Hilary James Wedgwood Benn (born 26 November 1953) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland since 2024.

Following the 1997 general election, Benn was appointed a special adviser to Education Secretary David Blunkett before winning a by-election in Leeds Central in 1999.

After the 2015 general election, Benn became the interim Shadow Foreign Secretary under Harriet Harman before he was reappointed to the role under Jeremy Corbyn.

Following Labour's victory in the 2024 general election, Benn was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in the Starmer ministry.

[12] Following the 1997 general election, Benn served as a special adviser to David Blunkett, then the Secretary of State for Education and Employment.

[13] In 1999, 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.

He also 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] The Guardian noted that one of Benn's main challenges as Secretary of State for International Development would be the "fraught reconstruction of Iraq".

[25] Benn oversaw the DfID response to the 2003 Bam earthquake, which included "helping to coordinate efforts on the ground, liaise with other international relief organisations and work with the Iranian government to ensure that the right equipment gets to where it is needed as quickly as possible.

[36] Early polls in the deputy leadership contest showed him to be the grassroots' favourite – in a YouGov poll of party members, Benn was top with 27%, followed by Education Secretary Alan Johnson with 18%, Environment Secretary David Miliband with 17%, Justice Minister Harriet Harman with 10%, and Labour Party Chair Hazel Blears with 7%.

[37] The contest was launched on 14 May 2007 after the resignation of incumbent deputy leader John Prescott, Benn had some difficulties securing the necessary 45 nominations required to get on the ballot paper but he acquired the support needed to join five other candidates—Hazel Blears, Harriet Harman, Alan Johnson, Peter Hain and backbencher Jon Cruddas.

[40] As Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, he introduced and implemented the UK's Climate Change Act 2008.

It was also his responsibility as Secretary to respond to the threat to cattle from Mycobacterium bovis, colloquially referred to as bovine tuberculosis (TB).

The Guardian stated: "When all Westminster MPs' total expenditures are ranked, Benn's bill is the fifteenth least expensive for the taxpayer".

[44][45] Following the election, he served as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2010 during Harriet Harman's interim leadership of the Labour Party.

[48] One of the questions he asked challenged George Osborne, who was deputising for Cameron, over whether HMS Bulwark was under active review as revealed in a report by The Guardian.

[53] This was later affirmed by a joint statement released by both Benn and Corbyn, which said that "Labour will be campaigning in the referendum for the UK to stay in the European Union.

"[54] On 20 September, Benn signalled that Labour could back Prime Minister David Cameron's plans for airstrikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria: "What we've said consistently is that the government, if it has got a proposal, should bring that to the House of Commons.

[56] However, 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".

[60] On 2 December 2015, Benn made the closing speech for the official opposition in the House of Commons debate on airstrikes against ISIL in Syria.

[65] Speaking to the BBC the following day, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell compared Benn's speech to that given by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2003 ahead of the Iraq War.

"[67] In January 2016, Benn criticised British involvement in Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen after a leaked UN report concluded there had been "widespread and systematic" attacks on civilian targets in violation of international humanitarian law.

[68] On 25 June 2016, The Observer revealed that Benn "called fellow MPs over the weekend to suggest that he will ask Corbyn to stand down if there is significant support for a move against the leader.

"[69] During a phone call in the early hours of 26 June, Benn told Corbyn that Labour MPs and shadow cabinet members had "no confidence in our ability to win the election" under his leadership.

In a statement issued at 03:30, Benn said: "It has now become clear that there is widespread concern among Labour MPs and in the shadow cabinet about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of our party.

[76] In this position, he supported the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2019 as proposed on a cross-party basis by Labour's Yvette Cooper and the Conservatives' Oliver Letwin to force the Government to ask for an extension of the Article 50 process.

[84][85] Following the Labour Party's landslide victory in the general election,[86][87] Benn was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in formation of the new cabinet.

In a joint letter with Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy, Benn confirmed to Stormont's Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons on 13 September 2024 that the government will not be providing funding for the redevelopment of Casement Park in time for the Euro 2028 football tournament.

[91] Prior to Benn's speech at the Labour Party Conference on 23 September 2024, he announced in an interview that the new Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) investigating Troubles killings will not be scrapped.

[92] In November 2024, Benn voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which proposes to legalise assisted suicide.