TONY BENN, the veteran Labour firebrand and former minister of technology, showed off his own safe seat yesterday - a suitcase with a fold-out metal stool on which to sit out long queues at the airport.

The seat-case - or “front-bencher” as he calls it - is one of several inventions Benn has developed over the years to make life easier for himself and his family.

There is also the “backbencher”, a rucksack with a canvas seat attached for all-night sittings, picket lines and crowded train journeys.

As a minister he helped oversee the construction of such high-tech projects as Concorde. Benn’s inventions, including the platform complete with chair he once bolted on to the roof of his car for electioneering, are more down to earth.

He has also adapted a brief-case that converts to a lectern for public speaking.

“They are not really inventions but improvements,” Benn, 83, said yesterday. “But they are very useful and have saved my life over many years.

"I came back on the train from Birmingham the other day and it was so crowded I used my backbencher to sit on.

“I started this in 1981 when I had a serious illness which affected my legs. I had to carry a stool and I carried a bag as well and I thought to myself why don’t you put them together.”

Benn, who retired from parliament in 2001, added: “I sent the suitcase idea to Richard Branson with a note saying you can use the slogan ‘Virgin gives you a seat from your home to your destination’.

“I got one of those letters back saying ‘Mr Branson is very interested and grateful’.

“The systems I have are very clumsy but if a manufacturer made them they would be absolutely perfect.”

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