The Greatness and Tragedy of Trevor Smith, Shaper of the Centre‐Left

Abstract

AbstractTrevor Smith, who died in April 2021, was an exemplary public servant: a Liberal Democrat peer, university vice‐chancellor, professor of public administration and President of the Political Studies Association. Perhaps his most important legacy was as Chair of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust from 1987 to 1999 when he ‘did much to shape the agenda of centre‐left politics’ across Britain, to quote from a grudging obituary in the Times on 29 April. His shaping influence included strategic support for the Scottish Constitutional Convention, Charter 88 and the New Statesman (which was saved from bankruptcy). Born in Hackney in 1937, Trevor left Chiswick Poly aged 16 and worked part‐time to fund his taking the A levels that got him into the London School of Economics. In 1959, he ran for Parliament at the young age of 22, but did so as a Liberal when the party was at its nadir—a loyalty that ensured he never entered the House of Commons. Instead, after a position at Hull he joined the social sciences faculty at Queen Mary and became a professor there in 1983, then a vice‐principal, before becoming Vice‐Chancellor of Ulster University from 1992 to 2000. Made a peer in 1997, he was Liberal Democrat spokesman for Northern Ireland in the House of Lords from 2000 until 2011. On 27 October 2021, a memorial meeting was held to honour him in the Reform Club. The remarks that follow are an extended version of the speech I gave at it, one of number of personal reflections on Trevor’s life and influence.