The Rt Hon John Smith
Leader of the Opposition
In office 1992 – 1994
Preceded by	Neil Kinnock
Succeeded by	Tony Blair
Constituency	Monklands East
Majority	11,747 (37.7%)
Born	13 September 1938 Ardrishaig, Scotland
Died	May 12, 1994 (aged 55)
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill
Children	Three daughters
Religion	Presbyterian

John Smith QC (September 13, 1938 – May 12, 1994) was a British politician who served as leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden and unexpected death from a heart attack on 12 May 1994. Before you can upload images you will need to register an account Only use this if you hold the copyright on the image. ... The Leader of the Opposition in the United Kingdom is the politician who leads Her Majestys Most Loyal Opposition. ... Rt. ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... Monklands East was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 1997. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Ardrishaig is a village at the southern (eastern) entrance to the Crinan Canal in west Scotland, in Argyll. ... Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic)1 Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in England, Scotland and Wales. ... Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill, (born June 4, 1940), is a British peer and patron of the arts. ... Cherie Booth QC wearing her ceremonial robes (including full-bottomed wig) as Queens Counsel at the Bar of England and Wales. ... September 13 is the 256th day of the year (257th in leap years). ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in England, Scotland and Wales. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Early life

John Smith was born in Ardrishaig in Argyll and Bute. He joined the Labour Party in 1956. His father was a Headmaster and Smith's teenage years were spent in Dunoon, Cowal, Argyll and Bute. He attended Dunoon Grammar School, lodging in the town with a landlady, going home only during the holidays, before enrolling at the University of Glasgow where he studied first History, between 1957 and 1960, and then Law, between 1960 and 1963. Having trained and indeed practised (for a year) as a solicitor, Smith later qualified for the bar and worked as an advocate before entering parliament. Ardrishaig is a village at the southern (eastern) entrance to the Crinan Canal in west Scotland, in Argyll. ... Argyll and Bute (Earra-Ghaidheal agus Bòd in Gaelic) is both one of 32 unitary council areas; and a Lieutenancy Area in Scotland. ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In the UK and elsewhere, a head teacher is the most senior teacher in a school. ... Dunoon, looking North from the Castle hill with the old Victorian pier to the right and The Queens Hall on the left The Holy Loch seen across the Firth of Clyde with Dunoon on the left The PS Waverley leaves Dunoon Pier, to sail up the Firth of Clyde. ... Cowal is a peninsula of Argyll in the Scottish Highlands. ... Dunoon Grammar School is a secondary school in Dunoon, Argyll in Scotland. ... Master of Theology (MTh) Dentistry Nursing Affiliations Russell Group, Universitas 21 Website http://www. ... History studies the past in human terms. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Lady Justice or Justitia is a personification of the moral force that underlies the legal system (particularly in Western art). ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... A solicitor is a type of lawyer in many common law jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, but not the United States (in the United States the word has a quite different meaning—see below). ... An advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another, especially in a legal context. ...

Whilst still at University, in 1962, Smith, with Donald Dewar, won the Observer Mace debating championship. After his death, this was renamed the John Smith Memorial Mace in his honour. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Donald Campbell Dewar (August 21, 1937 – October 11, 2000) was First Minister of Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The John Smith Memorial Mace (known between 1954 and 1995 as the Observer Mace) is the foremost student debating competition in the British Isles and Ireland. ...

Parliamentary career

In 1961 Smith stood as a parliamentary Labour candidate at a by-election in East Fife and again in the 1964 General Election. In 1970 he entered parliament as MP for North Lanarkshire. He became a QC in 1983, the year that the constituency became Monklands East. 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... East Fife F.C. are a Scottish football team currently playing in the Scottish Football League. ... Lanarkshire was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1708 to 1868, when it was divided into Lanarkshire North and Lanarkshire South. ... QC can stand for: Quezon City, a highly urbanized city in the Republic of the Philippines. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In October 1974, Harold Wilson offered him the post of Solicitor-General for Scotland. Smith turned it down. Instead, he was made a Under-Secretary of state at the Department of Energy. In December 1975 he was made a Minister of State. When James Callaghan became Prime Minister, Smith became a Minister of state at the Privy Office. He piloted the highly controversial devolution proposals for Scotland and Wales through the House of Commons. His handling of this impressed Callaghan, and in November 1978, when Edmund Dell retired, Smith was appointed as Secretary of State for Trade. He served in that post until the 1979 General Election, becoming the youngest member of the cabinet. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Solicitor General refers to a position in government dealing with legal affairs in several countries: United States Solicitor General - the attorney who represents or advises a government when it is party to a legal suit. ... Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Minister of State is a title borne by officials in certain countries governed under the parliamentary system. ... Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC (27 March 1912 – 26 March 2005), was Labour Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979. ... Devolution or home rule is the statutory granting of powers from the central government of a state to government at national, regional or local level. ... This article is about the country. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The Rt. ... The President of the Board of Trade the title of a cabinet position in the United Kingdom government. ... Margaret Thatcher James Callaghan David Steel BBC Election 1979 Titles The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on May 3, 1979 and is regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. ...

