0-8264-6596-2}}</ref>

Benn was for over 30 years a committed Christian.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/forgotten-world-christian-socialism|title=The Forgotten World of Christian Socialism &#124; History Today|website=www.historytoday.com}}</ref> He said that the teachings of [[Jesus Christ]] had a "radical political importance" on his life, and made a distinction between the [[historical Jesus]] as "a carpenter of Nazareth" who advocated social justice and egalitarianism and "the way in which he's presented by some religious authorities; by popes, archbishops and bishops who present Jesus as justification for their power", believing this to be a gross misunderstanding of the role of Jesus.<ref name=TBJesus>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8qC8KKdkeU|title=Tony Benn on Jesus|format=YouTube video|work=YouTube|publisher=[[Channel 4]]|access-date=29 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923124906/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8qC8KKdkeU|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> He believed that it was a "great mistake" to assume that the teachings of Christianity are outdated in modern Britain,<ref name=TBJesus /> and Higgins wrote in ''The Benn Inheritance'' that Benn was "a socialist whose political commitment owes much more to the teaching of Jesus than the writing of Marx".<ref name="Higgins1984">{{cite book|first=Sydney |last=Higgins|title=The Benn Inheritance: The Story of a Radical Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1aRhQgAACAAJ|year=1984|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|isbn=978-0-297-78524-8|access-date=8 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170320151423/https://books.google.com/books?id=1aRhQgAACAAJ|archive-date=20 March 2017|url-status=live}} Quoted in {{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Rob|title=Vital key to the real Tony Benn|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vMtAAAAAIBAJ&pg=4768%2C5509048|access-date=4 May 2016|newspaper=The Glasgow Herald|date=27 September 1984|page=8}}</ref> (Indeed, he did not read ''[[The Communist Manifesto]]'' until he was in his 50s.<ref name="theguardian.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/22/tony-benn-peter-wilby-reads-diaries|title=Tony Benn: Peter Wilby reads the diaries|date=22 March 2014|website=The Guardian}}</ref>) "The driving force of his life was [[Christian socialism]]," according to [[Peter Wilby]], linking Benn to the "high-minded" founding roots of Labour.<ref name="theguardian.com"/>

Later in his life, Benn emphasised issues regarding morality and righteousness, as well as various ethical principles of [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformism]]. On ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'' he said that he had been powerfully influenced by "what I would call the Dissenting tradition" (that is, the [[English Dissenters]] who left or [[Great Ejection|were ejected]] from the [[established church]], one of whom was his ancestor [[William Benn (divine)|William Benn]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/14-march/news/uk/tony-benn-leaves-life-to-spend-less-time-on-politics|title=Tony Benn leaves life to spend less time on politics|website=www.churchtimes.co.uk}}</ref> "I've never thought we can understand the world we lived in unless we understood the history of the church", Benn said to the ''[[Catholic Herald]]''. "All political freedoms were won, first of all, through religious freedom. Some of the arguments about the control of the media today, which are very big arguments, are the arguments that would have been fought in the religious wars. You have the satellites coming in now—well, it is the multinational church all over again. That's why [[Mrs Thatcher]] pulled Britain out of [[UNESCO]]: she was not prepared, any more than [[Ronald Reagan]] was, to be part of an organisation that talked about a [[New World Information Order]], people speaking to each other without the help of [[Rupert Murdoch|Murdoch]] or [[Robert Maxwell|Maxwell]]."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Kenny|first1=Mary|title=Tony Benn 1925–2014: a politician shaped by Christianity|url=http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2014/03/14/tony-benn-1925-2014-a-politician-shaped-by-christianity/|access-date=29 January 2016|newspaper=The Catholic Herald|date=14 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204105546/http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2014/03/14/tony-benn-1925-2014-a-politician-shaped-by-christianity/|archive-date=4 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to Wilby in the ''[[New Statesman]]'', Benn "decided to do without the paraphernalia and doctrine of organised religion but not without the teachings of Jesus".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wilby|first1=Peter|title=Tony Benn's banana diet, lapsed Christians and ignoring no smoking signs|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/tony-benn%E2%80%99s-banana-diet-lapsed-christians-and-ignoring-no-smoking-signs|access-date=29 January 2016|work=New Statesman|date=27 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202082432/http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/03/tony-benn%E2%80%99s-banana-diet-lapsed-christians-and-ignoring-no-smoking-signs|archive-date=2 February 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Although Benn became more agnostic as he became older, he was intrigued by the interconnections between Christianity, radicalism and socialism.<ref name="Benn2015">{{cite book|first=Tony|last= Benn|title=The Best of Benn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JGkUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|date=2 July 2015|publisher=Cornerstone|isbn=978-1-78475-032-9|page=118|access-date=5 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224112829/https://books.google.com/books?id=JGkUCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118|archive-date=24 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Wilby also wrote in ''[[The Guardian]]'' that although former Chancellor [[Stafford Cripps]] described Benn as "as keen a Christian as I am myself", Benn wrote in 2005 that he was "a Christian agnostic" who believed "in Jesus the prophet, not Christ the king", specifically rejecting the label of "[[humanist]]".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Wilby|first1=Peter|title=Tony Benn: Peter Wilby reads the diaries|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/22/tony-benn-peter-wilby-reads-diaries|access-date=5 April 2016|newspaper=The Guardian|date=22 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160403101126/http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/22/tony-benn-peter-wilby-reads-diaries|archive-date=3 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

