Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin

The Right Honourable
The Lord Smith of Kelvin
KT CH FRSGS
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
29 May 2008
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Robert Haldane Smith

(1944-08-08) 8 August 1944 (age 79)
Glasgow, Scotland
Political partyCrossbench
Spouse
Alison Marjorie Bell
​
​
(m. 1969)​
[1]
Children2
OccupationBusinessman, parliamentarian

Robert Haldane Smith, Baron Smith of Kelvin, KT, CH, FRSGS (born 8 August 1944) is a British businessman and former Governor of the British Broadcasting Corporation.[2] Smith was knighted in 1999, appointed to the House of Lords as an independent crossbench peer in 2008, and appointed Knight of the Thistle in the 2014 New Year Honours.[3] He was also appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour in 2016.

Lord Smith of Kelvin serves as Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde[4] and Chair of the British Business Bank. He is Chairman of IMI plc, Scottish Enterprise[5] and Forth Ports Limited.

On 19 September 2014, he was appointed as Chair of the newly formed Scotland Devolution Commission by Prime Minister David Cameron, following the "No" result in the Scottish independence referendum; his role being to oversee devolution commitments spelt out by the Westminster parliamentary leaders, with initial proposals drawn up by November 2014.[6]

  1. ^ "Court of the Lord Lyon". lyon-court.com. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Contact information for Lord Smith of Kelvin - MPs and Lords". UK Parliament. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Lord Smith of Kelvin". The Smith Commission. Archived from the original on 5 December 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
  4. ^ "Chancellor". University of Strathclyde. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014.
  5. ^ "Lord Smith of Kelvin appointed Scottish Enterprise chairman". BBC News. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Scottish Independence Referendum: statement by the Prime Minister". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 September 2014.