Sir Robert Hill Smith, 3rd Baronet of Crowmallie (born 15 April 1958) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who was the Member of Parliament for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine 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 ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Early life

Educated at the Merchant Taylors' School,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

(MA), he was a member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

before its merger with the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

to form the Liberal Democrats. He served as an

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

Councillor and Convener of the Grampian Joint Police Board 1995–97. His grandfather represented the same constituency as a Unionist from 1924 until 1945.

Parliamentary career

Smith contested Aberdeen North in 1987 and was first elected to Parliament in 1997. He was the Liberal Democrat Deputy Chief

Whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. Smith's areas of political interest include energy policy, rural issues and international development. He has been a member of the Energy & Climate Change Select Committee since it was created in 2009, acting as Interim Committee Chair from June to November 2013. He sat on the International Development Select Committee from 2007 to 2009. He serves as Honorary Vice-President of Energy Action Scotland, a fuel poverty charity, and is a Vice-Chair of the All-Party Group for the UK Offshore Oil and Gas Industry. He is Vice-Chair of the Post Offices APPG and Co-Chairs the APPG on Afghanistan. He represents a large rural constituency where the oil and gas industry, subsea engineering and marine renewables are major employers. He served on the Energy and Climate Change committee from 2009 to 2015. His previous portfolios include party Energy spokesperson, Deputy Chief Whip and shadowing the Scotland Office; he has served on the Trade & Industry Select Committee, Scottish Affairs Select Committee and the Procedure Committee. Smith stood for reelection in the 2015 general election, but was defeated by

Stuart Donaldson Sir Stuart Alexander Donaldson (16 December 1812 – 11 January 1867) was the first Premier of the Colony of New South Wales. Early life Donaldson was born in London, England. He entered his father's firm at the age of 15 and was sent first t ...

of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

Personal life

Smith succeeded to the baronetcy of Crowmallie upon his father's death in 1983. He married Fiona Cormack in 1993; they have three daughters. The heir presumptive to the title is his brother, Charles Smith. In 2013, Smith was diagnosed with

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

. In 2020, the family seat, Crowmallie House, was put up for sale.

References

External links

Profile
at the Liberal Democrats
Sir Robert Smith Bt MP
Scottish Liberal Democrats profile *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Robert, Sir, 3rd Baronet 1958 births Living people Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Anglo-Scots Smith, Robert Hill, 3rd Baronet People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Scottish Liberal Democrat councillors Scottish Liberal Democrat MPs Social Democratic Party (UK) parliamentary candidates UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 UK MPs 2005–2010 UK MPs 2010–2015