Llewellyn Thomas Smith (16 April 1944 – 26 May 2021) was a British
Labour Party politician.
Early life and education
According to Smith, his father was born in England and moved to Wales as a child. He began working at the local
colliery
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
(
Newbridge) at the age of thirteen, and his brother died in a tragic accident while also working there. Smith's father eventually died of cancer and
pneumoconiosis
Pneumoconiosis is the general term for a class of interstitial lung disease where inhalation of dust ( for example, ash dust, lead particles, pollen grains etc) has caused interstitial fibrosis. The three most common types are asbestosis, silicos ...
, a group of diseases typically associated with mineworkers.
Smith was educated at
Coleg Harlech
Coleg Harlech was a residential adult education college for mature students in Harlech, Gwynedd, later on part of Adult Learning Wales - Addysg Oedolion Cymru.
History
It was Wales' only long-term, mature-student residential education colleg ...
as an adult, referring to himself as a "second chance" student. Before becoming a politician, he worked as a labourer and computer operator.
[
]
Political career
Smith was Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
(MEP) for South Wales East
South Wales East () is an electoral region of the Senedd, consisting of eight constituencies. The region elects 12 members, eight directly elected constituency members and four additional members. The electoral region was first used in 1999, w ...
from 1984 to 1994, being re-elected in the 1989 European election. While in this position, he worked with members like Alex Falconer, Stan Newens
Arthur Stanley Newens (4 February 1930 – 2 March 2021) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1983, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1999.
Born ...
, and Alf Lomas to improve the democratic accountability of the parliament.
At the 1992 general election he was elected as 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 of ...
(MP) for Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw ...
, succeeding former Labour leader Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...
. He was a member of the Socialist Campaign Group
The Socialist Campaign Group, officially the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs and also known as the Campaign Group, is a left-wing, democratic socialist grouping of the Labour Party's Members of Parliament in the House of Commons of the ...
, and defied various government whips. He opposed the private finance initiative
The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...
, the creation of nuclear weapons,[ and ]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 stance on the Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
.
Smith became known for his opposition to devolution
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
and the formation of the National Assembly of Wales
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...
; in May 1997, Welsh Secretary Ron Davies threatened disciplinary action against Welsh Labour MPs who planned to campaign against a Welsh Assembly in the devolution referendum. Smith was a specific focus of this move, having various party meetings about his views and being threatened by Davies and his policy adviser with expulsion if he chose to act on them. A public row ensued in which Davies was pushed to say that those who reasonably opposed devolution, including Smith, would not be removed from the party. After this, Smith stepped back from his complaint to the standards and privileges committee, but did not withdraw it. Following the creation of the Assembly, he continued to vote against giving it further powers and funding,[ and led a campaign to change its voting from a proportional list system.
In the 2001 general election, Smith won Blaenau Gwent with 61% of the vote, beating the ]Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Plaid wa ...
candidate by 19,313 votes. In 2002, he was one of several MPs to express support for the Labour Against the Euro group, which opposed the UK's possible membership of the single currency.
In December 2002, Smith made an early announcement that he would be standing down as an MP, so a suitable candidate could be found for the next general election. Later, the Blairite
In Politics of the United Kingdom, British politics, Blairism is the political ideology of Tony Blair, the former leader of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister between 1997 and 2007, and ...
Maggie Jones was chosen to succeed him in an all-woman shortlist. Smith opposed this move as it took the choice of representation out of the hands of constituents, and instead suggested that Assembly Member Peter Law
Peter John Law (1 April 1948 – 25 April 2006) was a Welsh politician. For most of his career Law sat as a Labour councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly member (AM) for Blaenau Gwent. Latterly he sat as an independent membe ...
would win in the 2005 general election should he go against Jones, calling him a "popular and effective representative".[ This prediction came true when Law stood as an Independent, becoming the MP for Blaenau Gwent for the year up until his death. Twenty party members were expelled for openly supporting Law, but Smith remained within the party due to not openly voicing any support.][
Following Law's death from a brain tumour in 2006, the seat was won by Dai Davies, who had previously been Smith's agent.][
]
Other work
In 2010, an exhibition was put on by Smith and his late wife at Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
's People's History Museum
The People's History Museum (the National Museum of Labour History until 2001) in Manchester, England, is the UK's national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people ...
, entitled ''Politics, Protest and the Christmas Card''. It told the history of left-wing politics through the medium of the Christmas card. Following this, in 2012 he published ''Glad Tidings of Struggle and Strife'' with his wife as co-author, showing a selection of the cards.
Personal life
Smith and his wife Pam (who died in 2008) had two sons, Matthew and Benjamin, and a daughter, Eleanor.
He died from cancer on 26 May 2021 at the age of 77.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Llew
1944 births
2021 deaths
European democratic socialists
MEPs for Wales 1984–1989
MEPs for Wales 1989–1994
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
Welsh Labour MEPs
Welsh Labour Party MPs
Welsh socialists