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A protestor throws a petrol bomb towards riot police

The rainbow flag, symbolising gay pride, flying above the Cabinet Office

Blow for Cameron as 128 Tory MPs vote against gay marriage

By George Eaton - 21 May 19:43

Tory opponents of the bill outnumber supporters as just 117 Conservative MPs vote in favour.
While the Tories head right, the Republicans are beginning to modernise

By Kiran Moodley - 21 May 15:07

The GOP is embracing immigration reform and is under grassroots pressure to reverse its...
UKIP's membership surges towards 30,000

By George Eaton - 21 May 12:56

After gaining 2,000 members this month, UKIP now has 27,517 and expects to pass the 30,000 mark...
How Cameron is misleading over prosecutions for price fixing

By Emily Thornberry - 21 May 10:29

The real obstacle is not an absence of applicable law, but the woeful underfunding of fraud...
How Salmond is using EU uncertainty to boost Scottish independence

By George Eaton - 21 May 9:11

The Scottish First Minister is encouraged by a new poll showing that support for independence...
Labour comes to Cameron's rescue as gay marriage wrecking amendment is defeated

By George Eaton - 20 May 23:21

Ed Miliband advised Labour MPs to vote against the amendment, rather than abstain, after Tory...
UKIP just two points behind the Tories in new poll

By George Eaton - 20 May 19:35

Support for UKIP surges to a record high of 22 per cent in the latest Survation poll, with the...
It's Michael Gove who is undermining school standards

By Stephen Twigg - 20 May 16:03

Instead of playing to the gallery, the Education Secretary needs to learn from what works.
Bercow seeks to reassure after MP's office is searched by police

By George Eaton - 20 May 15:08

The Speaker attempts to show that lessons have been learned from the Damian Green affair,...
Labour abandons support for gay marriage "wrecking" amendment

By George Eaton - 20 May 13:22

The party tables its own rival amendment to establish a consultation on introducing civil...

Need to Know

Lez Miserable: "Every time I kiss a woman in public, I risk homophobic abuse."
Politics | By Eleanor Margolis
Now is the time for uninhibited gay smooching.
Exhibit A: the "child pornographer"
Politics | By Barrister's Wife
Why legal aid reforms must be stopped.
In Defence of Swivel Eyed Lunacy
Blogs | By Alan Martin
The writing on the wall
Culture | By Dawn Foster
In Newport, the cultural heart of a community is under sustained attack.
The Five Main Issues Facing Modern Feminism
Blogs | By Rhiannon and Holly
The fronts we are fighting on.

Media

Will there still be a New Statesman in 2113?

By Helen Lewis - 17 May

The signs are good - the printing press has been good enough for
"The best place to look for rubbish written on class is in the Daily Mail"

By Danny Dorling - 16 May

Britain's poor were absolutely and relatively better off until
Imagine if a government had solved everything it could: would hacks back off?

By Ed Smith - 16 May

Ed Smith's "Left Field" column.
Lift up your voices: The century-long battle for women's freedom

By Natasha Walter - 15 May

The NS of 1913 may have been in the vanguard for women’s
The irony of the press criticising Michael Gove's dodgy surveys

By Michael Marshall - 14 May

Most PR-commissioned surveys are bunk – but it's not just Michael
Does the New York Times want anyone to read Angelina Jolie's piece?

By Alex Hern - 14 May

If the NYT wants to ensure its pieces are never sullied by the

Business

“Apple sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance”

By Helen Roxburgh - 21 May

Business quote of the day.
The repo market: a faultline waiting for a crisis?

By Stewart Cowley - 21 May

A source of vast leveraging.
Actavis agrees to acquire Warner Chilcott for $8.5bn in stock deal

By - 21 May

The combined company will create the third-largest US specialty
Apple avoided billions in taxes, says US Senate panel

By - 21 May

The technology group allegedly exploited loopholes in US
Morning Wrap: need to know business stories

By New Statesman - 21 May

Top stories from around the web.
Yahoo buys Tumblr

By Mark Brierley - 20 May

Part of a wider trend.

