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Notes

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Andrew Tift works in a highly detailed, intensely realistic manner and aims for a pure and objective likeness. Within the painting of Tony Benn are a variety of objects all chosen for their significance to Benn in both his personal and political life. Amongst these items is; a bust of Marx, a mug with 'red tape' given as a gift by a trade union leader, a blood sample to prove he has blue blood and he sits upon a chair once owned by Keir Hardie. Tony Benn was the third of four successive generations of the Benn family to become Members of Parliament. Having inherited a hereditary peerage which hindered his political career Benn tried several times to renounce this title. He finally succeeded following the The Peerage Act 1963, allowing renunciation of peerages, which Benn had campaigned for.