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'''Jacqueline Jill Smith''' (born [[3 November]] [[1962]]) is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[politician]] who has been [[Home Secretary]] since [[28 June]] [[2007]] and is the current [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Redditch (UK Parliament constituency)|Redditch]], since 1997. She was made a Member of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] in 2003.
'''Jacqueline Jill Smith''' (born [[3 November]] [[1962]]) is a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[politician]] who has been [[Home Secretary]] since [[28 June]] [[2007]] and is the current [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Redditch (UK Parliament constituency)|Redditch]], since 1997. She was made a Member of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] in 2003.


Smith is the first female Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, and only the third woman to hold one of the [[Great Offices of State]] — after [[Margaret Thatcher]] ([[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]]) and [[Margaret Beckett]] ([[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]]).
Smith, a feminist <ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2186100,00.html</ref>, is the first female Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, and only the third woman to hold one of the [[Great Offices of State]] — after [[Margaret Thatcher]] ([[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]]) and [[Margaret Beckett]] ([[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|Foreign Secretary]]).


==Early life==
==Early life==

Revision as of 23:28, 24 February 2008

The Right Honourable
Jacqui Smith
MP
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith
Home Secretary
Assumed office
28 June 2007
Prime MinisterGordon Brown
Preceded byJohn Reid
Government Chief Whip and
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
In office
5 May 2006 – 28 June 2007
Prime MinisterTony Blair
Preceded byHilary Armstrong
Succeeded byGeoff Hoon
Member of Parliament
for Redditch
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded byconstituency created
Majority2,716 (6.7%)
Personal details
Born (1962-11-03) 3 November 1962 (age 61)
Malvern, Worcestershire, England
Political partyLabour
Alma materHertford College, Oxford

Jacqueline Jill Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British politician who has been Home Secretary since 28 June 2007 and is the current Member of Parliament for Redditch, since 1997. She was made a Member of the Privy Council in 2003.

Smith, a feminist [1], is the first female Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, and only the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister) and Margaret Beckett (Foreign Secretary).

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.[2] "So great was my eloquence that she immediately rushed off and joined the Labour party."[3] Smith went on to study for a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Hertford College, Oxford. After Oxford, she did a PGCE at Worcester College of Higher Education.

From 1986 to 1988, she taught Economics at Arrow Vale High School in Redditch[4], followed by a post at Worcester Sixth Form College before becoming Head of Economics and GNVQ Co-ordinator at Haybridge High School, Hagley in 1990.

She was elected MP for Redditch at the 1997 general election.

In government

In 2003, Smith was appointed as the Government's deputy minister for women and equality, 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.

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 agreed to fund LGBT history month.

In the 2006 reshuffle she was appointed Chief Whip.

Smith was regarded as a loyal Blairite during Tony Blair's premiership, and was brought to tears by Tony Blair's farewell appearance in the House of Commons.[5]

Home Secretary

Jacqui 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 the following day. On 24 January 2008 she announced new sweeping powers, including the proposal to hold "terrorist suspects" or those "linked to terrorism" for forty-two days without charge.[6]

Personal life

Smith married Richard J Timney (born 1963 in Ealing) in October 1987 in Malvern and has two sons (born September 1993 and June 1998).

On the 19 July 2007 she admitted to smoking cannabis a number of times in Oxford in the 1980s. She at first stated her behaviour had been wrong, and urged people not to try it especially considering the side effects and alleged strengthening of cannabis that had occurred since that time. Later on in the statement, she made a virtue of her having smoked cannabis, as having "given her the experiences to understand that she wants crime tackled". This information was made public the day after Gordon Brown appointed her head of a new government review of the UK Drugs strategy. The incident left some in the news to rename her Jacqui Spliff.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2186100,00.html
  2. ^ Minister visits high school, This is Worcestershire, 8 June 2001.
  3. ^ House of Commons Hansard, 1 April 2003, column 876: Michael Spicer on Jacqui Smith.
  4. ^ New Minister of State for Health, UK Transplant Bulletin, Autumn 2001
  5. ^ "First woman at the Home Office: Jacqui Smith". The Independent . Retrieved 2008-01-22. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/24/britain.terror.ap/index.html
  7. ^ ITV evening news, 19 July 2007, "I smoked cannabis"

External links

Video clips

Offices Held

Parliament of the United Kingdom

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Political offices

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