Books

Incoming: Aleksander Hemon, James Salter and Emily Berry at the Southbank Centre

By Critic - 20 May

Preview: London Literature Festival.
Reviewed: Letters by Kurt Vonnegut

By Daniel Swift - 16 May

Made in Dresden.
Reviewed: The Serpent’s Promise: the Bible Retold as Science by Steve Jones

By Nick Spencer - 16 May

Creation myths.
Reviewed: Harry’s Games by John Crace

By Sophie Elmhirst - 16 May

Win or lose, on the booze.
Reviewed: A Dangerous Delusion by Peter Oborne and David Morrison

By Norman Lamont - 16 May

Myths and missteps.
Reviewed: Z: a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

By Sarah Churchwell - 16 May

Past infidelity.

Interviews

Brian Eno: “How can Alastair Campbell have a TV career?”

By Kate Mossman - 16 May

From Roxy Music to Coldplay - the many faces of Brian Eno.
Isabel Allende: "I have lived the horror of drugs"

By Jonathan Derbyshire - 02 May

The Books Interview.
Julian Barnes: “I do believe in grudge-bearing”

By Soumya Bhattacharya - 25 April

In a rare interview, the novelist Julian Barnes talks about
“If Ed Miliband is seduced by the Blairites, he’ll be consigned to the dustbin of history”

By George Eaton - 24 April

George Eaton interviews Len McCluskey.
Mohsin Hamid: "I think the personal is political and the political is personal"

By Sophie Elmhirst - 12 April

The Books Interview.
Ed Miliband: "The biggest enemy is not enthusiasm for the Tories"

By Rafael Behr - 11 April

Rafael Behr spent the day on the campaign trail with the Labour

Games

11 things we learned from this year's Premier League

By Hunter Davies - 16 May

Hunter Davies' "The Fan" column.
The Fan

By Hunter Davies - 09 May

Hunter Davies' "The Fan" column.
The Hideout – Why Board Games Matter

By Robert Florence - 06 May

Rab Florence on reinventing the rulebook every time you play.
The Land of the Free: Getting your money's worth from free to play games

By Phil Hartup - 30 April

More and more games are setting their stall out for free right
The end of the epic: why the success of Bioshock Infinite is bad for gaming

By Phil Hartup - 21 April

Phil Hartup hated the critically acclaimed blockbuster. And he
Reviewed: BioShock Infinite

By Tom Watson - 10 April

Moral maze.

Film

Why women’s bodies can’t do anything right

By Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett - 21 May

Enviable curves v skinny self-control.
Billie versus Bobby – how one tennis match changed history.

By Charlotte Simmonds - 17 May

Reviewed: Battle of the Sexes.
I'm not worried about masculinity in crisis: I've seen where it leads

By Ryan Gilbey - 16 May

Blood, mud and splinters.
All that glitters is gigabytes

By Ryan Gilbey - 16 May

Reviewed: The Great Gatsby.
Mud is heartwarming, manly and gooey as molasses

By Philip Maughan - 13 May

Reviewed: Mud.
In praise of Benedict Cumberbatch

By Ryan Gilbey - 10 May

It may be controversial to say so, but he's really something, isn

Television

There are times when Vicious makes Are You Being Served? seem almost nuanced

By Rachel Cooke - 10 May

Reviewed: Vicious.
Action movies, bilingual tunes and the exorcism of a family of six: channel hopping in Cameroon

By Bim Adewunmi - 09 May

After a cosy night watching Dutch reality TV, daily viewing in
Anal fissures and domestic violence - it's Men's Hour

By Antonia Quirke - 09 May

Reviewed: Men's Hour.
Reviewed: Life of Crime

By Rachel Cooke - 08 May

Force of nature.
Reviewed: Tweet of the Day on Radio 4

By Antonia Quirke - 08 May

Morning has spoken.
Made in Chelsea is totes postmodern

By Martha Gill - 07 May

What is the point of it all, it seems to ask. Why was this even

Sci-tech

How two farm-boys-done-good could change the world

By Michael Brooks - 17 May

While everyone loves Commander Chris Hadfield, it's Iowan James
Doesn’t kill you: makes you weaker

