History
The competition was founded in 1954 by the journalist Kenneth Harris of The Observer newspaper, and was sponsored by the newspaper until 1995. It was then renamed the John Smith Memorial Mace in honour of the British Labour Party leader John Smith, who won the tournament as a member of the Glasgow University team in 1962, and died in 1994.
The competition has been held annually since 1954, except for 1977, when no tournament was organised. In the early years, neither Oxbridge debating society (the Oxford Union and Cambridge Union) participated. Glasgow University Union has been the most successful institution in the competition's history, winning the tournament 15 times, most recently in 1995.
In addition to John Smith, other notable former winners include Charles Kennedy, Donald Dewar, John Nicolson, Lord Hunt of Wirral and Professor Anthony Clare.
Read more about this topic: John Smith Memorial Mace
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