Jacqui Smith

For the American professional footballer, see Jackie Smith.

The Right Honourable Jacqui Smith MP
Home Secretary
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	John Reid
Government Chief Whip Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
In office 5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Hilary Armstrong
Succeeded by	Geoff Hoon
Member of Parliament for Redditch
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 1997
Preceded by	Constituency created
Majority	2,716 (6.7%)
Personal details
Born	(1962-11-03) 3 November 1962 Malvern, Worcestershire, England
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Hertford College, Oxford

Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British Labour Party politician who is currently the Home Secretary and has been Member of Parliament for Redditch since 1997. She was made a Member of the Privy Council in 2003.

Smith is the United Kingdom's first female Home Secretary. She is also only the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister) and Margaret Beckett (Foreign Secretary).

Smith is a controversial home secretary. The journalist Simon Jenkins questioned in 2008 whether she is a "pocket dictator", and commented on the central government database logging all mobile phone and email/internet traffic in the United Kingdom that: "This is truly Big Brother stuff". Other authoritarian policies include a bill to detain crime suspects for 42 days without charge, thus curtailing Habeas corpus and restrictions on photographing the police, which she justifies as a necessary anti-terrorism measure.^{see below} Such actions have resulted in her attempting to defend herself against accusations of 'Stalinism' made by the national press. She is currently under investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards over inappropriate expense claims.

Early life

Born in Malvern, Worcestershire, Smith attended Dyson Perrins High School in Malvern. Her parents were teachers. Her local MP there, Conservative backbencher Sir Michael Spicer, recalled in Parliament in 2003 how he had first met her when he was addressing the sixth form at The Chase School, where Smith's mother was a teacher. "So great was my eloquence that she immediately rushed off and joined the Labour Party." Smith went on to study for a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Hertford College, Oxford. After Oxford, she studied for a PGCE at Worcester College of Higher Education.

Working as a school teacher, from 1986 to 1988 she taught Economics at Arrow Vale High School in Redditch Subsequently she taught children at Worcester Sixth Form College, before becoming Head of Economics and GNVQ Co-ordinator at Haybridge High School, Hagley in 1990.

Political career

Member of Parliament

Smith was selected to stand for election for Labour through an all-women shortlist. This method of selection was subsequently declared illegal in January 1996 as it breached sex discrimination laws. Despite the ruling she remained in place as the candidate for the following year's election.

She was elected MP for Redditch at the 1997 general election, as part of a (then) record number of female MPs elected to the House of Commons who were pejoratively tagged "Blair Babes". Smith was re-elected in 2001 and 2005. Due to boundary changes, she currently has a majority of 1,948 (4.6% of the 2005 vote). This is the smallest majority of any current Cabinet member and makes her a prime target for the Conservatives in the next general election.

Smith entered the Government in July 1999 as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education and Employment, working with the Minister for School Standards Estelle Morris. She then became a Minister of State at the Department for Health after the 2001 general election. She was appointed as the Government's deputy Minister for Women in 2003, working alongside Secretary of State Patricia Hewitt. In this role she published the Government's proposals for Civil Partnerships, a system designed to offer same-sex couples an opportunity to gain legal recognition for their relationship with an associated set of rights and responsibilities.

Minister for Schools

Following the 2005 general election, Smith was appointed to serve as the Minister of State for Schools in the Department for Education and Skills, replacing Stephen Twigg who had lost his seat. She received praise in this role – often outperforming her superior Ruth Kelly. Teacher trade union sources stated that Smith "talked to us on our level".

Government Chief Whip

In the 2006 reshuffle she was appointed as the Government's Chief Whip. In a period when supporters of Gordon Brown were pushing Prime Minister Tony Blair to resign, she was successfully able to calm the situation down. The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson described her as being effective at "making peace between the warring Blair and Brown factions".

Smith was regarded as a loyal Blairite during Tony Blair's premiership, a position reflected in her voting record, and she was brought to tears by Blair's farewell appearance in the House of Commons.

Home Secretary

Smith was appointed Home Secretary in Gordon Brown's first Cabinet reshuffle of 28 June 2007. Just one day into her new job bombs were found in London and a terrorist attack took place in Glasgow the following day.

On 24 January 2008, she announced new sweeping powers for the police, including the proposal to hold "terrorist suspects" or those "linked to terrorism" for (forty-two days without charge). In the same month Smith was involved in controversy when she admitted that she would not feel safe on the streets of London at night. Such statements were compounded by her suggestion that walking on streets at night was not "a thing that people do". Critics suggested her statements were an admission that the government had failed to tackle crime effectively.

In June 2008, she wrote a letter to the NUJ stating that police may restrict photography, going against a long-standing principle of not inhibiting the freedom to take photographs, stating that the police can "restrict or monitor photography in certain circumstances".

In November 2008, Smith introduced legislation to make it a criminal offence to pay for sex with a woman controlled by a pimp, with the possibility that anyone caught paying for sex with an illegally trafficked woman could face rape charges.