Both of Benn's grandfathers were Liberal Party MPs; his paternal grandfather was [[John Benn]], a successful politician, MP for [[Tower Hamlets (UK Parliament constituency)|Tower Hamlets]] and later [[Plymouth Devonport (UK Parliament constituency)|Devonport]], who was created a baronet in 1914 (and who founded a publishing company, [[Benn Brothers]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/58236/?back=,30705|title=Benn, Sir John Williams|work=Oxford National Dictionary of Biography Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|url-access=subscription |last=Brodie|first=Marc|date=January 2008|access-date=2 May 2010}}</ref> and his maternal grandfather was [[Daniel Holmes]], MP for [[Glasgow Govan (UK Parliament constituency)|Glasgow Govan]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/50714/?back=,30705|title=Benn, Margaret Eadie Wedgwood|work=Oxford National Dictionary of Biography Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|url-access=subscription|last=Stearn|first=Roger T.|year=2004|access-date=2 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155844/http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/50714/?back=,30705|archive-date=24 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Benn's contact with leading politicians of the day dates back to his earliest years. He met Prime Minister [[Ramsay MacDonald]] when he was five years old, and described him as: "A kindly old gentleman [who] leaned over me and offered me a chocolate biscuit. I've looked at Labour leaders in a funny way ever since."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Engel|first1=Matthew|title=The paradox of Tony Benn|url=https://next.ft.com/content/64814e38-ab7b-11e3-8cae-00144feab7de|access-date=8 April 2016|work=Financial Times|date=14 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703110320/https://next.ft.com/content/64814e38-ab7b-11e3-8cae-00144feab7de|archive-date=3 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Benn also met former Liberal Prime Minister [[David Lloyd George]] when he was 12, and later recalled that, while still a boy, he once shook hands with [[Mahatma Gandhi]], in 1931, while his father was [[Secretary of State for India]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=McSmith|first1=Andy|last2=Dalyell|first2=Tam|title=Tony Benn obituary: Politician who embodied the soul of the Labour Party and came to be admired – even by his rivals|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/politician-who-embodied-the-soul-of-the-labour-party-and-came-to-be-admired-even-by-his-rivals-9192333.html|access-date=10 April 2016|newspaper=The Independent|date=14 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410045948/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/politician-who-embodied-the-soul-of-the-labour-party-and-came-to-be-admired-even-by-his-rivals-9192333.html|archive-date=10 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[Second World War]], Benn joined and trained with the [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]] from the age of 16, later recalling in a speech made in 2009: "I could use a bayonet, a rifle, a revolver, and if I'd seen a German officer having a meal I'd have tossed a grenade through the window. Would I have been a freedom fighter or a terrorist?"<ref name="Stop the War Coalition">{{cite AV media|people=Jesse Oldershaw (camera); Andy Cousins (editor)|date=25 April 2009|title=Tony Benn – Stop the War Conference 2009|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og4K4yhQF8E|publisher=Stop the War Coalition|time=3:06|access-date=13 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615151142/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og4K4yhQF8E|archive-date=15 June 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>A fuller transcript of that speech, in which he called the Home Guard "Dad's Army", is given in the section "Retirement and final years".</ref> In July 1943, Benn enlisted in the [[Royal Air Force]] as an [[aircraftman]] 2nd Class.<ref name="BioChannel">{{cite web|url=http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/455:0/1/Tony_Benn.htm |title=Tony Benn |work=The Biography Channel |access-date=2 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184842/http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/455%3A0/1/Tony_Benn.htm |archive-date=30 September 2007}}</ref> His father and elder brother Michael (who was later killed in an accident) were already serving in the RAF. He was granted an emergency commission as a [[pilot officer]] (on probation) on 10 March 1945.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37124 |supp=y|page=3077|date=8 June 1945}}</ref> As a pilot officer, Benn served as a pilot in South Africa and [[Southern Rhodesia]].<ref name="Clark2013">{{cite book|first=Raymond|last= Clark|title=To the End, They Remain: Thoughts on War, Peace and Reconciliation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_c6AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT27|date=1 October 2013|publisher=History Press|isbn=978-0-7509-5308-5|page=27}}</ref> In June 1944, he made his first solo flight, at RAF Guinea Fowl, an [[List of British Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities in Southern Rhodesia|RAF Elementary Flying Training School]], in Southern Rhodesia.<ref>Approximate latitude/longitude from Google Maps and  Earth: 19°31'21.8"S 29°55'58.7"E;</ref> The aircraft was a Canadian-built [[Fairchild Cornell]]. In a 1993 article recounting the experience, he said, "I always thought that I would feel a sense of panic when I saw the ground coming up at me on my first solo, but strangely enough I didn't feel anything but exhilaration&nbsp;...".<ref>Tony Benn, "First Solo," in High Flyers:30 Reminiscences to Celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force, Michael Fopp (ed.), Greenhill Books in Association with the Royal Air Force Museum, London 1993 p. 39</ref> He relinquished his commission with effect from 10 August 1945, three months after the Second World War ended in Europe on 8 May, and just days before the war with Japan ended on 2 September.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37327 |supp=y|page=5276|date=26 October 1945}}</ref>

