COMMENT: Hilary Benn is keeping family legacy in safe hands

"Miss you, dad."

Hilary Benn is staring at a large reproduction of an Express & Star front page mounted on the newsroom wall of the paper's Queen Street buildings.

A broad smile works its way across his face as he stands in silence for a few moments, a photograph of his father, Tony Benn, looking back at him.

The picture was taken in the summer of 2013, and depicts Labour's darling of the left bearded and clutching his trademark pipe.

"That must have been taken not long before he died," the younger Benn tells me.

"I remember him coming back off holiday with that beard. He decided for whatever reason that he'd given up shaving. He wouldn't get rid of it!"

Tony Benn, of course, left a huge legacy behind when he died in April 2014.

Staunchly anti-war, he's the man who visited Iraq to ask Saddam Hussein face-to-face if there was hope for peace. As president of the Stop The War Coalition he campaigned to end nuclear weapons in order to stop welfare cuts.

Hilary has been an MP since he won a by-election in Leeds Central in 1999. In the 16 years since he has held cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and mounted a failed bid to become deputy leader in 2007.

But to many observers outside the Labour party he has been best known for being Tony Benn's second son.

That all changed in the most dramatic fashion at the start of this month. Closing the House of Commons debate on Syria, Hilary Benn used his 15 minutes to deliver a forceful and statesmanlike speech in favour of air strikes against Islamic State militants.

It garnered that most rare of responses in the Commons - rapturous applause from members representing all parties.

In some quarters it was hailed as a landmark speech.

Even Tory Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond described it as "one of the truly great speeches in parliamentary history".

But the reaction wasn't all positive.

SNP MP Alex Salmond was among the critics from the left. He dealt a low blow by claiming that Hilary's father would be 'burling in his grave' at the thought of his son speaking in favour of a Tory prime minister's plan to 'take the country to war'. Others saw it as a betrayal of the Bennite legacy and an affront to the party.

Making such a speech while Jeremy Corbyn's shadow Foreign Secretary was always likely to set the cat amongst the pigeons.

"This was an issue that I gave a great deal of thought about and it wasn't a decision that came easily," Hilary said, reflecting on his decision to vote in favour of air strikes.

"There are consequences whichever way the vote had gone. Throughout the debate people were sitting there undecided as to how they were going to cast their vote.

"I made a decision and like everyone else I expect to be held to account for it. I recognise that action from the air is not going to defeat Daish, but it will give them a hard time.

"The basis of my argument is that we need to bring the Syrian civil war to an end. We must make our own contribution."

To Benn senior Hilary's speech would have come as no surprise.

Late into the night on December 2 Hilary Benn closed the House of Commons debate on Syria for Labour in the most spectacular style.

His carefully chosen words served as a step-by-step guide to why he decided to go against Labour's official line of opposing air strikes.

By the time he sat down the silence that hung over the House while he spoke had been replaced with loud applause and cheers.

Cries of 'outstanding' and 'brilliant' could be heard.

He had urged his fellow politicians to back RAF strikes to eliminate the 'clear and present danger' Isis presents. He said: "We are here faced by fascists – not just their calculated brutality, but their belief that they are superior to every single one of us in the chamber tonight, and the people we represent.

"They hold us in contempt. They hold our values in contempt. They hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt.

"They hold our democracy, the means by which we will make our decision tonight, in contempt. And what we know about fascists is that they need to be defeated."

He concluded with the warning: "This entire house stood up against Hitler and Mussolini.

"And my view is that we must now confront this evil. It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria."

His words, he says, were influenced by the numerous atrocities committed by the deadly hand of Daish. The beheadings, the crucifixions, events in Tunisia and Paris, and suicide bombings in Beirut, Ankara and Suruc.

"That was one part of my reasoning," he told me. "The emergency motion on Syria passed by the Labour Party Conference set out conditions for air strikes.

"I believe they have now been met. We are in a position where we must defend the UK and our allies.

"There are legitimate arguments not to take action, I can see that. But on balance I feel extending air strikes was the right decision."

Another major influence for Mr Benn was a recent trip he made to Jordan to visit the Zaatari settlement, home to 80,000 Syrian refugees.

"I heard first hand tales of why people had been forced to flee," he said. "These are people who desperately want to go home but can't because the world has not been able to bring an end to the civil war. The UN needs us to do our bit. We have a responsibility to respond."

In 2003 he backed Tony Blair's invasion of Iraq, and four years ago he voted to attack Libya.

Although his father would no doubt have opposed any form of military action in Syria, he would certainly have been proud of the way his son has forged his own political path.

After all, Tony Benn always had the courage of his convictions, regardless of the party line.

He was admired for his principles even by many of those who disagreed with his politics. And it worked both ways.

In an interview with the Express & Star in June 2013 he told of how he challenged Enoch Powell over his 'rivers of blood' speech, but still respected the former Wolverhampton MP because "he always meant what he said and said what he meant."

"My dad and mom were fantastic to me, as they were to my two brothers and my sister," Hilary said.

"They taught all of us to stand up for what we believe in, for what we thought was right.

"In terms of me being my own man, they were nothing but encouraging and of course I've carried those lessons through life with me."

Hilary said he and his father never clashed privately over his decision to back the Iraq war in 2003, although he admits the pair became embroiled in some fairly heated political debates when the chance arose.

They were extremely close, Hilary says. Back when he made his first frontbench speech as one of David Blunkett's advisors, his proud father sat in the gallery, tears welling up in his eyes.

It is a fact that father and son differed in their views on issues other than military intervention. Hilary talks passionately about the need for Britain to remain part of the EU, a stance he says is vital in terms of preserving the nation's future.

Tony Benn went against his party and was in favour of a referendum on EU membership.

But they have concurred on many other areas of policy. Like his father, Hilary is outspoken against local authority spending cuts.

Hilary smiles as he tells me: "We'd have some lively discussions while sitting around the table.

"Dad would love to talk about what was going on in the world, which was fantastic for me. He loved to debate. It gave us both an opportunity to test our views, to gauge reaction."

The Benn family legacy stretches back 90 years. The family is ingrained in the Labour party to the extent that each of the six Labour prime ministers has had a Benn in his cabinet.

In the aftermath of his speech on Syria many are touting Hilary as the next party leader.

And despite his assertion that he has no interest in the top job, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he could become the first Benn to lead Labour.

Whatever the future holds for Hilary, his family's proud legacy is in safe hands.