John William Patrick Smith (born 17 March 1951) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( ), locally referred to as ''The Vale'', is a Principal areas of Wales, county borough in the South East Wales, south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf t ...

from the 1989 by-election to

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and from

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

to the 2010 general elections.

Early life

Born in

Penarth Penarth ( , ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay. Penarth is a Seaside resort#Brit ...

, he attended Fairfield County Primary School in Penarth. Subsequent to him passing the '

Eleven Plus Exam The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardised examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academ ...

' he attended Penarth County Grammar School (which later became the comprehensive

Stanwell School Stanwell School is a co-educational foundation status comprehensive school and Sixth form college located in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, for children aged between eleven and eighteen. The school is in the town of Penarth, south-west from ...

). He served for a while in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, then worked as a carpenter and joiner for Vale Borough Council from 1971 to 1976. He became a mature student in 1976, studying at the

Gwent College of Higher Education Gwent may refer to: Places *Kingdom of Gwent, a post-Roman Welsh kingdom or principality which existed in various forms between about the 5th and 11th centuries, although the name continued in use later *Gwent (preserved county), a preserved count ...

, then went to University College of Wales, Cardiff (now

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

) graduating with a BSc in 1981. He was then a university tutor until 1985. From 1985 to 1989, he was a senior lecturer in Business Studies. He became a campaign manager for Gwent Image Partnership, becoming chief executive from 1992 after he lost his seat by only 19 votes.

Parliamentary career

Having contested Vale of Glamorgan at the 1987 general election, he was first elected for the seat in a 1989 by-election, lost it to the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

by a very narrow margin, and regained it in

. He was re-elected in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and served as a member of the

Defence Select Committee The Defence Select Committee is one of the Select Committees of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, having been established in 1979. It examines the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Ministry of Defence and its associated pu ...

. He spent much of his time dealing with concerns over the future of

RAF St Athan Ministry of Defence St Athan or MOD St Athan ( Welsh: Maes awyr Sain Tathan), formerly known as Royal Air Force St Athan, or more simply RAF St Athan, is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, sou ...

. On the issue of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, Smith opposed any form of military action, and was deeply saddened by the parliamentary vote that supported British involvement in the war. On 22 May 2009, Smith announced that he would stand down at the 2010 general election. Smith was a Member of the Defence Committee, and Chairman of the Wales

Anti-Apartheid Movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-white population who were oppressed by the policies ...

(WAAM)

Personal life

Smith came from a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

family, born and raised on a

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. D ...

. He married Kathleen Mulvaney (now Kathleen Smith) in 1971 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. They have two sons and a daughter, and are now Grandparents.

References

External links

Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: John Smith MP

TheyWorkForYou.com - John Smith MP

Vale of Glamorgan Labour

BBC Politics Profile

Wales Online
* (Mixed with the British labour leader with the same name.)

News items

RAF St Athan in March 2005

RAF St Athan in October 2004

RAF St Athan in July 2003

Cardiff Airport in December 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, John 1951 births Living people Welsh Labour MPs UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 Alumni of the University of Wales Alumni of Cardiff University People from Penarth People educated at Stanwell School Politics of the Vale of Glamorgan