Christopher Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, (born 24 July 1951) is a British politician and a peer; a former

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) and Cabinet Minister; and former chairman of the Environment Agency. For the majority of his career he was a Labour Party member. He was the first openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

male British MP, coming out in 1984, and in 2005, the first MP to acknowledge that he is HIV positive.Why this is the time to break my HIV silence
Chris Smith writing in ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'', 30 January 2005 Since 2015 he has been

Master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

of Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Early life

Chris Smith was born in Barnet, London, and educated at

George Watson's College George Watson's College is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871, and was merg ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

and Pembroke College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he gained a

first class honours degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in English, and a PhD with a thesis on

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake ...

and

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's '' ...

.
Environment Agency. "Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury, Chairman." Retrieved 2 August 2013. He attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

as a

Kennedy Scholar Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the scho ...

, and was president of the

Cambridge Union Society The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debati ...

Member of Parliament

He worked for a housing charity and became a councillor in the

London Borough of Islington The London Borough of Islington ( ) is a London borough in Inner London. Whilst the majority of the district is located in north London, the borough also includes a significant area to the south which forms part of central London. Islington has ...

. He came third at

Epsom and Ewell Epsom and Ewell () is a local government district with borough status and unparished area in Surrey, England, covering the towns of Epsom and Ewell. The borough was formed as an urban district in 1894, and was known as Epsom until 1934. It was ...

in the 1979 general election before narrowly winning the seat of Islington South and Finsbury at the 1983 general election, defeating George Cunningham, who had ultimately defected to the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

from Labour. Cunningham stood again at the 1987 general election when Smith retained the seat. In 1984, he became Britain's first gay MP to choose to "come out". There had been several gay MPs before this whose homosexuality had been common knowledge in some circles, including their constituents in some cases, but they had not been completely open about it. (In 1975

Maureen Colquhoun Maureen Morfydd Colquhoun ( ; ' Smith, 12 August 1928 – 2 February 2021) was a British economist and Labour politician. She was Britain's first openly lesbian member of Parliament (MP). Education and early political career Smith was born ...

had been effectively "outed" by press revelations.) During a rally in

Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire, England, close to the River Avon. In the 2021 census its population was 78,125, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby whi ...

, against a possible ban on gay employees by the town council, Smith began his speech: "Good afternoon, I'm Chris Smith, I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury and I'm gay." This was unscripted, and the decision to include it in his speech was made at the last minute. He immediately received a standing ovation from most of the audience. He became an opposition whip in 1986, a shadow Treasury minister from 1987 to 1992, and shadowed the environment, heritage, pensions and health portfolios between 1992 and 1997.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

In 1997, he was appointed to

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

's Cabinet as the

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strateg ...

. As a Minister known to have a close connection with the arts scene in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, his time at DCMS is generally regarded as a success, for many projects funded through the National Lottery came to fruition. There were controversies, such as his approval during his first week as minister of the appointment of Mary Allen to the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

. In this case, a Select Committee report later found that he had exceeded his authority and had improperly failed to seek advice from his Permanent Secretary. In 2000, he managed to secure a tax rebate that enabled many museums to give free admission. He held this position throughout the Labour government's first term, but was sacked and returned to the back benches after the 2001 election, being replaced by

Tessa Jowell Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, (; 18 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from ...

Appointment to the House of Lords

After over 20 years in Parliament, Smith stepped down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election. It was announced on 30 April 2005 that he was to be created a life peer, and the title was gazetted on 22 June 2005 as Baron Smith of Finsbury, ''of Finsbury in the

''.

Retirement from politics

Smith was appointed Chair of the London Cultural Consortium (successor body to the

Cultural Strategy Group The Cultural Strategy Group is an official body of City Hall London and the Greater London Authority, whose members are appointed by the Mayor of London to develop strategic policy in the capital city in regard to culture, media, sport, arts, her ...

