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Eleanor Smith (politician)

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Former Labour MP

Eleanor Smith
Official portrait, 2017
Member of Parliament
for Wolverhampton South West
In office
8 June 2017 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byRob Marris
Succeeded byStuart Anderson
President of Unison
In office
24 June 2011 – 22 June 2012
General SecretaryDave Prentis
Vice PresidentChris Tansley
Maureen Le Marinel
Preceded byAngela Lynes
Succeeded byChris Tansley
Vice President of Unison
In office
8 July 2009 – 24 June 2011Serving with Angela Lynes and Chris Tansley
General SecretaryDave Prentis
PresidentGerry Gallagher
Angela Lynes
Preceded byGerry Gallagher
Succeeded byMaureen Le Marinel
Personal details
Born (1957-07-05) 5 July 1957 (age 67)
Birmingham, England
Political partyLabour

Eleanor Patricia Smith (born 5 July 1957) is a British Labour politician and trade unionist who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South West from 2017 to 2019. She served as the President of the trade union Unison from 2011 to 2012, and the Vice President from 2009 to 2011.

Early career

Smith started training to be a nurse in 1977, and worked as theatre nurse from 1984–2017 at Birmingham Women's NHS Foundation Trust.

Smith was elected to serve as the first black woman President, from 2011 to 2012, and Vice President, from 2009 to 2011, of the trade union Unison. She later became the regional council chair of Trades Union Congress Midlands.

Parliamentary career

Smith was elected as the MP for Wolverhampton South West at the 2017 general election, succeeding outgoing Labour MP Rob Marris with an increased majority. She credited her victory to backing from Unison and Momentum activists rather than her Constituency Labour Party, who she said made her feel like "cannon fodder".

Smith was the first British African-Caribbean person to represent a constituency in the West Midlands in the House of Commons, in a seat that was held for more than two decades by Enoch Powell (but had also been held by Paul Uppal, a British Indian).

Smith was a member of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. She was also the Co-chair of two All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs): one on obesity, and the other on adult social care.

Smith commissioned an outside agency to produce a review into BAME blood, organ and stem cell donation. The review suggested some actions for the Government to take to increase the number of BAME donations. This led to the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care) Jackie Doyle-Price agreeing to meet Smith.

At the 2019 election, Smith lost her seat to the Conservative Party candidate, Stuart Anderson.

Voting record

Smith never rebelled against her party whip on any vote in Parliament. While her constituency voted to leave the European Union, she generally voted for more EU integration, and consistently voted against reducing central government funding of local government.

Black Country flag controversy

The flag of the Black Country

Shortly after her election to the House of Commons, Smith was reported to have criticised the design of the flag of the Black Country because of the association of locally-made chains with the slave trade, and to have suggested that the design of the flag be changed. On Twitter, she denied calling the flag racist or calling for it to be banned, and in her Commons maiden speech, said that her comments "had been taken out of proportion", and that she had received "many abusive messages" over the issue. The flag had previously been described as "offensive and insensitive" in 2015 by Wolverhampton-born, London-based activist Patrick Vernon, who claimed that its chains were a "disturbing" image of an industry that profited from the transatlantic slave trade and colonial rule in Africa.

In 2018, a UK Independence Party supporter from Castlecroft (an area in Smith's constituency) was given a nine-week suspended prison sentence for sending racist and threatening emails to several MPs, including Smith, in which he told her to be put on "the first banana boat" to "the jungle clearing you came from". Both the prosecution and defence cited Smith's reported comments about the flag as having motivated the abusive emails.

Post-parliamentary life

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith participated in a round-table event involving church leaders in Birmingham in response to comments the previous week saying uptake of the vaccine in some of the city's most vulnerable communities was as low as 50%. She said as a Christian, she would like to see strong interventions from church leaders, "When people are being misinformed on such a grand scale, churches need to step up. I am a Christian myself and I think they need to be clear. In my view they need to tell people it's OK to be vaccinated or it's a bit of a cop out". She also praised efforts in other faith communities, adding, "Many imams seem to be doing a good job in trying to get these messages out, we need to see the same".

Smith said official efforts to dispel myths and reassure people needed to be stepped-up, "Historically black people have not always been listened to, or treated equally in terms of medical care, so there is a lack of trust sometimes. We need to deal with it and we need role models within the community".

Personal life

Smith's parents arrived in Great Britain from Barbados in 1954 as part of the Windrush generation. Smith is a Christian.

References

  1. "Members' Names Data Platform query". UK Parliament. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11779.
  3. ^ Smith, Eleanor. "About – Eleanor Smith MP". The Labour Party. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  4. Unison (24 June 2011). "Congratulations to Eleanor Smith, first #UNISON black president. She will be a great leader for our union" (Tweet). Retrieved 28 July 2021 – via Twitter.
  5. "New presidential team elected". UNISON National. 22 June 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  6. "First black nurse elected vice-president of UNISON". Nursing Times. 9 July 2009. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  7. "Five Nurses take seats in the House of Commons". NursingNotes. 13 June 2017. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  8. "Unison union elects first black woman president". BBC News. 28 June 2011. Archived from the original on 21 January 2018. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  9. "TUC General Council members: Eleanor Smith – UNISON". tuc.org.uk. Trades Union Congress. Archived from the original on 19 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  10. "Election 2017: Wolverhampton South West". BBC News. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  11. Banner, David (5 June 2017). "Wolverhampton South West General Election profile: Will tables be turned in city seat?". Express & Star. Archived from the original on 5 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  12. Madeley, Peter (1 February 2018). "Eleanor Smith: City Labour group failed to back me – I only won because of Union and Momentum | Express & Star". Express & Star. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  13. Espinoza, Javier (11 June 2017). "UK general election delivers most diverse parliament in history". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 29 July 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  14. "About the Group – All-Party Parliamentary Group on Obesity". Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  15. "All-Party Parliamentary Group on Adult Social Care". Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  16. "Eleanor Smith MP: BAME patients will continue to die unless organ donation is normalised". PoliticsHome. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  17. "Wolverhampton South West parliamentary constituency – Election 2019". Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  18. "Voting Record – Eleanor Smith MP, Wolverhampton South West (25631)". The Public Whip. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Eleanor Smith, former MP, Wolverhampton South West". TheyWorkForYou. Archived from the original on 24 December 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  20. Madeley, Peter (15 July 2017). "Black Country flag is 'racist' and should be scrapped says Wolverhampton MP Eleanor Smith". Express & Star. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  21. Wright, Paul (15 July 2017). "Labour MP calls for popular Black Country flag to be scrapped because it's 'racist'". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  22. "MP Eleanor Smith denies calling Black Country flag racist". BBC News. 17 July 2017. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  23. Madeley, Peter (19 July 2017). "Black Country flag row: Wolverhampton MP Eleanor Smith defends stance in Commons". Express & Star. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  24. "Black Country flag row: Thousands join backlash over 'offensive' label". Express & Star. Wolverhampton. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  25. ^ "Man given suspended sentence over racist emails to MPs". The Guardian. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  26. ^ Madeley, Peter (22 January 2021). "Mistrust of the NHS leading to black people refusing Covid jab, former MP says". Express & Star. Wolverhampton.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byRob Marris Member of Parliament
for Wolverhampton South West
2017–2019 		Succeeded byStuart Anderson
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