Obituary: Tony Benn - Outspoken Labour MP for 50 years

Veteran British Labour politician Tony Benn, who was born into the aristocracy but became a champion of the left, has died at the age of 88.

1925-2014

Benn was a member of parliament for 50 years and a cabinet minister for 11 years. A divisive figure at the peak of his career, in later years he became a public favourite as a straight talker, usually seen with his trademark pipe.

Born Anthony Wedgwood Benn, he forced a change in the law so that he could renounce an aristocratic title inherited from his father to continue serving as an elected MP.

The longest-serving Labour MP in British history, he was an anti-war campaigner who opposed the monarchy and often clashed with his own party's leadership.

Nevertheless, in recent years, he topped several opinion polls as Britain's most popular politician.

Benn died peacefully early on Friday at his home in west London, surrounded by his family, after being seriously ill, his four children said in a statement.

Tributes from politicians of all sides were quick to flow for Benn, whose father and grandfather were politicians and whose son, Hilary, was a cabinet minister in the last Labour government. Benn's granddaughter, Emily, is also pursuing a political career.

"Tony Benn was a magnificent writer, speaker and campaigner. There was never a dull moment listening to him, even if you disagreed with him," Prime Minister David Cameron said on Twitter.

Labour leader Ed Miliband called Benn an "iconic figure" who would be remembered as a champion of the powerless and a politician of conviction.

Benn was blamed by some in the party for sowing divisions that kept Labour out of power for a generation, until Tony Blair moved its politics to the centre in the 1990s.

He was also a prolific writer and published eight diaries covering the political landscape in Britain from 1940 onwards.

Causes he advocated included abolishing the House of Lords, the unelected upper house of parliament, the unification of Ireland and an end to the monarchy. He once campaigned to have Queen Elizabeth's head removed from stamps.

After serving as a Royal Air Force pilot in World War 2, Benn frequently opposed military action, including the Falklands War and action in Afghanistan and Iraq. He opposed a UK nuclear deterrent.

He was a strong voice of support in parliament for the miners' strike of 1984-85 and was made an honorary member of the National Union of Mineworkers.

He inspired the term "Bennite", meaning someone holding extreme left-wing views.

"For someone of such strong views, often at odds with his party, he won respect from across the political spectrum," said Miliband. "This was because of his unshakeable beliefs and his abiding determination that power and the powerful should be held to account."

Benn retired from parliament in 2001 "to devote more time to politics" and became president of the Stop the War Coalition, campaigning against the invasion of Iraq.

After losing his American wife, Caroline, to cancer 14 years ago after 51 years of marriage, and suffering a stroke in 2012, Benn said last year that he did not fear the end of life.

"I'm not frightened about death. I don't know why, but I just feel at a certain moment your switch is switched off and that's it. And you can't do anything about it."