) by Ken Livingstone, the then

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

, and served from 2005 to 2008. He was awarded an

Honorary Fellowship Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

in 2010 from the

University of Cumbria The University of Cumbria is a public university in Cumbria, with its headquarters in Carlisle and other major campuses in Lancaster, Ambleside, and London. It has roots extending back to the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts, establis ...

. In November 2006, he was appointed as Chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority. He was one of the founding directors of the

Clore Leadership Programme The Clore Duffield Foundation is a registered charity in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 2000 by the merger of two charitable foundations, the Clore Foundation of Charles Clore and his daughter's Vivien Duffield Foundation. Formation After ...

, an initiative aimed at helping to train and develop new leaders of Britain's cultural sector. He is also currently Chairman of the Wordsworth Trust. Smith is a keen mountaineer, and was the first MP to climb all the 3,000 ft "

Munro A Munro () is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nev ...

s" in Scotland; in April 2004, he was elected President of the

Ramblers' Association The Ramblers is the trading name of the Ramblers Association, Great Britain's leading walking charity. The Ramblers is also a membership organisation with around 100,000 members and a network of volunteers who maintain and protect the path ...

. He is a patron of London-based HIV charity

The Food Chain The Food Chain is a London, United Kingdom-based charity who provide nutritional support services for people living with HIV in London. Formed on Christmas Day 1988, its stated aim is "to ensure people living with HIV in London can access the n ...

, and also Patron of HIV support charity The National Long-Term Survivors Group (NLTSG). Smith was announced as the new Chairman of the Environment Agency on 8 May 2008, and took up the new role in mid-July. In an interview with ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' in August that year he said Britain faced hard choices over which coasts to defend and which to leave to the sea, because it would not be possible to save all coastal homes from sea erosion. Lord Smith was re-appointed as Chair of the Environment Agency for a further three years by Environment Secretary

Caroline Spelman Dame Caroline Alice Spelman (' Cormack; born 4 May 1958) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden in the West Midlands from 1997 to 2019. From May 2010 to September 2012 she was the Se ...

in 2011. On re-appointment he received £100,813 ''pro rata'' for 2011–12, based on working three days a week. Lord Smith continued in this role until 13 July 2014. Smith became a vice-president of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in February 2009. In December 2014, it was announced that Lord Smith would become the next Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge in 2015, succeeding Sir Richard Dearlove. He accepted an invitation to become the Chairman of Trustees of the

in 2015. He is currently listed as the Chairman of the Task Force on Shale Gas.

Personal life

In 2006, Smith entered a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

with Dorian Jabri, his partner since 1989. The couple separated in 2012. Smith was a director of the Finsbury-based world jazz ensemble

Grand Union Orchestra Grand Union Orchestra, also known as The Grand Union, is a multicultural world jazz ensemble based in London. It has been performing, touring and recording large-scale shows for over 30 years and is well known for its educational work. Biography ...

for a period in the mid-1990s.

HIV status

In 2003, Smith was contacted by a reporter from ''

'' asking for a comment on his health but declined, citing the Press Complaints Code. However, two years later, in 2005, he contacted the paper's editor and revealed in a story, titled "Why This is the Time to Break my HIV Silence", he had been diagnosed as HIV-positive as long ago as 1987. He stated he had decided to go public following Nelson Mandela's announcement of his son's death from AIDS.

Notes

References

External links

*
Parliamentary Biography of Lord Smith of Finsbury
, - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Chris 1951 births Living people 2012 Summer Olympics cultural ambassadors Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Councillors in the London Borough of Islington Fellows of King's College London Gay politicians Harvard University alumni Kennedy Scholarships Labour Party (UK) life peers Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies LGBT life peers LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom LGBT politicians from England Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at George Watson's College People from Chipping Barnet People with HIV/AIDS Politics of the London Borough of Islington UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Chairs of the Fabian Society Presidents of the Cambridge Union LGBT government ministers 21st-century LGBT people Life peers created by Elizabeth II