Owen Smith
Owen Smith | |
|---|---|
| Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | |
| Assumed office 13 September 2015 | |
| Leader | Jeremy Corbyn |
| Preceded by | Stephen Timms (Acting) |
| Shadow Secretary of State for Wales | |
| In office 15 May 2012 – 13 September 2015 | |
| Leader | Ed Miliband |
| Preceded by | Peter Hain |
| Succeeded by | Nia Griffith |
| Member of Parliament for Pontypridd | |
| Assumed office 6 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Kim Howells |
| Majority | 8,585 (22.5%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 2 May 1970 Morecambe, United Kingdom |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | Liz Smith |
| Alma mater | University of Sussex |
Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970)[1] is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd since 2010, replacing the previous Labour MP Kim Howells who decided to step down.[2] He previously worked for the BBC as a radio producer.
Early life and career
Owen Smith was born in Morecambe, England in 1970. Smith joined the Labour Party at the age of 16, later studying History and French at the University of Sussex. He worked for the BBC as a radio producer for 10 years, working on a variety of programmes in both Wales and London, including Today for BBC Radio Four and Dragon's Eye for BBC Wales.[3]
Political career
In 2002 he became a special adviser for Paul Murphy, then the Secretary of State for Wales. He later followed Murphy to the Northern Ireland Office.
In 2006 he fought the Blaenau Gwent by-election won by independent candidate Dai Davies.
After his election to Parliament in 2010 he joined the Welsh Affairs Select Committee and was appointed a shadow minister for Wales.[4]
In 2012 he was promoted to the Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, after Peter Hain stepped down.
In September 2012 he described Prime Minister David Cameron's first government reshuffle as an "highly unusual and unsatisfactory state of affairs. It looks to me as though Wales has only been considered at the fag-end of David Cameron's reshuffle and when they did look at it they found they'd run out of money for a full-time junior minister at the Wales Office, having almost certainly reached the ceiling allowed under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act. It's unheard of to have a whip also acting as a minister in a department."[5]
He described Conservative plans to devolve powers over income tax to the Welsh Assembly as "a trap".[6]
Smith had been named as a potential contender in the 2015 Labour leadership election to replace Ed Miliband.[7] Ultimately, nothing came of this.
On 14 September 2015, he was named as the new Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.
On 9 January 2016, he voiced an interest in eventually standing for Labour Leadership, saying it would be an "incredible honour and privilege" to do the job.[8]
References
- ^ "Who's Who". ukwhoswho.com.
- ^ "Election 2010: Pontypridd". Wales Online. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ "Former BBC Producer selected for Pontypridd". Wales Online. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ^ "Owen Smith". Parliament UK. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- ^ "Reshuffle: Jenny Randerson and Stephen Crabb join Wales Office". walesonline. 5 September 2012.
- ^ "Wales income tax powers a 'trap', Labour MP Owen Smith claims". BBC. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
- ^ Bush, Stephen (14 May 2015). "After Ed, who's next? The six candidates vying to lead the Labour Party". Retrieved 14 May 2015.
- ^ George Eaton (9 January 2016). "Exclusive: Owen Smith: I am interested in being Labour leader". New Statesman. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
External links
- Owen Smith MP Welsh Labour Party profile
- Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
- Contributions in Parliament at Hansard
- Voting record at Public Whip
- Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou
- Owen Smith author archives at WalesHome.org
- Pontypridd Town website