Owen Smith

Owen Smith
Official portrait, 2017
Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office
14 June 2017 – 23 March 2018
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byDavid Anderson
Succeeded byTony Lloyd
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office
14 September 2015 – 27 June 2016
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byStephen Timms (acting)
Succeeded byDebbie Abrahams
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
In office
15 May 2012 – 14 September 2015
LeaderEd Miliband
Harriet Harman
Preceded byPeter Hain
Succeeded byNia Griffith
Shadow Minister for Wales
In office
25 September 2010 – 15 May 2012
LeaderEd Miliband
Preceded byWayne David
Succeeded byNia Griffith
Member of Parliament
for Pontypridd
In office
6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byKim Howells
Succeeded byAlex Davies-Jones
Personal details
Born (1970-05-02) 2 May 1970 (age 54)
Morecambe, Lancashire, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Elizabeth Wood
(m. 1995)
[1]
Alma materUniversity of Sussex
WebsiteOfficial website

Owen Smith (born 2 May 1970)[2] is a British lobbyist and former Labour Party politician. Smith was Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontypridd from 2010 to 2019.

After graduating from the University of Sussex, Smith worked as a radio and television producer for the BBC for a decade, then as a special adviser for Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy, and as a political lobbyist for Pfizer and Amgen before being elected to the House of Commons. Smith went on to serve as Shadow Welsh Secretary under Ed Miliband from 2012 until 2015, and then as Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary under Jeremy Corbyn from 2015 until he resigned in June 2016.

On 13 July 2016, he contested the leadership of the Labour Party and was defeated. After the 2017 general election, Corbyn appointed Smith as Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Corbyn sacked him from the Labour frontbench in March 2018 after he publicly called for a referendum on the final Brexit deal, a position that was against Labour policy of the time. Smith did not stand for reelection in 2019.

In 2020, after leaving Parliament, he resumed his lobbying career when he joined pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb as their UK government relations director, eventually being promoted to Vice President and General Manager of their Australia and New Zealand division in 2024.

  1. ^ Nelson, Nigel (23 July 2016). "How Owen Smith's mining family background propelled him to become Labour leadership candidate". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 26 July 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016. he fell in love with Liz Wood
  2. ^ Criddle, Cristina (13 July 2016). "Who is Owen Smith? Meet the other Labour MP who is challenging Corbyn for the leadership". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 13 July 2016.