Hilary Benn led Commons tributes to his father Tony yesterday for leading a life that "inspires and encourages."

He told MPs how much Tony Benn, who won 16 elections, "loved" Parliament and how he was devastated when he was initially barred from entering the Commons upon inheriting his father's peerage in 1960 "because it was alleged that his blood was blue."

Mr Benn told the House: "His blood was never blue, it was the deepest red throughout his life."