By Michael Brooks - 16 May

As things stand a scientific assessment would suggest that
New browser plugin stops people bamboozling you with numbers

By Alex Hern - 16 May

Dictionary of Numbers provides that much needed context.
Commander Chris Hadfield says goodbye to the International Space Station through the medium of David Bowie

By Alex Hern - 13 May

Highest music video since Snoop Dogg's last one.
CAPITAL LETTERS, little girl voice: internet feminists all write the same

By Martha Gill - 09 May

The perils of Groupthink - Martha Gill's "Irrational Animals"
Urban novelties

By Sarah Ditum - 08 May

These Pages Fall Like Ash turned a city into a fantasy

Economics

Will the left focus on what money can't buy, or on what money shouldn't buy?

By Alex Hern - 21 May

Alex Hern speaks to Michael Sandel about morality in politics and
The best way to fix the long term is with more short-termism

By Alex Hern - 20 May

People don't like thinking about hard problems while the economy
Do we have too little economic data, or too much?

By Alex Hern - 20 May

Counting cranes and railroad traffic.
Being out of work harms your health – even if it's because you've retired

By Philip Booth - 20 May

A new report finds that, after a small boost in health,
Mandelson's "search parties" are the sort of immigration policy the Mail should adore

By Alex Hern - 20 May

How do you make sure that migration helps? Pick and choose who
Why the European ideal is under threat

By Mark Mazower - 19 May

The certainties that sustained notions of European unity and

World affairs

Why the European ideal is under threat

By Mark Mazower - 19 May

The certainties that sustained notions of European unity and
Obama's crappy week

By Nicky Woolf - 17 May

In just a couple of days, Obama's government machine had managed
A lone voice for peace

By James Harkin - 16 May

An interview with Haytham Manna.
In a generation, everything has changed for British Muslim women

By Irna Qureshi - 15 May

My mother and I both married men from Pakistan. Both marriages
Israel row: The bid to defund Toronto LGBT Pride is straightforward censorship

By Peter Tatchell - 15 May

The bid to ban pro-Palestine group Queers Against Israeli
Tonderai Ndira's Zimbabwe: five years on

By Mark Olden - 14 May

Amid all the bloodshed of Zimbabwe’s 2008 election, it was the

New Statesman team

New Statesman columnists and bloggers

Latest tweets

NewStatesman

c_crampton

rafaelbehr

georgeeaton

helenlewis

Joe Benton

House

Commons

Party

Labour

Constituency

Bootle

Website

http://www.epolitix.com/mpwebsites/mpwebsitepage/mpsite/joe-benton/?no_cache=1

Contact Details

House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Tel: 020 7219 6973

Fax: 020 7219 3895

bentonj@parliament.uk

Biography

No biography available.

Parliamentary Career

Opposition Whip 1994-97

general election 2010-Bootle

Name	Party	Votes	%
Benton, Joe	Lab	27426	66.44%
Murray, James	Lib Dem	6245	15.13%
Nuttall, Paul	UKIP	2514	6.09%
Qureshi, Sohail	Con	3678	8.91%
Stewart, Charles	BNP	942	2.28%
Majority		21181
Turnout		41277
Electorate
Result	Lab Hold (% from )

Councils & Public Bodies

Sefton Borough Council: Councillor 1970-90, Leader, Labour Group 1985-90, JP, Bootle bench 1969

Select Committees

Member: Chairmen's Panel 1997-2010, Education and Employment 1997-99, Education and Employment (Education Sub-Committee) 1997-99, Parliamentary Privilege (Joint Committee) 1997-2000

Electoral History

Member for Bootle 8 November 1990 by-election to 2010, for Bootle (revised boundary) since 6 May 2010 general election

Political Interests

Education, housing, local and regional government, health

New Statesman - Britain's Current Affairs & Politics Magazine

Purchase today

Enter your email address here to receive updates from the team.