[[File:Tony Benn in 1947.jpg|thumb|Benn in 1947]]

After attending [[The Eaton House Group of Schools#Eaton House Belgravia Pre-Prep and Prep|Eaton House day school]] near Sloane Square,<ref>{{cite book |last=Benn |first=Tony |title=Dare to Be a Daniel |publisher=Hutchinson |year=2004 |isbn=978-0091799991 |location=United Kingdom |page=95}}</ref> Benn entered [[Westminster School]], and studied at [[New College, Oxford]], where he read [[Philosophy, politics and economics]] and was elected [[List of presidents of the Oxford Union|President]] of the [[Oxford Union]] in 1947.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/tony-benn-obituary|title=Tony Benn obituary|last=Brivati|first=Brian|author-link = Brian Brivati|date=14 March 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=3 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215459/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/14/tony-benn-obituary|archive-date=3 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In later life, Benn removed public references to his private education from ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who's Who]]''. In 1970 all references to Westminster School were removed,<ref name="Turner2009">{{cite book|first=Alwyn W. |last=Turner|title=Crisis? What Crisis?: Britain in the 1970s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UK30AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT43|date=19 March 2009|publisher=Aurum Press|isbn=978-1-84513-851-6|pages=43–44}}</ref> and in the 1975 edition his entry stated: "Education—still in progress". In the 1976 edition, almost all details were omitted except his name, jobs as a Member of Parliament and as a Government Minister, and address; the publishers confirmed that Benn had sent back the draft entry with everything else struck through.<ref name="Times Diary">{{cite news|title=Mr Benn wipes away his past|work=The Times Diary|publisher=Times Newspapers|date=18 March 1976}}</ref> In the 1977 edition, Benn's entry disappeared entirely,<ref name="Times Diary 2">{{cite news|title=Not Out|newspaper=[[The Times]] |publisher=Diary|date=4 April 1977}}</ref> and when he returned to ''Who's Who'' in 1983, he was listed as "Tony Benn" and all references to his education or service record were removed.<ref name="Turner2009" />

In 1972, Benn said in his diaries that "Today I had the idea that I would resign my Privy Councillorship, my MA and all my honorary doctorates in order to strip myself of what the world had to offer".<ref name="Turner2009" /> While he acknowledged that he "might be ridiculed" for doing so,<ref name="Sandbrook2012">{{cite book|first=Dominic|last= Sandbrook|author-link=Dominic Sandbrook|title=Seasons in the Sun: The Battle for Britain, 1974–1979|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pTp11lAvhCMC&pg=PT323|date=19 April 2012|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-1-84614-627-5|page=323}}</ref> Benn said that {{"'}}Wedgie Benn' and 'the Rt Honourable Anthony Wedgwood Benn' and all that stuff is impossible. I have been Tony Benn in Bristol for a long time."<ref name="Turner2009" /> In October 1973, he announced on [[BBC Radio]] that he wished to be known as Mr. Tony Benn rather than Anthony Wedgwood Benn,<ref>{{cite news|last1=Tabassum|first1=Nazir|title=Opening {{sic|Speach|nolink=y}} of Prof. Nazir Tabassum|url=http://pwa75.sapfonline.org/gpage3.html|access-date=10 April 2016|work=Progressive Writers Conference|publisher=South Asian Peoples Forum UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220065256/http://pwa75.sapfonline.org/gpage3.html|archive-date=20 December 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> and his book ''Speeches'' from 1974 is credited to "Tony Benn".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Benn|first1=Tony|title=Speeches|date=2012|publisher=Spokesman Books|location=Nottingham|isbn=9780851248103|edition=[New] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_eIiLwEACAAJ|access-date=10 April 2016}}</ref> Despite this name change, social historian Alwyn W. Turner writes: "Just as those with an agenda to pursue still call [[Muhammed Ali]] by his original name ... so most newspapers continued to refer to Tony Benn as Wedgwood Benn, or Wedgie in the case of the tabloids, for years to come."<ref name="Turner2009" />

