British writer and Labour Party politician, Young was born to the politician Edward Hilton Young, first Baron Kennet, and the sculptor Kathleen Scott, widow of Captain Robert Falcon Scott. His half-brother was Sir Peter Scott. He inherited the title of Baron Kennet in 1960 upon the death of his father. Young acted as Opposition Spokesman on Foreign Affairs in the House of Lords 1971-74 and became a member of the European Parliament. He was a member of Western European Union, a NATO Parliamentarian and Chief SDP Whip in the House of Lords 1981-83. He returned to the Labour Party in the 1990s before leaving in opposition to Tony Blair's foreign policy. Young authored a wide range of mostly political topics, especially on the politics of Italy, on disarmament and arms control, on the churches of London, and on various political scandals, notably the Profumo Affair and the Montesi scandal. His 1964 work Eros Denied was a groundbreaking manifesto of the sexual revolution. This book was banned in Australia in 1965.