Tony Benn passed away at home with his family
18 March 2014
Conservatives also owe a debt to Tony Benn. In the early Sixties, hereditary peers weren’t allowed to sit in the Commons, so when Benn’s father Viscount Stansgate died in 1961 Benn could no longer be MP for Bristol South-East. He began a campaign to allow Lords to renounce their hereditary titles so they could represent the people.
The rules were changed in July 1963, too late for Benn to stand in the 1963 Labour leadership race.
But it worked for the Tories. When Harold Macmillan resigned in October 1963, both the Earl of Home and Viscount Hailsham, Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Quintin Hogg, were able to ditch the titles and go for the top job.
Douglas-Home took it.
