Editing Tony Benn (section)

===Peerage reform===
Benn's father was created [[Viscount Stansgate]] in 1942 when [[Winston Churchill]] increased the number of Labour peers to aid political work in the House of Lords; at this time, Benn's elder brother Michael, then serving in the RAF, was intending to enter the priesthood and had no objections to inheriting a [[peerage]]. However, Michael was later killed in an accident while on active service in the Second World War, and this left Benn as the heir-apparent to the peerage. He made several unsuccessful attempts to renounce the succession.<ref name=BBCBRistolprofile/>

In November 1960, Lord Stansgate died. Benn automatically became a peer, preventing him from sitting in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. The Speaker of the Commons, Sir [[Harry Hylton-Foster]], did not allow him to deliver a speech from the bar of the House of Commons in April 1961 when the by-election was being called.<ref>Tony Benn and Peter Kellner [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/peter-kellner/tony-benns-finest-speech_b_4962794.html "Tony Benn's Finest Speech"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314160455/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/peter-kellner/tony-benns-finest-speech_b_4962794.html |date=14 March 2014 }}, ''The Huffington Post'', 14 March 2014.</ref> Continuing to maintain his right to abandon his peerage, Benn fought to [[1961 Bristol South East by-election|retain his seat in a by-election]] caused by his succession on 4 May 1961. Although he was disqualified from taking his seat, he was re-elected. An [[election court]] found that the voters were fully aware that Benn was disqualified, and [[Re Bristol South-East Parliamentary Election|declared the seat won]] by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] runner-up, [[Malcolm St Clair (politician)|Malcolm St Clair]], who was at the time also the heir presumptive to a peerage.<ref name="Election petition">''Re Parliamentary Election for Bristol South East'' [1964] 2 Q.B. 257, [1961] 3 W.L.R. 577.</ref>

Benn continued his campaign outside Parliament. Within two years, though, the [[Conservative government, 1957–1964|Conservative Government]] of the time, which had members in the same or similar situation to Benn's (i.e., who were going to receive title, or who had already applied for writs of summons), changed the law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/48 |title=Peerage Act 1963 |access-date=23 April 2015 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121223210742/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1963/48 |archive-date=23 December 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Jad Adams, ''Tony Benn: A Biography'' (MacMillan 1992) {{ISBN|978-1849540964}} pp. 203–204, e.g., Viscount Hinchingbrooke, and Lords Hogg and Douglas-Home.</ref> The [[Peerage Act 1963]], allowing lifetime disclaimer of peerages, became law shortly after 6&nbsp;pm on 31 July 1963. Benn was the first peer to renounce his title, doing so at 6.22&nbsp;pm that day.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43072 |date=2 August 1963 |page=6534}}</ref> St Clair, fulfilling a promise he had made at the time of his election, then accepted the office of [[Steward of the Manor of Northstead]], disqualifying himself from the House ([[Resignation from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom|outright resignation not being possible]]). Benn returned to the Commons after [[1963 Bristol South East by-election|winning a by-election]] on 20 August 1963.<ref name=BBCBRistolprofile/>

Benn was a supporter of abolishing the House of Lords.<ref name="newstatesman.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2012/07/we-should-abolish-house-lords-not-reform-it |title=We should abolish the House of Lords, not reform it |work=New Statesman |first=Tony |last=Benn |date=12 July 2012 |access-date=21 August 2023 }}</ref>