 In a by @-@ election , Benn was elected as the MP for Chesterfield , the next Labour seat to fall vacant , after Eric Varley had left the Commons to head <unk> . On the day of the by @-@ election , 1 March 1984 , The Sun newspaper ran a hostile feature article , " Benn on the Couch " , which purported to be the opinions of an American psychiatrist . In the period since Benn 's defeat in Bristol , Michael Foot had stepped down after the general election ( which saw a return of only 209 Labour MPs ) and was succeeded in October of that year by Neil Kinnock . 
