Timothy John Smith (born 5 October 1947) is a British former Conservative politician.

Politics

In 1977, Smith was selected as Conservative candidate for the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

seat of

Ashfield Ashfield may refer to: People * Ashfield (surname) Places Australia * Ashfield, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Municipality of Ashfield, a former local government area in Sydney ** Electoral district of Ashfield, a former electoral dist ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

at the by-election that had been called following the resignation of

David Marquand David Ian Marquand (born 20 September 1934) is a British academic and former Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP). Background and political career Marquand was born in Cardiff; his father was Hilary Marquand, also an academic and former La ...

. Ashfield was regarded as a 'safe' Labour seat, but on 28 April, in an amazing result, Smith overturned Marquand's October 1974 majority of 22,915 to win by 264 votes over Labour's Michael Cowan. However, Smith was unable to hold the seat in the 1979 general election. He was subsequently selected to contest the

1982 Beaconsfield by-election The 1982 Beaconsfield by-election was a parliamentary by-election held on 27 May 1982 for the British House of Commons constituency of Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire. Previous MP The seat had become vacant on 27 February 1982, when the con ...

, in which he defeated the Labour candidate, future Prime Minister

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 ...

. Smith was thereafter returned as MP by the constituency at each general election until 1997.

Scandal

During the "

cash-for-questions affair The "cash-for-questions affair" was a political scandal of the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It began in October 1994 when ''The Guardian'' newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates ...

" it was revealed that he had taken undeclared payments of between £18,000 and £25,000 from

Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...

, the owner of

Harrods Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...

, much of it allegedly handed over in envelopes stuffed with £50 notes. In May 1997, at the subsequent general election, Smith stood down and left politics altogether. On 3 July 1997, he was found guilty by Sir

Gordon Downey Sir Gordon Stanley Downey (26 April 1928 – 12 April 2022) was Britain's first Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards was set up by the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in 19 ...

of taking cash for questions from Al Fayed, along with Neil Hamilton. The report severely criticised the conduct of both Hamilton and Smith whilst they had been MPs, and said that had they remained MPs they would have faced a substantial suspension from the House of Commons. Smith now lives in Boyton, Cornwall.

References

1947 births Living people Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 People from Plympton Northern Ireland Office junior ministers {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1940s-stub

Politics

Scandal

See also

References