Jobs

User login

Blow for Cameron as 128 Tory MPs vote against gay marriage

By George Eaton - 21 May 19:43

Tory opponents of the bill outnumber supporters as just 117 Conservative MPs vote in favour.
While the Tories head right, the Republicans are beginning to modernise

By Kiran Moodley - 21 May 15:07

The GOP is embracing immigration reform and is under grassroots pressure to reverse its...
UKIP's membership surges towards 30,000

By George Eaton - 21 May 12:56

After gaining 2,000 members this month, UKIP now has 27,517 and expects to pass the 30,000 mark...
How Cameron is misleading over prosecutions for price fixing

By Emily Thornberry - 21 May 10:29

The real obstacle is not an absence of applicable law, but the woeful underfunding of fraud...
How Salmond is using EU uncertainty to boost Scottish independence

By George Eaton - 21 May 9:11

The Scottish First Minister is encouraged by a new poll showing that support for independence...
Labour comes to Cameron's rescue as gay marriage wrecking amendment is defeated

By George Eaton - 20 May 23:21

Ed Miliband advised Labour MPs to vote against the amendment, rather than abstain, after Tory...
UKIP just two points behind the Tories in new poll

By George Eaton - 20 May 19:35

Support for UKIP surges to a record high of 22 per cent in the latest Survation poll, with the...
It's Michael Gove who is undermining school standards

By Stephen Twigg - 20 May 16:03

Instead of playing to the gallery, the Education Secretary needs to learn from what works.
Bercow seeks to reassure after MP's office is searched by police

By George Eaton - 20 May 15:08

The Speaker attempts to show that lessons have been learned from the Damian Green affair,...
Labour abandons support for gay marriage "wrecking" amendment

By George Eaton - 20 May 13:22

The party tables its own rival amendment to establish a consultation on introducing civil...

Need to Know

Lez Miserable: "Every time I kiss a woman in public, I risk homophobic abuse."
Politics | By Eleanor Margolis
Now is the time for uninhibited gay smooching.
Exhibit A: the "child pornographer"
Politics | By Barrister's Wife
Why legal aid reforms must be stopped.
In Defence of Swivel Eyed Lunacy
Blogs | By Alan Martin
The writing on the wall
Culture | By Dawn Foster
In Newport, the cultural heart of a community is under sustained attack.
The Five Main Issues Facing Modern Feminism
Blogs | By Rhiannon and Holly
The fronts we are fighting on.

Media

Will there still be a New Statesman in 2113?

By Helen Lewis - 17 May

The signs are good - the printing press has been good enough for
"The best place to look for rubbish written on class is in the Daily Mail"

By Danny Dorling - 16 May

Britain's poor were absolutely and relatively better off until
Imagine if a government had solved everything it could: would hacks back off?

By Ed Smith - 16 May

Ed Smith's "Left Field" column.
Lift up your voices: The century-long battle for women's freedom

By Natasha Walter - 15 May

The NS of 1913 may have been in the vanguard for women’s
The irony of the press criticising Michael Gove's dodgy surveys

By Michael Marshall - 14 May

Most PR-commissioned surveys are bunk – but it's not just Michael
Does the New York Times want anyone to read Angelina Jolie's piece?

By Alex Hern - 14 May

If the NYT wants to ensure its pieces are never sullied by the

Business

“Apple sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance”

By Helen Roxburgh - 21 May

Business quote of the day.
The repo market: a faultline waiting for a crisis?

By Stewart Cowley - 21 May

A source of vast leveraging.
Actavis agrees to acquire Warner Chilcott for $8.5bn in stock deal

By - 21 May

The combined company will create the third-largest US specialty
Apple avoided billions in taxes, says US Senate panel

By - 21 May

The technology group allegedly exploited loopholes in US
Morning Wrap: need to know business stories

By New Statesman - 21 May

Top stories from around the web.
Yahoo buys Tumblr

By Mark Brierley - 20 May

Part of a wider trend.

