Member of Parliament
Smith first stood as a Labour parliamentary candidate at a by-election in 1961 in the East Fife constituency, and contested that seat again in the 1964 general election. At the 1970 general election he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Lanarkshire succeeding Peggy Herbison. Smith defied the Labour whips in 1971, joining the Labour MPs who, led by Roy Jenkins, voted in favour of entry to the European Economic Community. These included Roy Hattersley, Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers and David Owen all of whom he was later to sit with in the Callaghan cabinet.
Read more about this topic: John Smith (Labour Party Leader)
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