Smith will introduce a crime mapping scheme which will allow for citizens of England and Wales to access information about local crime information and how to combat crime. As Home Secretary, she was pleased to announce that minor crime has dropped year on year under the Labour government, and continued to do so in 2008. Her officials, however, acknowledge that major crimes such as serious assault, rape and murder have increased year-on-year under the Labour government and are at their highest level since at least 1997.

Smith managed to pass the 42 day detention law plans in the House of Commons, despite heavy opposition. The House of Lords crushingly defeated the law, with Lords characterising it as "fatally flawed, ill thought through and unnecessary", stating that "it seeks to further erode [...] fundamental legal and civil rights".

Smith has said that she was not told and should not have been told in November 2008 of the impending arrest of Damian Green, a Conservative Member of Parliament who had publicised several leaks causing embarrassment to her department. Her position was attacked by her Conservative shadow Dominic Grieve who accused her of "wilful ignorance", and by her Labour predecessor John Reid who described her as "placid" and said that he would have wanted to be told and to express a view on such an action.

In March 2009 a leaked poll of Labour Party members revealed that Smith was considered to be the worst performing member of the cabinet, just 56% of her party believe she is doing a good job.

National identity legislation

Smith is presently in the process of actively pushing through legislation for the compulsory National Identity Card project, having announced that they are first to become compulsory for foreign students and airport staff. She has announced that, on being issued the card, each individual will only be charged "£30", but it is now estimated that the eventual figure will likely be double this. She has claimed, despite evidence to the contrary, that the majority of the population is in favour of the scheme. In another privacy-related issue, Smith said she was disappointed at the European Court of Human Rights' decision to strike down a law allowing the government to store the DNA and fingerprints of people with no criminal record, in December 2008 (when around 850,000 such DNA samples were being held in England and Wales). Her compromise was to scale down the length of time that data could be kept, with a maximum limit of 12 years. A number of commentators felt that this went against the spirit of the Court's decision.

In May 2009, Smith announced that the compulsory National Identity Cards, whose mere introduction she concurrently admitted had now risen in cost to over £5.3 billion (in addition to and separate from the estimated charge of £60 which will also be demanded of each individual on being issued their card), would be made available from high-street shops. Ms Smith defended her decision to use high street shops, in the taking of the DNA samples, biometric fingerprints and photographs compulsorily required for the cards, as an attempt to make enrolment in the scheme a less intimidating experience, and to make the cards easier to access.

Drug policy

On the 19 July 2007 Smith admitted to smoking cannabis a few times in Oxford in the 1980s. "I did break the law... I was wrong... drugs are wrong," she said. Asked why students today should listen when she urged them not to try the drug, she said that the dangers of cannabis use had become clearer, including mental health issues and the increasing strength of the drug over the past 25 years. Smith's admission was made public the day after Gordon Brown appointed her head of a new government review of the UK Drugs strategy.

In May 2008, against the recommendations of her own scientific advisers, Smith reversed the government's 2004 decision to downgrade cannabis to a class C drug, returning it back to the higher penalization status of class B, with the law change taking effect on 26 January 2009.

In February 2009 Jacqui Smith was accused by her most senior expert drugs adviser Professor David Nutt of making a political decision in rejecting the scientific advice to downgrade ecstasy from a class A drug. The advisory council on the misuse of drugs (ACMD) report on ecstasy, based on a 12-month study of 4,000 academic papers, concluded that it is nowhere near as dangerous as other class A drugs such as heroin and crack cocaine, and should be downgraded to class B alongside amphetamines and cannabis. The advice was not followed; the government saying that it was "not prepared to send a message to young people that we take ecstasy less seriously". Smith was also widely criticised by the scientific community for bullying Professor David Nutt into apologising for his comments that the risk associated with taking ecstasy was no worse than riding a horse.

Expenses controversies

Smith is currently under investigation by the parliamentary commissioner for standards over accusations that she inappropriately claimed expenses for her sister's home in London. Smith has claimed over £116,000 on the property since becoming an MP, however she contends that she has done nothing wrong. She was criticised by the media in March 2009, after a newspaper discovered that she had been claiming expenses to cover the cost of pornographic films viewed by her husband, Richard Timney. Two films, costing £5 each, were charged to the taxpayer—by mistake, according to Smith.

On 8 February 2009, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Smith had designated a house in London owned by her sister as her main residence in order to claim a parliamentary allowance for her house in Redditch as a secondary home, despite explicitly stating on her website that she "lives in Redditch with husband, Richard and sons James (13) and Michael (8). She has claimed more than £116,000 over six years from this arrangement, and additionally the policing cost is believed to be an additional £200,000 per annum." When asked whether it was fair that she made claims believed to have been made for items such as a flat screen TV and scatter cushions, she said that analyses of her receipts had been very particular. In response to criticisms over her housing allowances, she said it was the "nature of the job" that MPs had to furnish and run two properties. However, Sir Alistair Graham, the former Chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life was critical of her actions stating that naming her sister's spare bedroom as her main home was "near fraudulent".

