Trevor Smith, Baron Smith of Clifton


Trevor Arthur Smith, Baron Smith of Clifton, was a British politician, academic and member of the House of Lords. He was the Liberal Democrat spokesman in the House on Northern Ireland and constitutional affairs.

Early life

Smith was born in the East End of London, the son of Arthur James Smith and Vera Gladys Smith. He read Economics at the London School of Economics in 1955-8, graduating with a BSc. He worked as a schoolteacher for the London County Council from 1958 to 1959.

Academic career

Smith's first academic post was as an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Exeter from 1959 to 1960. He then became Research Officer for the Acton Society Trust in 1960–2, a trust set up by the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust in the 1940s "to analyse the implications of the welfare state for liberty and the individual." In 1962, he became a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Hull, where he would remain for the next five years.
In 1967, Smith moved to Queen Mary College at the University of London, where he was to be based for the next 24 years. Initially a Lecturer and then a Senior Lecturer, he was appointed Professor in Political Studies in 1983. He also served as Head of Department in Politics from 1972 to 1985, and was Dean of Social Studies in 1979-82. By the mid-1980s, he was also playing an administrative role in the university as a whole - he was Pro-Principal in 1985–7, Senior Pro-Principal in 1987–9, and Senior Vice-Principal in 1989–91.
Smith was an active member of the Political Studies Association since the 1950s, and was its Chairman in 1988-9, Vice-President in 1989-91, and President in 1991-3.
In 1991, Smith moved to Northern Ireland, to take up the appointment of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster, which he held until 1999. As the university was Northern Ireland's largest employer, Smith was heavily involved in the Northern Ireland peace process throughout the 1990s, taking a non-sectarian "outsider" role.

Political activity

He was an active member of the Liberal Democrats and its predecessor, the Liberal Party, since 1956. A former Chairman of the Union of Liberal Students, he contested the 1959 General Election in West Lewisham, being the youngest candidate of any party that year.
He was a board member of the Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust Ltd from 1975, and its Chair from 1987 to 1999; he retired from the board in 2007. During his time as Chair, the Trust saw a significant reorientation of its goals as a non-charitable trust geared towards funding political activity around democratic reform and social justice. In order to reflect this, it was renamed the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust in 1990.
In 1997, he entered the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat peer, serving as his party's frontbench spokesperson on Northern Ireland from 2000 to 2011. During the 2010-5 coalition government, he emerged as a vocal critic of his party's participation in the coalition, including being one of only four Lib Dem peers to vote against their party's trebling of tuition fees, and calling for the resignation of his party leader, Nick Clegg.
He retired from the House of Lords on 31 January 2019.

Honours

He was created a Knight Bachelor in the 1996 Birthday Honours for services to higher education, receiving the accolade from The Queen on 3 December 1996. He was created a life peer as Baron Smith of Clifton, of Mountsandel in the County of Londonderry, on 4 November 1997. He was made an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary University of London in 2003.
He received the following honorary degrees:

Personal life

Smith married Brenda Susan in 1960, with whom he had two sons; the marriage was dissolved in 1973. In 1979, he married his second wife, Julia Donnithorne, with whom he had one daughter, Naomi Smith of Best for Britain.

Books

  • Trevor Smith with Alison Thomson, Anti-Politics: Consensus, Reform and Protest in Britain.
  • Trevor Smith and Robert Benewick, Direct Action and Democratic Politics.
  • Trevor Smith, The Politics of the Corporate Economy.
  • __________, The Fixers: Crisis Management in British Politics.
  • __________, Workhouse to Westminster.

Book chapters

  • Trevor Smith, 'United Kingdom', in Raymond Vernon, Big Business and the State: Changing Relations in Western Europe.
  • ___________, 'Causes, Concerns and Cures', in F. F. Ridley and Alan Doig, Sleaze: Politicians, Private Interests & Public Reaction.
  • Trevor Smith and Alison Young, 'Politics and Michael Young', in Geoff Dench, Tony Flower and Kate Gavron, Young at Eighty: The Prolific Public Life of Michael Young.
  • Trevor Smith, 'Britain', in Jack Hayward and Michael Watson, Planning, Politics, and Public Policy: The British, French and Italian Experience.
  • ___________, 'Industrial Planning in Britain', in Jack Hayward and Michael Watson, Planning, Politics, and Public Policy: The British, French and Italian Experience.

