Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury

Early life and education

Chris Smith was born in Barnet, London, and educated at George Watson's College in Edinburgh and Pembroke College, Cambridge. At Cambridge he gained a first class honours degree in English, and a PhD degree with a thesis on Coleridge and Wordsworth; he was also president of the Cambridge Union Society. Furthermore, he attended Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar.

Member of Parliament

He worked for a housing charity and became a councillor in the London Borough of Islington. He came third at Epsom and Ewell in the 1979 general election before narrowly winning the seat of Islington South and Finsbury at the 1983 general election, defeating George Cunningham, who had ultimately defected to the Social Democrats from Labour. Cunningham stood again at the 1987 general election when Smith retained the seat.

In 1984, he became Britain's first gay MP to choose to "come out". 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. (In 1975 Maureen Colquhoun had been effectively "outed" by press revelations.) During a rally in Rugby, Warwickshire, against a possible ban on gay employees by the town council, Smith began his speech: "Good afternoon, I'm Chris Smith, I'm the Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury and I'm gay." This was unscripted, and the decision to include it in his speech was made at the last minute. He immediately received a standing ovation from most of the audience.

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.

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

In 1997, he was appointed to Tony Blair's Cabinet as the 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, for many projects funded through the National Lottery came to fruition. There were controversies, such as his approval during his first week as minister of the appointment of Mary Allen to the Royal Opera House. In this case, a Select Committee report later found that he had exceeded his authority and had improperly failed to seek advice from his Permanent Secretary. He held this position throughout the Labour government's first term, but was sacked and returned to the back benches after the 2001 election, being replaced by Tessa Jowell.

Appointment to the House of Lords

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, of Finsbury in the London Borough of Islington.

Retirement from politics

Smith was appointed Chair of the London Cultural Consortium (successor body to the Cultural Strategy Group) by Ken Livingstone, the then Mayor of London, and served from 2005 to 2008. He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2010 from the University of Cumbria. In November 2006, he was appointed as Chairman of the Advertising Standards Authority. 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. He is also currently Chairman of the Wordsworth Trust.

Smith is a keen mountaineer, and was the first MP to climb all the 3,000 ft "Munros" in Scotland; in April 2004, he was elected President of the Ramblers' Association. He is a patron of London-based HIV charity The Food Chain, and also Patron of HIV support charity The National Long-Term Survivors Group (NLTSG). He is also an honorary life member of BAFTA.

Smith was announced as the new Chairman of the Environment Agency on 8 May 2008, and took up the new role in mid-July. To maintain political independence in this role, he ceased to sit with the Labour group in the Lords and became a non-affiliated member. 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. Lord Smith was re-appointed as Chair of the Environment Agency for a further three years by Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman in 2011. On re-appointment he received £100,813 pro rata for 2011–12, based on working three days a week. Lord Smith continued in this role until 13 July 2014.

Smith became a vice-president of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality in February 2009.

In 2010, he was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Islington. At the event, then-Islington Lib Dem group leader Councillor Terry Stacy thanked Smith for "stepping out of the closet and standing up and being counted," noting that it was a "historic" event that paved the way for other gay politicians. In 2011, Smith was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from Lancaster University and in 2016 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Philosophy from London Metropolitan University.

In December 2014, it was announced that Lord Smith would become the next Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge in 2015, succeeding Sir Richard Dearlove. He oversaw the receipt of the biggest single donation ever received by the University of Cambridge in 2015, when Ray Dolby donated £35m towards an expansion of the College grounds. He accepted an invitation to become the Chairman of Trustees of the Cambridge Union Society in 2015. In July 2025 he was elected Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and stepped down as Master of Pembroke.

He is currently listed as the Chairman of the Task Force on Shale Gas.

Personal life

In 2006, Smith entered a civil partnership with Dorian Jabri, his partner since 1989. The couple separated in 2012. Smith was a director of the Finsbury-based world jazz ensemble Grand Union Orchestra for a period in the mid-1990s.

HIV status

In 2003, Smith was contacted by a reporter from The Sunday Times asking for a comment on his health but declined, citing the Press Complaints Code. However, two years later, in 2005, he contacted the paper's editor and revealed in a story, titled "Why This is the Time to Break my HIV Silence", he had been diagnosed as HIV-positive as long ago as 1987. He stated he had decided to go public following Nelson Mandela's announcement of his son's death from AIDS.

Legacy

In 2010, the LGBT+ Labour campaign fund Dorothy's List was renamed the Chris Smith List in his honour.

Notes

References

References

1. "Lord Smith of Finsbury". [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]].
2. [http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/aboutus/organisation/38747.aspx], Environment Agency. "Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury, Chairman." Retrieved 2 August 2013.
3. According to [http://www.election.demon.co.uk/1983LB.html Election Demon] {{Webarchive. link. (5 August 2016 , in 1983 Smith got 13 460 votes to Cunningham's 13 097, in 1987 the respective totals were 16 511 to 15 706)
4. Campbell, Dennis. (30 January 2005). "The pioneer who changed gay lives". [[The Observer]].
5. Reynolds, Andrew. (2019). "The children of Harvey Milk: how LGBTQ politicians changed the world". [[Oxford University Press]].
6. (11 June 2001). "Welcome to the ministry of fun, Tessa". [[The Guardian]].
7. {{London Gazette. (27 June 2005)
8. "Lord Smith of Finsbury".
9. "2010 | University of Cumbria".
10. (7 November 2006). "Chris Smith to head ASA". [[The Guardian]].
11. "The Clore Leadership Programme". Cloreleadership.org.
12. "GOV.UK". Environment Agency.
13. "Trustees".
14. "Scottish Mountaineering Club". Scottish Mountaineering Club.
15. Pyke, Nicholas. (25 April 2004). "Rambling Tsar comes to the aid of Madonna". Independent News & Media.
16. "Patrons {{!}} People in the Chain {{!}} About Us {{!}} The Food Chain".
17. (28 Jan 2003). "Film Industry".
18. Gerrard, Neil. (9 May 2008). "Chris Smith becomes new Environment Agency chairman". Reed Business Information Limited.
19. (2013). "The contemporary House of Lords: Westminster bicameralism revived". Oxford University Press.
20. Morris, Nigel. (18 August 2008). "Stark warning on Britain's shrinking coast". The Independent.
21. "Re-appointments to the Environment Agency". Defra.
22. "CHE > In the news".
23. Messenger, Terry. (19 November 2010). "Freedom of the Borough honour for a gay pioneer Lord Smith of Finsbury". Camden New Journal.
24. "Honorary Degrees 2011".
25. "The Rt Hon Lord Smith of Finsbury (Chris Smith) - London Metropolitan University".
26. Jack Higgins. "Pembroke to receive record-breaking £35m donation". [[Varsity (Cambridge)]].
27. "Register of Interests". House of Lords.
28. (23 July 2025). "New Chancellor elected at the University of Cambridge". [[University of Cambridge]].
29. "About the Task Force - Task Force on Shale Gas".
30. (25 July 2006). "Ex-Cabinet minister becomes first peer to have civil partnership". [[PinkNews]].
31. (31 January 2005). "No 10 rallies round as leading MP admits: 'I'm HIV positive'". [[The Times]].
32. (16 February 2014). "Environment Agency head Chris Smith: 'I'm not having my staff belittled'". [[The Guardian]].
33. (5 August 1996). "Members' Interests". [[The Guardian]].
34. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article508294.ece Why this is the time to break my HIV silence]{{dead link. (September 2024)
35. (30 January 2005). "Former minister is HIV positive". [[BBC News Online]].
36. "The Chris Smith List".