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Dudley Smith AI simulator
(@Dudley Smith_simulator)
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Dudley Smith AI simulator
(@Dudley Smith_simulator)
Dudley Smith
Sir Dudley Gordon Smith (14 November 1926 – 14 December 2016) was a British Conservative politician who served as a junior minister under Edward Heath. He was a Member of Parliament for a total of 35 years, latterly for Warwick and Leamington, which he represented for almost 30 years before he lost his seat in the Labour landslide in the 1997 general election.
Smith was born on 14 November 1926 in Cambridge to Hugh and Elizabeth Smith. His father ran a small business. He attended Chichester High School in West Sussex but left at the age of 16 to pursue in career in journalism which he started by joining the local paper. In 1945 he joined Portsmouth Evening News, then The News of the World as a Fleet Street reporter. Finally, by 1953 he had joined the Sunday Express, going onto become Assistant News Editor under the Editor Sir John Junor.
Eager to become a politician, Smith unsuccessfully fought Peckham in 1955, losing to incumbent Freda Corbet by 13,768. He went onto serve on the Middlesex county council, becoming its youngest member. Smith served as the Conservative council's Chief Whip, alongside his parliamentary duties, until 1965.
Dudley Smith was eventually successful in winning the Brentford & Chiswick by 2,919 votes in the 1959 general election.
Despite only being in the House for 4 years, in 1963 Smith played the leading role in opposing deportation of Anthony Enahoro to Nigeria where he would face charges of treason. The fact that he took on this challenge was largely due to Enahoro's arrest taking place in his constituency. For 2 months, he used all parliamentary means to persuade the Home Secretary, Henry Brooke, to not deport the Chief. Smith claimed that Enahoro could not be deported as he would potentially face execution. Despite this, his efforts failed, and Anthony Enahoro was deported and subsequently jailed for 15 years.
Other areas that Smith took an interest in during his first parliament included sanitary concerns over the River Thames, and more radically local tax reform. Sixty Conservative MPs called for education to be funded directly by the Treasury instead of by local rates.
As troubles grew for the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, Smith was part of a group of relatively young Tory MPs in early 1963 who called for a change in leadership. Their preference was Edward Heath, the Lord Privy Seal who would subsequently become leader and prime minister, or Reginald Maudling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer over that of then favourite Rab Butler, or Iain Macleod. Ultimately Lord Home was chosen as the successor.
1963 also saw Smith became PPS to Robert Carr, Minister for Technical Cooperation, then as an opposition whip in 1964. However, his climb in power was cut short by the Labour victory in the 1964 general election, and then Smith losing his seat in 1966 to Labour's Michael Barnes by 607 votes.
Dudley Smith
Sir Dudley Gordon Smith (14 November 1926 – 14 December 2016) was a British Conservative politician who served as a junior minister under Edward Heath. He was a Member of Parliament for a total of 35 years, latterly for Warwick and Leamington, which he represented for almost 30 years before he lost his seat in the Labour landslide in the 1997 general election.
Smith was born on 14 November 1926 in Cambridge to Hugh and Elizabeth Smith. His father ran a small business. He attended Chichester High School in West Sussex but left at the age of 16 to pursue in career in journalism which he started by joining the local paper. In 1945 he joined Portsmouth Evening News, then The News of the World as a Fleet Street reporter. Finally, by 1953 he had joined the Sunday Express, going onto become Assistant News Editor under the Editor Sir John Junor.
Eager to become a politician, Smith unsuccessfully fought Peckham in 1955, losing to incumbent Freda Corbet by 13,768. He went onto serve on the Middlesex county council, becoming its youngest member. Smith served as the Conservative council's Chief Whip, alongside his parliamentary duties, until 1965.
Dudley Smith was eventually successful in winning the Brentford & Chiswick by 2,919 votes in the 1959 general election.
Despite only being in the House for 4 years, in 1963 Smith played the leading role in opposing deportation of Anthony Enahoro to Nigeria where he would face charges of treason. The fact that he took on this challenge was largely due to Enahoro's arrest taking place in his constituency. For 2 months, he used all parliamentary means to persuade the Home Secretary, Henry Brooke, to not deport the Chief. Smith claimed that Enahoro could not be deported as he would potentially face execution. Despite this, his efforts failed, and Anthony Enahoro was deported and subsequently jailed for 15 years.
Other areas that Smith took an interest in during his first parliament included sanitary concerns over the River Thames, and more radically local tax reform. Sixty Conservative MPs called for education to be funded directly by the Treasury instead of by local rates.
As troubles grew for the then Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, Smith was part of a group of relatively young Tory MPs in early 1963 who called for a change in leadership. Their preference was Edward Heath, the Lord Privy Seal who would subsequently become leader and prime minister, or Reginald Maudling, the Chancellor of the Exchequer over that of then favourite Rab Butler, or Iain Macleod. Ultimately Lord Home was chosen as the successor.
1963 also saw Smith became PPS to Robert Carr, Minister for Technical Cooperation, then as an opposition whip in 1964. However, his climb in power was cut short by the Labour victory in the 1964 general election, and then Smith losing his seat in 1966 to Labour's Michael Barnes by 607 votes.