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 forOxford 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 (age 74) Wokingham, Berkshire, England |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Val Miles(1976–2015) |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford |
| Website | Official website (archived) |
Andrew David Smith (born 1 February 1951[1]) is a BritishLabour Partypolitician who was theMember of Parliament (MP) forOxford East from1987 until2017. He served in theCabinet asChief Secretary to the Treasury from 1999 to 2002 and then asSecretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2002 to 2004.
Smith retired from theHouse of Commons at the 2017 general election.[2]
Smith was educated atReading School andSt John's College, Oxford, where he gained a BA andBPhil. He was the Member Relations Officer forOxford and Swindon Co-op Society from 1979 to 1987. He became an Oxford city councillor in 1976, leaving the council in 1987. He contested Oxford East in1983.
Smith was the Member of Parliament forOxford East, which he wonin 1987, defeatingConservative MPSteven Norris. After Labour won government in the1997 general election he was made a minister in theDepartment for Education and Employment. He wasChief Secretary to the Treasury from 1999 to 2002, when he becameSecretary 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 the2005 General Election, but saw his majority slashed by 90%.
Smith 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 apublic–private partnership for theNational Air Traffic Services. Others[who?] point to his stewardship of theDepartment for Work and Pensions and his focus on reducingchild poverty when minister there.
Smith was the chair and one of the founding members of theInternational Parliamentarians for West Papua, launched in October 2008.[3]
Smith occasionally rebelled against his party in Parliament, on issues such as athird runway at Heathrow, the Government's renewal ofTrident, and notably backed oppositionLiberal Democrats motions on votes concerning the rights ofGurkhas to remain in Britain and the introduction ofsingle 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 theIraq War, butin 2010 Smith secured a comfortable victory with a 4.1% swing to Labour, bucking the national trend. Similarly,in 2015, he was re-elected with 50% of the vote, an increase of 7.5% over 2010.
In the2010 Labour leadership election, Smith supportedEd Balls. In the2015 Labour leadership election, with minutes to spare before the deadline for nominees ended, he nominatedJeremy Corbyn 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 gave Corbyn the minimum number of votes he needed to appear on the ballot.
Smith supportedOwen Smith's unsuccessful candidacy in the2016 Labour leadership election after theParliamentary Labour Party declared non-confidence in Corbyn's leadership.[4]
On 19 April 2017, Smith announced that he would not seek re-election in the2017 general election.[2]
Smith was married to Valerie Miles, a formerLord Mayor of Oxford, county councillor onOxfordshire County Council and city councillor onOxford City Council from 26 March 1976 until her death in 2015.[5] They had a son, Luke. Smith lives inBlackbird Leys, Oxford.[5][6]
Andrew Smith, who lives in Blackbird Leys
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forOxford East 1987–2017 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Secretary of State for Transport 1996–1997 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief Secretary to the Treasury 1999–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2002–2004 | Succeeded by |
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