Michael Smithson (born 11 May 1946) is a writer, a former

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

politician and expert on

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three eleme ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

who in 2004 founded the website politicalbetting.com. Since January 2008 he has been the full-time editor of the site. As a result, ''The Daily Telegraph'' described him as the 33rd most influential over-50 on Twitter in 2014. He has been described as "perhaps the most influential person in the British political betting community".

Early career

Much of his early career was a

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

journalist. From 1977 to 1982 he represented the UK's radio and television journalists on the National Executive Committee of the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Structure There i ...

(NUJ). Since 1994, he has worked as Director of Development running the fundraising for five

UK universities Universities in the United Kingdom have generally been instituted by royal charter, papal bull, Act of Parliament, or an instrument of government under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 or the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. Deg ...

- for the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

from 1994 to 1996, for

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

from 1996 to 1999, for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

from 1999 to 2005, and for the

University of York , mottoeng = On the threshold of wisdom , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £8.0 million , budget = £403.6 million , chancellor = Heather Melville , vice_chancellor = Charlie Jeffery , students ...

from 2005 to April 2007. He also had a spell at

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

. During his university fundraising career he has overseen approaches that have led to more than £550m being raised. This included the $100m gift by James Martin to establish the

James Martin 21st Century School The Oxford Martin School is a research and policy unit based in the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford. It was founded in June 2005 as the James Martin 21st Century School and is located in the original building of the Indian I ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

- the largest ever single alumni donation to a UK university. He is a former fellow of

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

Political career

He joined the Liberal Democrats on their foundation, and stood for Parliament in North Bedfordshire at the 1992 general election. He was twice elected in 1989 and 1993 as a

County Councillor A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, and also in 1996 as a

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

. He has not been politically active since then.

Book

In 2007, his book, ''The Political Punter - How to make money betting on politics'', was published by Harriman House. Prospect described it as an "excellent how-to guide".

Other ventures

He has also acted as a consultant for

Betfair Betfair is a British Gambling, gambling company which operates the world's largest online betting exchange. Its product offering also includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. Founded in 2000, the business is split ...

and written a column for them.

Family

Mike Smithson is married to Jacqueline Smithson and has two daughters and a son, Robert Smithson, who uncovered the

Lernout & Hauspie Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, or L&H, was a Belgium-based speech recognition technology company, founded by Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, that went bankrupt in 2001 because of a fraud engineered by the management. The company was based in Ypr ...

fraud. His brother is the film and television producer

John Smithson John Smithson (* March 1952) is a British film and television producer. Family John's brother is the political blogger Mike Smithson. Together with David Darlow he co-founded the production company Darlow Smithson Productions in 1988. In Jun ...

. His grandfather was Charles Smithson, mayor of

Nelson, Lancashire Nelson is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 29,135 in 2011. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Burnley and 2.5 miles southwest of Colne. It developed as a ...

References

1946 births Living people People from Bedford People associated with the Open University Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Councillors in Bedfordshire Fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge {{UK-politician-stub