In the early 1980's Smith was Shadow Energy Secretary. He acted as Roy Hattersley's campaign manager for the party leadership election in October 1983 and after serving a year as Shadow Employment Secretary, was shadow secretary of state for Trade and Industry between 1984 and 1987. Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, PC (born December 28, 1932) is a British Labour Party politician, published author and journalist from Sheffield, England. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Despite a quiet, modest manner, and his politically moderate stance, he was a witty, often scathing speaker. Smith was named as Parliamentarian of the year twice, in November 1986 and November 1989. He won the first award for his performances during the Westland controversy, in which Leon Brittan resigned. The second was for taking Nigel Lawson to task over the state of the economy during 1989. Lawson himself resigned as Chancellor on 26 October 1989. In September 1992 he made a very effective speech about the Governments ERM debacle eight days earlier, in his maiden as party leader, saying that John Major was "The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government". 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Westland is the name of several places: Netherlands: Westland, South Holland New Zealand: Westland, New Zealand United Kingdom: Westland, Shetland United States of America: Westland, Michigan Westland, Ohio Westland, Oregon Westland, Pennsylvania Westland, Texas Westland, Virginia Fiction: Westland (Sword of Truth) Westland Aircraft is a British aircraft manufacturer and part... Sir Leon Brittan, Rt. ... Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby, PC (born March 11, 1932), was a British politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer between June 1983 and October 1989. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Erm is a village in the Netherlands and it is part of the Coevorden municipality in Drenthe. ...

In a June 1993 debate, Smith again savaged the Conservative Government, saying that under John Major's premiership, "The man with the non-midas touch is in charge. Is it any wonder we live in a country where Grand nationals don't start and hotels fall into the sea?". 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

Despite his despatch box successes, (Smith was always more effective in the House of Commons than on Platforms) Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were, under Smith's leadership, restless and anxious in private that the party had adopted a "one more heave" approach and was overly cautious in tackling the legacy of "tax and spend". During his brief time as leader of the Labour Party he abolished the trade union block vote at Labour party conferences, and replaced it with "one member one vote" at the 1993 party conference. It was also during his time as leader, that the Labour party gained a significant lead in the polls over the Conservatives. He also committed a future Labour government to establishing a Scottish Parliament, a policy which was followed through by his successors (most notably his close friend Donald Dewar) after his death. For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A trade union or labor union is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. ... Bloc voting (or block voting) (also called Plurality-at-large) refers to a class of voting systems which can be used to elect several representatives from a single constituency. ... The Labour Party Conference, or annual national conference of the Labour Party, is formally the supreme decision-making body of the Party. ... OMOV, an acronym standing for one man, one vote or one member, one vote, is a term used to support wider and more equal participation in political systems. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), the largest in terms of public membership, and is the second oldest extant political party in the world. ... For the national legislative body up to 1707, see Parliament of Scotland. ... Donald Campbell Dewar (August 21, 1937 – October 11, 2000) was First Minister of Scotland from 1999 until his death in 2000. ...

Smith suffered an earlier heart attack whilst Shadow Chancellor on 9 October 1988 and was forced to spend three months away from Westminster to recover. On that occasion, he had complained of chest pains the night before, and had to be persuaded to cancel a flight to London so he could go to Hospital for a check up. He was examined at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by an ECG. The Doctor who examined him said "Whatever it is, we don't think it is your heart". Then Smith collapsed. He had the good fortune to suffer the heart attack whilst in Hospital. He left 11 days later and made a full recovery. Smith lost three stone in weight and made modifications to his lifestyle to prevent further problems, by cutting down on rich foods, fine wines and giving up smoking. He went on a 1,000 calorie diet and his weight dropped from 15 stones 5 pounds, his weight at the time of the heart attack, to 12 stones 10 pounds. Smith took up "munro-bagging" - walking up the 277 Scottish mountains which are over 3,000 feet high. By the time of his death he had succeeded in climbing 108 of them. Smith had hardly experienced any health problems in his life before his first heart attack, and he didn't experience any again for the rest of his life, after he recovered. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI or MI), commonly known as a heart attack, is a disease state that occurs when the blood supply to a part of the heart is interrupted. ... The Official Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet (normally referred to simply as The Shadow Cabinet) is, in British parliamentary practice, a group of members from Her Majestys Loyal Opposition whose job it is to scrutinise their opposite numbers in government and come up with alternative policies. ... October 9 is the 282nd day of the year (283rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Westminster is a district within the City of Westminster in London. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, also known as the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. ... ECG may also refer to the East Coast Greenway Lead II An Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG, abbreviated from the German Elektrokardiogramm) is a graphic produced by an electrocardiograph, which records the electrical voltage in the heart in the form of a continuous strip graph. ...