Benn met [[Caroline Middleton DeCamp]] (born 13 October 1926, [[Cincinnati]], Ohio, United States) over tea at [[Worcester College, Oxford]], in 1949; just nine days after meeting her, he proposed to her on a park bench in the city. Later, he bought the bench from [[Oxford City Council]] and installed it in the garden of their home in [[Holland Park]]. Tony and Caroline had four children—[[Stephen Benn, 3rd Viscount Stansgate|Stephen]], [[Hilary Benn|Hilary]], [[Melissa Benn|Melissa]], a feminist writer, and Joshua—and 10 grandchildren. Caroline Benn died of cancer on 22 November 2000, aged 74, after a career as an educationalist.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1375544/Caroline-Benn.html|title=Caroline Benn|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|publisher=Telegraph Media Group|date=24 November 2000|access-date=2 May 2010|location=London, UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120130139/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1375544/Caroline-Benn.html|archive-date=20 November 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Two of Benn's children have been active in Labour Party politics. His eldest son Stephen was an elected Member of the [[Inner London Education Authority]] from 1986 to 1990. His second son [[Hilary Benn|Hilary]] was a councillor in London, stood for Parliament in [[1983 United Kingdom general election|1983]] and [[1987 United Kingdom general election|1987]], and became Labour MP for [[Leeds Central]] in 1999. He was [[Secretary of State for International Development]] from 2003 to 2007, and then [[Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs]] until 2010, later serving as Shadow Foreign Secretary (2015–16).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36632539|title=Brexit: Hilary Benn sacked as Corbyn faces 'no confidence' pressure|date=26 June 2016|access-date=27 June 2016|location=London, UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160721022342/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36632539|archive-date=21 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> This makes him the third generation of his family to have been a member of the [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]], a rare distinction for a modern political family in Britain. Benn's granddaughter [[Emily Benn]] was the Labour Party's youngest-ever candidate<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5452741.ece|title=Emily Benn the younger|work=Times Online|publisher=Times Newspapers|date=10 January 2009|access-date=2 May 2010|location=London, UK|first=Alexia|last=Skinitis|url-access=subscription}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> when she failed to win [[East Worthing and Shoreham]] in [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7011922.stm|title=Benn's granddaughter runs for MP|date=25 September 2007|work=BBC News|access-date=2 May 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223182432/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7011922.stm|archive-date=23 February 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> Benn was a first cousin once removed of the actress [[Margaret Rutherford]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jul/26/screen-legends-margaret-rutherford|title=Philip French's screenlegends: Margaret Rutherford|newspaper=The Observer|date=26 July 2009|author-link=Philip French|last=French|first=Philip|access-date=2 May 2010|location=London, UK|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102114344/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jul/26/screen-legends-margaret-rutherford|archive-date=2 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

Benn and his wife [[Caroline Benn|Caroline]] became vegetarian in 1970, for ethical reasons, and remained so for the rest of their lives. Benn cited the decision of his son [[Hilary Benn|Hilary]] to become vegetarian as an important factor in his own decision to adopt a vegetarian diet.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/6004384/Tony-Benn-making-mistakes-is-part-of-life.html "Tony Benn: making mistakes is part of life"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418102613/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/6004384/Tony-Benn-making-mistakes-is-part-of-life.html |date=18 April 2018}}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 12 August 2009.</ref><ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/tony-benn-you-ask-the-questions-481110.html "Tony Benn: You Ask The Questions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314235754/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/tony-benn-you-ask-the-questions-481110.html |date=14 March 2014 }}, ''The Independent'', 5 June 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40058342|title=Jeremy Corbyn and other famous vegetarian politicians|date=5 September 2017|access-date=5 September 2017|last1=Warry|first1=Richard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905130504/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-40058342|archive-date=5 September 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>