Pamphlets

  • Roger Cuss, Maurice Gent and Trevor Smith, New Unions for Old - New Orbits Pamphlet #6
  • Michael Argyle and Trevor Smith, Training Managers.
  • Trevor Smith and Anthony M. Rees, Councillors: A Study of Barking.
  • Trevor Smith, Town & County Hall: Problems of Recruitment & Training.
  • Trevor Smith, Economic Dilemmas and Political Choices.
  • Trevor Smith, British Politics in the Post-Keynesian Era.
  • Paul Hodgson, Archy Kirkwood and Trevor Smith, Directors’ Remuneration and Private Utilities — Centre for Reform Paper No. 11.

Peer-reviewed articles

  • Robert E. Dowse and Trevor Smith, 'Party Discipline in the House of Commons - A Comment', Parliamentary Affairs, 16:2, pp. 159–164.
  • Trevor Smith, 'Politics, Economics, and Political Economy', Government and Opposition, 8:3, pp. 263–279.
  • __________, 'Thoughts on British Politics', Higher Education Quarterly, 30:4, pp. 462–469.
  • __________, 'Zur Verbindung von Gedanke und Tat in der britischen Politik: Der Fall Thatcher', Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen, 12:4, pp. 562–572.
  • __________, 'White Collar, Blue Collar, Dog Collar: Speculations on the emerging ecclesiastical/industrial complex', Higher Education Quarterly, 39:3, pp. 242–248.
  • __________, 'Britain Today: Crisis and Critiques', Parliamentary Affairs, 39:1, pp. 129–132.
  • __________, 'Political Science and Modern British Society', Government and Opposition, 21:4, pp. 420–436.
  • __________, 'The UGC's Research Rankings Exercise', Higher Education Quarterly, 41:4, pp. 303–316.
  • __________, 'Citizenship and the British Constitution', Parliamentary Affairs, 44:4, pp. 429–441.
  • __________, 'Post-Modern Politics and the Case for Constitutional Renewal', Political Quarterly, 65:2, pp. 128–137.
  • __________, 'Political Sleaze in Britain: Causes, Concerns and Cures', Parliamentary Affairs, 48:4, pp. 551–561.
  • __________, 'Citizenship, Community and Constitutionalism', Parliamentary Affairs, 49:2, pp. 262–272.
  • Trevor Smith and Alison Young, 'The Fixers: Elite Regeneration as a Response to Crisis Management in Modern British Government', Parliamentary Affairs, 50:2, pp. 292–306.
  • Patrick Dunleavy, Helen Margetts, Trevor Smith and Stuart Weir, 'Constitutional Reform, New Labour in Power and Public Trust in Government', Parliamentary Affairs, 54:3,, pp. 405–424.
  • Trevor Smith, 'How Citizenship got on to the Political Agenda', Parliamentary Affairs, 55:3, pp. 475–487.
  • __________, '‘Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue’: Themes of Tony Blair and his Government', Parliamentary Affairs, 56:4, pp. 580–596.

Journalistic articles

  • Trevor Smith,, OpenDemocracy, 14 October 2008.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 7 December 2008.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 9 January 2010.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 4 May 2010.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 17 December 2010.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 9 May 2011.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 23 August 2011.
  • __________,, Social Liberal Forum, 10 January 2012.
  • Trevor Smith and Naomi Smith,, OpenDemocracy, 31 January 2012.
  • Trevor Smith,, OpenDemocracy, 31 January 2012.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 6 September 2012.
  • __________,, Liberator, 351, February 2012, p. 20.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 10 February 2012.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 7 May 2012.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 15 September 2013.
  • __________,, Liberator, 366, June 2014, pp. 8–9.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 17 June 2015.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 18 July 2016.
  • __________,, Liberator, 388, January 2018, pp. 12–13.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 15 February 2018.
  • __________,, Liberator, 389, March 2018, pp. 12–13.
  • __________,, Liberator, 391, August 2018, pp. 8–10.
  • __________,, Liberator, 392, September 2018, pp. 24–25.
  • __________,, Liberator, 393, November 2018, p. 17.
  • __________,, OpenDemocracy, 15 January 2019.
  • __________,, Liberator, 402, July 2020, pp. 12–13.
  • __________,, Liberator, 405, February 2021, p. 32.