Books

Incoming: Aleksander Hemon, James Salter and Emily Berry at the Southbank Centre

By Critic - 20 May

Preview: London Literature Festival.
Reviewed: Letters by Kurt Vonnegut

By Daniel Swift - 16 May

Made in Dresden.
Reviewed: The Serpent’s Promise: the Bible Retold as Science by Steve Jones

By Nick Spencer - 16 May

Creation myths.
Reviewed: Harry’s Games by John Crace

By Sophie Elmhirst - 16 May

Win or lose, on the booze.
Reviewed: A Dangerous Delusion by Peter Oborne and David Morrison

By Norman Lamont - 16 May

Myths and missteps.
Reviewed: Z: a novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

By Sarah Churchwell - 16 May

Past infidelity.

Interviews

Brian Eno: “How can Alastair Campbell have a TV career?”

By Kate Mossman - 16 May

From Roxy Music to Coldplay - the many faces of Brian Eno.
Isabel Allende: "I have lived the horror of drugs"

By Jonathan Derbyshire - 02 May

The Books Interview.
Julian Barnes: “I do believe in grudge-bearing”

By Soumya Bhattacharya - 25 April

In a rare interview, the novelist Julian Barnes talks about
“If Ed Miliband is seduced by the Blairites, he’ll be consigned to the dustbin of history”

By George Eaton - 24 April

George Eaton interviews Len McCluskey.
Mohsin Hamid: "I think the personal is political and the political is personal"

By Sophie Elmhirst - 12 April

The Books Interview.
Ed Miliband: "The biggest enemy is not enthusiasm for the Tories"

By Rafael Behr - 11 April

Rafael Behr spent the day on the campaign trail with the Labour

Games

11 things we learned from this year's Premier League

By Hunter Davies - 16 May

Hunter Davies' "The Fan" column.
The Fan

By Hunter Davies - 09 May

Hunter Davies' "The Fan" column.
The Hideout – Why Board Games Matter

By Robert Florence - 06 May

Rab Florence on reinventing the rulebook every time you play.
The Land of the Free: Getting your money's worth from free to play games

By Phil Hartup - 30 April

More and more games are setting their stall out for free right
The end of the epic: why the success of Bioshock Infinite is bad for gaming

By Phil Hartup - 21 April

Phil Hartup hated the critically acclaimed blockbuster. And he
Reviewed: BioShock Infinite

By Tom Watson - 10 April

Moral maze.

Film

Why women’s bodies can’t do anything right

By Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett - 21 May

Enviable curves v skinny self-control.
Billie versus Bobby – how one tennis match changed history.

By Charlotte Simmonds - 17 May

Reviewed: Battle of the Sexes.
I'm not worried about masculinity in crisis: I've seen where it leads

By Ryan Gilbey - 16 May

Blood, mud and splinters.
All that glitters is gigabytes

By Ryan Gilbey - 16 May

Reviewed: The Great Gatsby.
Mud is heartwarming, manly and gooey as molasses

By Philip Maughan - 13 May

Reviewed: Mud.
In praise of Benedict Cumberbatch

By Ryan Gilbey - 10 May

It may be controversial to say so, but he's really something, isn

Television

There are times when Vicious makes Are You Being Served? seem almost nuanced

By Rachel Cooke - 10 May

Reviewed: Vicious.
Action movies, bilingual tunes and the exorcism of a family of six: channel hopping in Cameroon

By Bim Adewunmi - 09 May

After a cosy night watching Dutch reality TV, daily viewing in
Anal fissures and domestic violence - it's Men's Hour

By Antonia Quirke - 09 May

Reviewed: Men's Hour.
Reviewed: Life of Crime

By Rachel Cooke - 08 May

Force of nature.
Reviewed: Tweet of the Day on Radio 4

By Antonia Quirke - 08 May

Morning has spoken.
Made in Chelsea is totes postmodern

By Martha Gill - 07 May

What is the point of it all, it seems to ask. Why was this even

Sci-tech

How two farm-boys-done-good could change the world

By Michael Brooks - 17 May

While everyone loves Commander Chris Hadfield, it's Iowan James
Doesn’t kill you: makes you weaker

By Michael Brooks - 16 May

As things stand a scientific assessment would suggest that
New browser plugin stops people bamboozling you with numbers

By Alex Hern - 16 May

Dictionary of Numbers provides that much needed context.
Commander Chris Hadfield says goodbye to the International Space Station through the medium of David Bowie

By Alex Hern - 13 May

Highest music video since Snoop Dogg's last one.
CAPITAL LETTERS, little girl voice: internet feminists all write the same

By Martha Gill - 09 May

The perils of Groupthink - Martha Gill's "Irrational Animals"
Urban novelties

By Sarah Ditum - 08 May

These Pages Fall Like Ash turned a city into a fantasy

Economics

Will the left focus on what money can't buy, or on what money shouldn't buy?