On 29 March 2009, it was revealed in the Sunday Express that Smith, in April 2008, had claimed expenses from taxpayers on an internet bill that contained two adult films and two other pay-per-view films. Smith said it was a mistake, and said it was her husband's fault, and is going to re-pay the claim. The subsequent furore led to the Prime Minister calling for a new system of payments to be introduced.According to the Telegraph, the two films were Raw Meat 3 and By Special Request. Gordon Brown said she had done nothing wrong.

In April 2009, yet another expenses scandal involving Smith was unearthed after leaked documents showed she had charged the £40 cost of a barbecue to her parliamentary expenses, and even a bath plug, despite the fact she is paid a salary of £142,000 a year..

Smith is one of a number of MPs who employs their spouse as their personal secretary; since this entitles her to claim his salary as expenses, she has been criticised for this.

Controversy over the "naming and shaming" of a select list of individuals excluded from entering the United Kingdom

On 5 May 2009, Jacqui Smith decided to publicly "name and shame" a specially selected choice of 16 (chosen for the purpose of public "shaming" from a total list of 101) individuals who are banned from entering the United Kingdom. Included in those chosen from the list to be "named and shamed" were racially-motivated murderers, Islamist terrorists and America's third most popular radio host, Michael Savage. Savage was putatively singled out for expressing on air, what Ms Smith deemed to be, unpalatable political opinions. Savage threatened to sue Smith for defamation, invoking his right to free-speech in what is, ostensibly, a country with a fair degree of political liberty. Ms Smith attempted to defend her choice of individuals declaring, "If you can't live by the rules that we live by, the standards and the values that we live by, we should exclude you from this country and, what's more, now we will make public those people that we have excluded." Smith's actions met with considerable controversy in the mainstream print-media, across the political spectrum, and on both sides of the Atlantic, predominantly on account of her apparent desire to curtail the right to freedom of speech. For example, commenting on the public singling out for exclusion of Michael Savage, who is America's third most listened to radio host, with an audience of 10 million listeners per show, the Mayor of London Boris Johnson wrote: "What are we, some sort of kindergarten that needs to be protected against these 'dangerous' American radio shows?". Johnson continued:

"America still has a constitutional protection of free speech, and I have been amazed, over the last few days, to see how few people in this country are willing to stick up for that elementary principle... Perhaps Jacqui Smith thinks that it "sends out a signal" about the kind of Britain we want. On the contrary, it reinforces a culture – created by this Labour Government, and its addiction to political correctness – where people are increasingly confused and panic-stricken about what they can say and what is forbidden, a culture where a police officer can seriously think he is right to arrest a protester for calling a police horse "gay". Our courts and tribunals are clogged with people claiming to have suffered insults of one kind or another, and a country once famous for free speech is now hysterically and expensively sensitive to anything that could be taken as a slight."

Meanwhile, writing in an article in The Guardian, Catherine Bennett drew attention to the apparent inconsistency in Smith's condemnation of Savage for his controversial homeopathic views on autism; a condemnation seemingly belied by the funding her own government had recently made expressly available for the aforementioned practice:

"[W]hile Smith is allowed to make up the rules, it's futile to look for consistency. Wilders was bad enough, but the ban on Savage is so far from being a comprehensible act, so staggeringly capricious and stupid, as to defy evaluation. For all the sense it made to blither, after a day's desperate rummaging, about hurt feelings in the US autism community, Smith might as well have defended a ban on a foreign rabbit or an offensive mango. "Coming to the UK is a privilege," she raved last week, "and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life." And which way of life might that be, Smith? The one whereby denying clinical evidence can get you classified as an undesirable alien? Or the way of life that offers similar deniers a homeopathic qualification and a berth within the NHS?"

Personal life

Smith married Richard Timney (born 1963 in Ealing, London) in October 1987 in Malvern, Worcestershire, and has two sons. She is a very keen supporter of Aston Villa whom she regularly enjoys watching in her spare time.

In December 2008, Timney was discovered to be behind a series of letters to newspapers praising the work of Smith, however he had failed to disclose that he was both her husband and in receipt of a £40,000 salary to manage her constituency office.

See also

• Cabinet of the United Kingdom

External links

• Jacqui Smith official site
• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Jacqui Smith MP
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Jacqui Smith MP
• BBC News - Find Your MP: Jacqui Smith
• Open Directory Project — Jacqui Smith directory category
• The Register Jacqui Smith on Technology
• The Daily Telegraph The Telegraph on Jacqui Smith and Geert Wilders

Video clips

• YouTube clip: Smith admitting she smoked cannabis as a student
• YouTube clip: Smith discussing the expenses controversy on the BBC
• Jacqui Smith interviewed on Skynews

Offices held

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