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Award winning documentary about the late Tony Benn to be shown at Durham Cathedral

The documentary will include private photos and video collections from the Benn family Credit: PA Images

Durham Cathedral will host a screening of an award winning documentary about the life of the late Labour politician Tony Benn.

Mr Benn, who died in March, was well known for his staunch support of the Durham Miners' Gala.

Proceeds from the screening will be donated to Durham Miners' Association, which is raising funds to secure the future of the annual gala.

Tony Benn: Will And Testament includes candid interviews, archive footage and personal video and photo collections from the Benn family.

The film won the Audience Award at the 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

We wanted to screen the film in Durham Cathedral because it played such an important part in Tony's life through the Miners' Gala - the film even includes footage of Tony processing through the cathedral on one of those famous Gala days.

– Skip Kite, Director

The cathedral is delighted to host the screening knowing that it is in aid of an occasion that would have been very close to Tony Benn's heart.

I fondly recall Tony Benn giving a sermon in the cathedral in July 2003. He spoke about how much the Labour movement owed to the prophets of the Old Testament.

It was met with a rousing round of applause, a rare plaudit indeed as far as cathedral sermons go!

– The Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, Dean of Durham
Durham Cathedral, where the documentary will be screened tonight Credit: PA Images

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North East Labour Party figures pay tribute to Tony Benn

North East Labour figures including the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird and the MPs Andy McDonald, who represents Middlesbrough, and Grahame Morris, who represents Easington, have all paid tribute to Tony Benn on Twitter.

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North East tributes to Tony Benn

Tony Benn tributes: Northumberland MP remembers "a true gentleman"

The Labour MP for Wansbeck, Ian Lavery, has added his voice to the tributes to Tony Benn.

The Northumberland MP - a former President of the NUM - said he was greatly saddened to hear the news of Tony Benn's death:

"I knew Tony Benn as a personal friend and as a politician. He was an absolutely tremendous character, both in politics and in terms of being a true gentleman.

"When anybody asks me who my inspirations have been in life, Tony was always the first one I would mention."

– Ian Lavery MP