By Alex Hern - 21 May

Alex Hern speaks to Michael Sandel about morality in politics and
The best way to fix the long term is with more short-termism

By Alex Hern - 20 May

People don't like thinking about hard problems while the economy
Do we have too little economic data, or too much?

By Alex Hern - 20 May

Counting cranes and railroad traffic.
Being out of work harms your health – even if it's because you've retired

By Philip Booth - 20 May

A new report finds that, after a small boost in health,
Mandelson's "search parties" are the sort of immigration policy the Mail should adore

By Alex Hern - 20 May

How do you make sure that migration helps? Pick and choose who
Why the European ideal is under threat

By Mark Mazower - 19 May

The certainties that sustained notions of European unity and

World affairs

Why the European ideal is under threat

By Mark Mazower - 19 May

The certainties that sustained notions of European unity and
Obama's crappy week

By Nicky Woolf - 17 May

In just a couple of days, Obama's government machine had managed
A lone voice for peace

By James Harkin - 16 May

An interview with Haytham Manna.
In a generation, everything has changed for British Muslim women

By Irna Qureshi - 15 May

My mother and I both married men from Pakistan. Both marriages
Israel row: The bid to defund Toronto LGBT Pride is straightforward censorship

By Peter Tatchell - 15 May

The bid to ban pro-Palestine group Queers Against Israeli
Tonderai Ndira's Zimbabwe: five years on

By Mark Olden - 14 May

Amid all the bloodshed of Zimbabwe’s 2008 election, it was the

New Statesman team

New Statesman columnists and bloggers

Latest tweets

NewStatesman

c_crampton

rafaelbehr

georgeeaton

helenlewis

Purchase today

Enter your email address here to receive updates from the team.

Jobs

User login

Blow for Cameron as 128 Tory MPs vote against gay marriage

By George Eaton - 21 May 19:43

Tory opponents of the bill outnumber supporters as just 117 Conservative MPs vote in favour.
While the Tories head right, the Republicans are beginning to modernise

By Kiran Moodley - 21 May 15:07

The GOP is embracing immigration reform and is under grassroots pressure to reverse its...
UKIP's membership surges towards 30,000

By George Eaton - 21 May 12:56

After gaining 2,000 members this month, UKIP now has 27,517 and expects to pass the 30,000 mark...
How Cameron is misleading over prosecutions for price fixing

By Emily Thornberry - 21 May 10:29

The real obstacle is not an absence of applicable law, but the woeful underfunding of fraud...
How Salmond is using EU uncertainty to boost Scottish independence

By George Eaton - 21 May 9:11

The Scottish First Minister is encouraged by a new poll showing that support for independence...
Labour comes to Cameron's rescue as gay marriage wrecking amendment is defeated

By George Eaton - 20 May 23:21

Ed Miliband advised Labour MPs to vote against the amendment, rather than abstain, after Tory...
UKIP just two points behind the Tories in new poll

By George Eaton - 20 May 19:35

Support for UKIP surges to a record high of 22 per cent in the latest Survation poll, with the...
It's Michael Gove who is undermining school standards

By Stephen Twigg - 20 May 16:03

Instead of playing to the gallery, the Education Secretary needs to learn from what works.
Bercow seeks to reassure after MP's office is searched by police

By George Eaton - 20 May 15:08

The Speaker attempts to show that lessons have been learned from the Damian Green affair,...
Labour abandons support for gay marriage "wrecking" amendment

By George Eaton - 20 May 13:22

The party tables its own rival amendment to establish a consultation on introducing civil...