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

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

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 elem ...

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 stud ...

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 broad ...

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 is ...

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

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

from 1994 to 1996, for

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

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 th ...

from 1999 to 2005, and for the University of York 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 and Magdalen College, Oxford.

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 ...

, 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 A ...

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 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 int ...

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 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 mill town during the Indust ...

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