Cyril Smith

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Sir Cyril Smith, MBE (born 28 June 1928) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as Liberal (later Liberal Democrat) Member of Parliament for the constituency of Rochdale from 1972 until retiring in 1992.

Sir Cyril has been obese for most of his life. He traded on this with a larger-than-life personality — his nickname is "Big Cyril", and this is also the title of his autobiography. A common joke on the size of the Parliamentary Liberal Party in the early 1970s was that only one taxi would be needed to transport the entire party; after Smith's election, the party could fill two taxis. Another famous joke of the time described Sir Cyril as "a man who has had more hot dinners than you've had hot dinners".

Smith had a long career in local politics, initially as a member of the Labour Party. He took particular pride in his record in education for having overseen the introduction of comprehensive education in his district with markedly less controversy than in surrounding areas. He was first elected to Rochdale council as a Labour candidate in 1950 and became mayor in 1966. That year he was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List; he was advanced to a knighthood (knight bachelor) in 1988.

Smith left the Labour Party after a dispute with his council colleagues, and subsequently joined the Liberals. His defection, and subsequent election as a Liberal MP, caused some surprise after his prominent role in opposing Ludovic Kennedy, the Liberal candidate in the 1958 Rochdale by-election.

Smith won the seat of Rochdale at the 1972 by-election with a large swing from Labour to the Liberals, the final tally giving Smith a majority of 5,171. He won the seat on five further occasions. In June 1975 Smith was appointed as the Liberals' Chief Whip and faced much pressure from the press in the wake of a sexual scandal involving party leader Jeremy Thorpe. Smith resigned from the Whips' Office on health grounds. Unlike many Liberal Democrats he voted in favour of capital punishment.

Smith was taken to hospital in February 2006 after collapsing in his Rochdale home. However, Smith is now feeling much better and is coping with daily life. He recently made a visit to a school in Bury and spends his time collecting autographs and writing letters.

[edit] References

• Big Cyril: Autobiography (1977) ISBN 0-491-02261-1. Smith's autobiography.
• Reflections from Rochdale: As I Saw it and as I See it (1997) ISBN 1-85187-340-6. A later slimmer autobiographical work.

[edit] External links

• Sir Cyril in fight against assembly
• Celebrating Sir Cyril’s 75 years of plain speaking
• BBC News 18 February 2006 - Sir Cyril 'recovering' after fall

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Jack McCann	Member of Parliament for Rochdale 1972–1992	Succeeded by Liz Lynne