BRITAIN:The 17-year-old granddaughter of left-wing Labour veteran Tony Benn is hoping to become the UK's youngest MP after she was selected as a parliamentary candidate.
A-level student Emily Benn (right) has been chosen by Labour members to fight the Tory-held East Worthing and Shoreham seat in West Sussex at the next general election.
If successful in overturning Tim Loughton's 8,000-plus majority, the teenager would become the latest Benn to enter the House of Commons and follow in the footsteps of her firebrand grandfather and her uncle, environment secretary Hilary Benn.
The minimum age allowing people to stand for election was lowered last year from 21 to 18. If prime minister Gordon Brown called an election today, the three-week campaign would take her past her 18th birthday on October 4th.
Miss Benn said: "I am conscious of the fact that, at 17, I am the youngest person ever to be selected as a prospective parliamentary candidate, but there is no reason why history cannot be made in East Worthing and Shoreham." Miss Benn attends St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, Kent, and has been a party member since the age of 14.