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Jacqui Smith - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jacqui Smith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Right Honourable
 Jacqui Smith MP
Jacqui Smith

Incumbent
Assumed office 
28 June 2007
Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Preceded by John Reid

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%)

Born 3 November 1962 (1962-11-03) (age 45)
Malvern, England, United Kingdom
Political party Labour
Alma mater Hertford College, Oxford

Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith (born 3 November 1962) is a British politician for the Labour Party. She 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 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). She has been tipped by political pundits [1] as potential successor to Gordon Brown following his recent slide in the opinion polls.[2]

Contents

[edit] 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.[3] "So great was my eloquence that she immediately rushed off and joined the Labour party."[4] 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. Smith lived on Bromsgrove Road, Redditch, up until being made home secretary when she moved partly to London to be closer to her job, whilst keeping the family home based in her constituency in Redditch.

From 1986 to 1988, she taught Economics at Arrow Vale High School in Redditch[5], 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.

[edit] Member of Parliament

She was elected MP for Redditch at the 1997 general election, becoming one of the "Blair Babes" as part of a (then) record number of female MPs elected to the House of Commons.

Smith, who has been called feminist,[6] 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.[7] 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.

[edit] Minister for Schools

Following the 2005 general election, Smith, a former teacher, 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.[8] 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".[9]

[edit] 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.[9] The BBC's political editor Nick Robinson described her as being effective at "making peace between the warring Blair and Brown factions".[10]

Smith was regarded as a loyal Blairite during Tony Blair's premiership, and was brought to tears by Blair's farewell appearance in the House of Commons.[9]

[edit] 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.[11] Smith has also reversed the government's decision in 2004 to reclassify cannabis as a class C drug, returning it to class B status in 2009.[12]

Also in January, Smith was involved in controversy when she admitted that she wouldn't feel safe on the street of London at night. Such statements were compounded by her suggestion that walking on streets at night wasn't "a thing that people do". Critics suggested her statements were an admission that the government had failed to tackle crime effectively. [13]

[edit] Voting record in Parliament

Smith hardly ever rebels (votes against) the position of her Party and in the most divisive votes over Labour's term she has voted according to the Party line (They Work For You).[14] Her position on some of the divisive or controversial votes since 2001:

  • Voted against a transparent Parliament.
  • Voted for introducing a smoking ban.
  • Voted for introducing ID cards.
  • Voted for introducing foundation hospitals.
  • Voted for introducing student top-up fees.
  • Voted for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
  • Voted for the Iraq war.
  • Voted against an investigation into the Iraq war.
  • Voted for replacing Trident.
  • Voted for the hunting ban.
  • Voted for equal gay rights.

[edit] 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). Her eldest son enjoys playing rugby and was part of his school County Champion side.

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,[15] and Wacky Baccy Jacqui.

She is a very keen supporter of Aston Villa who she regularly enjoys watching in her spare time.[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] Video clips

[edit] Offices held

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Redditch
1997–present
Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by
Barbara Roche
Deputy Minister for Women
2003–2005
Succeeded by
Meg Munn
Preceded by
Stephen Twigg
Minister of State for Schools
2005–2006
Succeeded by
Jim Knight
Preceded by
Hilary Armstrong
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
2006–2007
Succeeded by
Geoff Hoon
Government Chief Whip
2006–2007
Preceded by
John Reid
Home Secretary
2007–present
Incumbent


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