Andrew Smith (British politician)

Andrew David Smith (born 1 February 1951[1]) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Oxford East from 1987 until 2017. He served in the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1999 to 2002 and then as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2002 to 2004.

The Right Honourable Andrew Smith
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office 29 May 2002 – 8 September 2004
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Alistair Darling
Succeeded by	Alan Johnson
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 11 October 1999 – 29 May 2002
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Alan Milburn
Succeeded by	Paul Boateng
Minister of State for Employment and Disability Rights
In office 2 May 1997 – 11 October 1999
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Eric Forth
Succeeded by	Tessa Jowell
Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
In office 25 July 1996 – 2 May 1997
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Clare Short
Succeeded by	George Young
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office 21 July 1994 – 25 July 1996
Leader	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Harriet Harman
Succeeded by	Alistair Darling
Member of Parliament for Oxford East
In office 11 June 1987 – 3 May 2017
Preceded by	Steven Norris
Succeeded by	Anneliese Dodds
Personal details
Born	(1951-02-01) 1 February 1951 Wokingham, England, UK
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Val Miles (1976–2015)
Alma mater	St John's College, Oxford
Website	Official website

Smith retired from the House of Commons at the 2017 general election.[2]

Early life

Smith was educated at Reading School and St John's College, Oxford, where he gained a BA and Bachelor of Philosophy. He was the Member Relations Officer for Oxford and Swindon Co-op Society from 1979–87. He became an Oxford City Councillor in 1976, leaving the council in 1987. He contested Oxford East in 1983.

Parliamentary career

Smith was the Member of Parliament for Oxford East, which he won in 1987 from the Conservative Party. After Labour's victory in the 1997 general election he was made a minister in the Department for Education and Employment. He was Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 1999 to 2002, when he became Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; he resigned from this post on 6 September 2004, to spend more time with his family. He won re-election in his Oxford East seat in the 2005 General Election, but saw his majority slashed by 90%.

He is best remembered by some for his opposing of the privatisation of air traffic control in 1996 stating "Our air is not for sale" only for Labour to switch policies and thereby propose a public-private partnership for the National Air Traffic Services. Others point to his stewardship of the Department for Work and Pensions and his focus on reducing child poverty when Minister there.

Smith is also the Chairman and one of the founding members of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua, launched in October 2008.[3]

Smith has occasionally rebelled against his party in Parliament, on issues such as a third runway at Heathrow, the Government's renewal of Trident, and has been known to back opposition Liberal Democrats motions on votes concerning the rights of Gurkhas to remain in Britain and the introduction of Single Transferable Vote for elections.

In 2005 the Liberal Democrats came within 963 votes of winning the seat, with the drop in support for Labour widely attributed to the Iraq war, but in 2010 Andrew Smith secured a comfortable victory with a 4.1% swing to Labour, bucking the national trend. Similarly, in 2015 Smith was re-elected with 50% of the vote, an increase of 7.5% over 2010.

In 2015 with minutes to spare before the deadline for nominees ended Smith nominated Jeremy Corbyn for leader of the Labour party despite not actually supporting Corbyn. Smith nominated Corbyn because he wanted a "broad debate" about the direction of the Labour party. Smith was the 35th Labour MP to nominate Corbyn which meant the necessary threshold for Corbyn to be on the ballot paper was reached.

He supported Owen Smith in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.[4]

On 19 April 2017, Smith announced that he would not be standing in the 2017 general election.[2]

Personal life

Smith was married to Valerie Miles, a former Lord Mayor of Oxford, county councillor on Oxfordshire County Council and city councillor on Oxford City Council from 26 March 1976 until her death in 2015.[5] They had a son, Luke. Smith lives in the southeast Oxford council estate of Blackbird Leys.[5][6]

References

1. "Democracy Live: Your representatives: Andrew Smith". BBC News. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
2. Oliver, Andrew (19 April 2017). "Oxford East MP Andrew Smith to retire from politics after almost 30-year". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 19 April 2017.
3. "International Parliamentarians for West Papua outline". IPWP. 5 January 2007. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
4. Smith, Mikey; Bloom, Dan (20 July 2016). "Which MPs are nominating Owen Smith in the Labour leadership contest?". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
5. "Obituary - Val Smith". Oxford Mail. Newsquest Media Group. 21 May 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
6. Somerville, Hannah (31 March 2016). "Oxford East MP calls for Parliament to be recalled over steel crisis". Herald Series. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 1 April 2016. Andrew Smith, who lives in Blackbird Leys

External links

• Andrew Smith MP official site
• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Voting record at Public Whip
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
• BBC Politics page

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Steven Norris	Member of Parliament for Oxford East 1987–2017	Succeeded by Anneliese Dodds
Political offices
Preceded by Clare Short	Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 1996–1997	Succeeded by George Young
Preceded by Alan Milburn	Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1999–2002	Succeeded by Paul Boateng
Preceded by Alistair Darling	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2002–2004	Succeeded by Alan Johnson