Britain: Mr Hilary Benn, son of veteran socialist Mr Tony Benn, was promoted yesterday as the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, carried out a minor reshuffle.
Mr Benn becomes International Development Secretary, taking over from Baroness Amos, the new leader of the House of Lords. The changes follow the death last month of the Lords leader, Lord Williams of Mostyn.
Mr Benn, who was Lady Amos's deputy, is following in the footsteps of his father, who was a cabinet minister under Mr Harold Wilson and Mr James Callaghan.
However, unlike Mr Benn snr who has been a strident critic of the Labour leadership, he is a fervent Blair loyalist and committed party moderniser.
Lady Amos, who was born in Guyana, became the first black woman cabinet minister when she took over International Development following the resignation of Ms Clare Short because of the war with Iraq.
She had previously been the first black woman to enter the Lords when she was made a life peer in 1997.