Death

On the evening of May 11 1994, John Smith made a speech at a fundraising dinner at Park Lane Hotel with around 500 people present, saying famously "The opportunity to serve our country - that is all we ask". The following morning, at 8.05am, whilst in his Barbican flat, Smith suffered a massive heart attack. His wife phoned an ambulance and he was rushed to St Bartholomew's Hospital. He died there at 9.15am on May 12 1994 after never regaining consciousness. Only two weeks before his death, on April 28, Smith visited the accident and emergency department to campaign against its proposed closure. The Doctor who showed him around was Mike Besser. Two weeks later, Besser tried, desperately and unsuccessfully, to save Smith's life. His death came at a time when it was widely believed he would become the next Prime Minister. May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (132nd in leap years). ... The Park Lane Hotel is a 5 Star hotel on Piccadilly, London. ... Barbican in Kraków Barbican (from mediæval Latin barbecana) - a fortified outpost or gateway, such as an outer defence to a city or castle and any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. ... The King Henry VIII Gate at Barts, which was constructed in 1702. ... April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 247 days remaining. ... A prime minister is the very most senior minister of a cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. ...

On 20 May, after a funeral in Cluny Parish Church, Edinburgh attended by 900 people and after which people lined the streets, John Smith was buried on the holy island of Iona, in a private family funeral. Special permission had already been obtained. On 14 July his memorial service was attended in Westminster Abbey by over 2,000 people. May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (141st in leap years). ... Cluny nowadays The town of Cluny or Clugny lies in the modern-day département of Saône-et-Loire in the région of France, near Mâcon. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Iona village viewed from a short distance offshore. ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 170 days remaining. ... The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral (and indeed often mistaken for one), in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. ...

Following Smith's death, the Labour Party renamed its then party headquarters in Walworth Road to John Smith House in his memory. Walworth Road is a road in the London Borough of Southwark, running from Elephant and Castle to Camberwell Road (which it becomes at Burgess Park). ... John Smith House John Smith House is the former Labour Party headquarters at 144-152 Walworth Road in South London. ...

In the years following his death, John Smith has become somewhat iconic for Labour's left-wing because of his perceived traditionalist approach and the contrast between his leadership and that of Blair. This is highly ironic given Smith's position as a leading figure on the right of the party, with some believing that since his death, Smith has been idealised by the left much as American Democrats idealised President John F. Kennedy in the years after his assassination. In politics, left-wing, political left, leftism, or simply the left, are terms which refer (with no particular precision) to the segment of the political spectrum typically associated with any of several strains of socialism, social democracy, or liberalism (especially in the American sense of the word), or with opposition... A tradition is a story or a custom that is memorized and passed down from generation to generation, originally without the need for a writing system. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ...

It remains a moot point whether Smith could have led the Labour Party to an electoral victory on the scale that Blair did in 1997: It is widely believed he would have. A counterfactual by his biographer, Mark Stuart, claimed that Smith could have won due to the combination of the Black Wednesday debacle and ongoing Conservative divisions over Europe between 1992 and 1997; however, Stuart argues that the lack of a Blair effect would have meant that slightly over 200 Tory MPs may have been spared, leaving the Conservatives in a position closer to Labour in 1983 than to the actual Tory result in 1997^[1]. In British politics and economics, Black Wednesday refers to September 16, 1992 when the government was forced to withdraw the Pound from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) by currency speculators—most notably George Soros who earned over US$1 billion in doing so. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Personal life

John Smith married Elizabeth Bennett in July 1967. They had three daughters. She was created Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill in 1995. His daughter, Sarah Smith, is a journalist and presents the news on the UK digital TV channel More4. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Elizabeth Smith, Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill, (born June 4, 1940), is a British peer and patron of the arts. ... A nice girl who lives in the best town ever, and loves all of her frineds to death <3 ... More4 is a digital television channel produced by United Kingdom broadcaster Channel 4 that launched on October 10th 2005. ...

Quote

"The opportunity to serve our country - that is all we ask."

—from his speech to a Labour fundraising dinner, May 11, 1994, the day before his death.

The Labour Party has been, since its founding in the early 20th century, the principal political party of the left in England, Scotland and Wales. ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Further reading

• Andy McSmith, John Smith: A Life 1938-1994, (Mandarin, 1994).
• Gordon Brown & James Naughtie, John Smith, Life and Soul of the Party Mainstream, 1994.
• Christopher Bryant (ed), John Smith, An Appreciation Hodder & Stoughton, 1994.
• Greg Rosen, Old Labour to New, Politicos Publishing, 2005.
• Mark Stuart, John Smith - A Life, Politicos Publishing, 2005.
• John Smith, Guiding Light: The Collected Speeches of John Smith, Brian Brivati (Editor), Politicos Publishing, 2001.

Mandarin has a number of meanings: mandarin, a bureaucrat of Imperial China, and in the United Kingdom and Canada, by analogy, any government bureaucrat Mandarin, a group of dialects of spoken Chinese, or more specifically, its standardized dialect, Standard Mandarin Mandarin Airlines, a subsidiary of China Airlines mandarin duck, Aix... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority. ... Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hodder Headline. ...

References

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