Ruth Smeeth

Ruth Smeeth MP
Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent North
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2015
Preceded by	Joan Walley
Majority	4,836
Personal details
Born	29 June 1979 Edinburgh, Scotland
Political party	Labour
Spouse(s)	Michael Smeeth (2004–present)
Alma mater	University of Birmingham
Website	Official website

Ruth Smeeth (born 29 June 1979) is a British Labour Party politician who was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North at the 2015 general election.

Early life

Smeeth was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to an "east London Jewish girl and a rugged Scottish trade unionist", she told an interviewer in 2016. Her maternal family arrived in London during the 1890s having escaped Russian pogroms.^[1] However, she had no contact with her father after her parents divorced when she was aged three.^[2] Smeeth attended school in Bristol, where her mother was later deputy general secretary for Amicus,^[1] and in her early life travelled extensively across the UK due to her parent's trade union work.^[3]

Smeeth graduated with a degree in Politics and International Relations from the University of Birmingham in 2000.^[3] She worked in Public relations, and from January 2004 to September 2005 worked in a PR role at Sodexo, before moving to become director of public affairs and campaigns at the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) in November 2005.^[4] She later worked in PR for Nestlé.^[5] In 2010 she was appointed as director of anti-racist organisation Hope not Hate.^[3]

Smeeth describes herself as 'culturally Jewish'.^[6]

Parliamentary career

Smeeth was selected as Labour Party candidate for the Burton constituency in the 2010 general election, finishing 6,304 votes behind Andrew Griffiths of the Conservative Party.^[7]

After winning an all-women shortlist, Smeeth was selected as Labour Party candidate for the Stoke-on-Trent North constituency for the 2015 election, following the retirement of incumbent Labour MP Joan Walley.^[8]

Since becoming an MP, Smeeth has taken up the topic of holiday hunger. She was given an adjournment debate in October 2015.^[9][10] Smeeth backed Yvette Cooper in the 2015 Labour Leadership Election.^[11]

On 27 June 2016, Smeeth resigned her post as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the shadow Northern Ireland and Scotland teams, alongside others in protest at Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.^[12]

In November 2016, following the UK's vote to leave the EU the previous June, Smeeth said "I’ll be voting for us to move to Article 50. The general public, especially in Stoke-on-Trent, sent a very clear message with some parts of my constituency voting 80/20 to leave. My whole priority and focus is how we can make it work".^[13]

Accusations and abuse

On 30 June 2016, Smeeth called upon leader Jeremy Corbyn to resign after Marc Wadsworth, an activist with Momentum Black Connexions, publicly accused her of working "hand-in-hand" with the right-wing media at the launch of the Chakrabarti Report into allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party.^[14][15] Smeeth, who is Jewish, claimed that the accusation was using "traditional antisemitic slurs to attack me for being part of a 'media conspiracy'" and criticised a lack of response from Corbyn or his office.^[16][17] Wadsworth said he was unaware that Smeeth is Jewish,^[18] and refused to apologise.^[14] Jon Lansman, one of the founders of the Corbynite group Momentum, commented later in the year: "It was awful; I was shocked by it. The attack was unacceptable, disgraceful".^[19]

It emerged at the beginning of September 2016 that Smeeth has been given police protection after receiving an antisemitic and homophobic death threat on Facebook.^[20][21] Smeeth said in a BBC Radio interview on 2 September that she has received 25,000 pieces of abuse since the end of June, including 20,000 in a 12 hour period.^[22] "It’s vile, it’s disgusting and it’s done in the name of the leader of the Labour party, which makes it even worse", Smeeth said during Victoria Derbyshire's television programme. Corbyn "should be naming and shaming some of the worst perpetrators who are doing it in his name".^[23] A spokesman said: "Jeremy condemns all abuse, and no one responsible for it is a genuine supporter of Jeremy’s. He has repeatedly called for a kinder, gentler politics".^[23]

Interviewed by Charlotte Edwardes for the London Evening Standard in September 2016, she said antisemitic incidents were rare while Ed Miliband was Labour's leader, "but not like this. I’ve never seen anti-Semitism in Labour on this scale. There were one or two incidents before and the reason why they were so shocking is that there were only one or two. Now the sheer volume of it has made it normal".^[1]

References

1. Edwardes, Charlotte (20 September 2016). "Ruth Smeeth: 'I've never seen anti-Semitism in Labour like this, it's normal now'". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
2. John Woodhouse meets Stoke-on-Trent North Labour candidate Ruth Smeeth The Sentinel, 10 May 2014
3. "About Me". ruthsmeeth.org.uk. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
4. "Smeeth exits Sodexho for pro-Israel lobby group". PR Week. 9 September 2005. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
5. "Labour chooses election fighter". Uttoxeter News. 28 November 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
6. Newest Jewish MP Ruth Smeeth says victory was 'bittersweet' The Jewish Chronicle Online, Marcus Dysch, 12 May 2015]
7. "Con Gain from Lab". BBC News. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
8. James, Laura (5 April 2014). "Ruth Smeeth to replace Joan Walley as Labour Parliamentary candidate". The Sentinel. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
9. Smeeth, Ruth (16 October 2015). "For too many kids, school holidays aren't times of fun. They're times of hunger". New Statesman. Progressive Media International. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
10. Tree, Nicola (10 May 2016). "An anniversary in opposition: new female Labour MPs on their first year in Parliament". New Statesman. Progressive Media International. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
11. "Who nominated who for the 2015 Labour leadership election?". New Statesman. Progressive Media International. 15 June 2015. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
12. MP for Stoke-on-Trent North resigns from shadow cabinet post ITV News, Mon 27 June 2016
13. Walsh, Gemma (4 November 2016). "Three Stoke-on-Trent MPs react to High Court Brexit ruling". StaffsLive. Retrieved 11 November 2016.
14. Davis, Barney (1 July 2016). "Marc Wadsworth who left MP Ruth Smeeth in tears over 'anti-Semitism' refuses to apologise". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
15. Marshall, Tom (30 June 2016). "Labour MP Ruth Smeeth storms out of anti-Semitism report launch 'in tears'". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
16. Chakelian, Anoosh (30 June 2016). "Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth was reduced to tears at Labour's anti-Semitism inquiry press conference". New Statesman. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
17. Smeeth, Ruth. "Statement on today's launch of the Chakrabarti Report". Ruth Smeeth MP. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
18. McSmith, Andy (30 June 2016). "Labour activist who berated MP Ruth Smeeth says he did not know she was Jewish and denies Momentum links". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
19. Peled, Daniella (20 September 2016). "The Jewish Labour Gurus Striving to Turn Jeremy Corbyn's Reputation Around". Haaretz. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
20. Johnston, Chris (1 September 2016). "Police investigate antisemitic and homophobic online abuse targeting MP". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
21. Sugarman, Daniel (2 September 2016). "Counter-terror police protecting Jewish MP after antisemitic death threat". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
22. Hughes, Laura (2 September 2016). "Jewish Labour MP reveals she received more than 20,000 pieces of abuse in just 12 hours". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
23. Mason, Rowena. "Jewish Labour MP: Corbyn must name and shame online abusers". 2 September 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2016.