| The Right Honourable The Lord Smith of Finsbury PC |
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|---|---|
| Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport |
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| In office 2 May 1997 – 8 June 2001 |
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| Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
| Preceded by | Virginia Bottomley (NH) |
| Succeeded by | Tessa Jowell |
| Member of Parliament for Islington South and Finsbury |
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| In office 9 June 1983 – 5 May 2005 |
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| Preceded by | George Cunningham |
| Succeeded by | Emily Thornberry |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 July 1951 Barnet, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Pembroke College, Cambridge Harvard University |
Christopher "Chris" Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury PC (born 24 July 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, and a former Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet Minister. He was the first openly gay British MP, coming out in 1984 and, in 2005, the first MP to acknowledge that he is HIV positive.[1][2]
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Chris Smith was born in Barnet, England and educated at George Watson's College in Edinburgh and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he gained a first class honours degree in English and a PhD with a thesis on Coleridge and Wordsworth. He also attended Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar and was president of the Cambridge Union Society.
He worked for a housing charity and became a councillor in the London Borough of Islington before narrowly winning the seat of Islington South & Finsbury at the 1983 General election, defeating George Cunningham. Cunningham stood against him a second time at the 1987 General election when Smith again defeated him.[3]
In 1984 he became Britain's first openly gay MP. There had been several gay MPs before this whose homosexuality had been common knowledge in some circles, including their constituents in some cases but they had not been completely open about it. During a rally in Rugby, Warwickshire against a possible ban on gay employees by the town council, he began his speech: "Good afternoon, I'm Chris Smith, I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury and I'm gay."[4]
He became an opposition whip in 1986, a shadow Treasury minister from 1987 to 1992, and shadowed the environment, heritage, pensions and health portfolios between 1992 and 1997.
In 1997 he was appointed to Tony Blair's Cabinet as the first Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. As a Minister known to have a close connection with the arts scene in Britain his time at DCMS is generally regarded as a success as many projects funded through the National Lottery came to fruition. There were controversies most notably his approval during his first week as minister of the appointment of Mary Allen to the Royal Opera House in which case a Select Committee report found that he had exceeded his authority and failed in not seeking advice from his Permanent Secretary. In 2000 he managed to secure a tax rebate that enabled many museums to give free admission. He held this position throughout the Labour government's first term, but was sacked and returned to the back benches after the 2001 election, replaced by the up-and-coming Tessa Jowell. Tony Blair later hinted at his regret at losing Smith's services, particularly his strong relationship with the arts world..
After over 20 years in Parliament, Smith stepped down from the House of Commons at the 2005 general election. It was announced on 30 April 2005 that he was to be created a life peer, and the title was gazetted on 22 June 2005 as Baron Smith of Finsbury, in the London Borough of Islington.[5]
Smith was appointed Chair of the London Cultural Consortium (the successor body to the Cultural Strategy Group) by London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and served from 2005 to 2008.
He was one of the founding directors of the Clore Leadership Programme, an initiative aimed at helping to train and develop new leaders of Britain's cultural sector.[6][7] He is also currently a board member of the Royal National Theatre and Chairman of the Wordsworth Trust. In November 2006, he was appointed as Chairman of The Advertising Standards Authority. Smith is a keen mountaineer and was the first MP to climb all the 3,000 ft "Munros" in Scotland;[8] in April 2004 he was elected as the Ramblers' Association President.[9] He is a patron of London-based HIV charity, The Food Chain.
On 30 January 2005, Smith revealed to the Sunday Times that he had HIV and was first diagnosed in 1987.[2] He stated that he had decided to go public following Nelson Mandela's announcement of his son's death from AIDS.[1]
On 8 May 2008, he was announced as the new Chairman of the Environment Agency and took up the new role in mid July.[10] In an interview with The Independent in August that year, he said Britain faced hard choices over which coasts to defend and which to leave to the sea because it would not be possible to save all coastal homes from sea erosion.[11]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Cunningham |
Member of Parliament for Islington South and Finsbury 1983–2005 |
Succeeded by Emily Thornberry |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Harriet Harman |
Shadow Secretary of State for Health 1997 |
Succeeded by Stephen Dorrell |
| Preceded by Virginia Bottomley as Secretary of State for National Heritage |
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 1997–2001 |
Succeeded by Tessa Jowell |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by John Harman |
Chairman of the Environment Agency 2008–present |
Incumbent |
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