Lord Smith of Clifton: Liberal peer who helped shape the British political agenda in the 1990s

As chairman of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, Trevor Smith did as much as anyone to place constitutional reform at the centre of the British political agenda in the 1990s. Having failed the 11-plus he ended his career as a university vice-chancellor, chairman of the trust and an active member of the House of Lords.

Smith once half-jokingly said that he was too much the professor to succeed in party politics, and too much the politico to succeed as an academic. True. But it was equally valid to claim that the ability to transfer his skills as a politician and scholar was the secret of his effectiveness in both spheres.

Smith did not shine at secondary school, which he left at 16. His father had been an award-winning hairstylist before the war and, after 1945, a shopkeeper in east London. The young Smith worked as a clerk in an insurance company, studied at night school and managed to gain a place at UCL. He finally graduated with an economics degree from the LSE in 1958. There followed short spells as a teacher, temporary lecturer at Exeter University, and as a researcher with the Acton Society Trust. He co-authored (with Tony Rees) a pioneering study of local councillors and chief executives in Barking, Essex. The study of the subjects’ recruitment, motives and roles was published in 1964, and much praised.

In 1962 Smith was appointed to an assistant lectureship in politics at Hull. Newly married, he flourished in a lively if small department. His wit, irreverence and charm, all expressed in his teaching and writing, made him immensely popular with students arid colleagues. It was at this time that he came to love the north and Yorkshire in particular.

In 1967 he joined as a politics lecturer at Queen Mary College (QMC), in east London. After the interview, he returned to Hull and complained to all and sundry about the brevity of the reference from his head of department. “Seven bloody lines for seven bloody years.’’ On one such occasion, he sensed embarrassment among his listeners and turned round to find himself face to face with the same head of department. Five years later he became head of the newly created politics department at QMC. He also served as dean of social studies between 1979 and 1982.

He was also active as a director of the Rowntree Reform Trust and sympathised with its support for radical causes. One of his first tasks in the early 1970s was to act as an assessor for the first Rowntree Fellows to provide research support to opposition frontbenchers. Roy Jenkins appointed a Wykehamist as his assistant. Smith whispered to James Callaghan that, given his patrician style, Jenkins had made a bad choice. Callaghan was about to prefer an Oxford candidate over one from UMIST. Smith dissuaded Callaghan, but not before an impressed Callaghan tried to recruit him. “Wrong party, not enough money,” was the reply. The fellowship scheme was so successful that it was eventually replaced by the so-called “short money”, named after the then Leader of the House, Edward Short.

All these activities had a cost in time for Smith’s research. He continued to write on the role of business in politics and published a book, Anti-Politics, which explored the relations between ideas and practice in British politics. But it was not enough to gain him a personal chair. This failure to be recognised for his commitment and contributions to QMC bothered him greatly. Finally, however, in 1983, he became the first professor of politics at QMC.

Smith then served as pro-principal and then senior vice-principal at QMC. He played an active role in bringing about QMC’s merger with Westfield College, as well as the Bart’s Royal London QMC pre-medical school merger. At this time he was also a director of New Society magazine and promoted its merger with The New Statesman. He was chairman of the New Statesman and Nation board in 1990. Friends regarded him as a “merger maniac”.

Smith was a lifelong Liberal. He fought Lewisham West in the 1959 general election and was chair of the (national) Union of Liberal Students. But his main contribution to the party and its causes was through his role at the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, particularly when he was its inventive and influential chairman between 1987 and 1999. The trust was the main source of funds for the advocates of constitutional reform, such as the Scottish Constitutional Convention, Charter 88, and the “Yes” campaigns in the Welsh and Northern Ireland referendums.

In Northern Ireland, the trust financially backed the centre parties in the first Assembly elections in 1999. It also provided substantial backing to the Liberal Democrats, at well as to pro-EU Tories. In the 1990s the Rowntree contributions to the political parties were as large as the combined political donations of the 10 largest companies to the Conservative Party. The Centre for Democratic Audit at Essex University and the regular MORI State of the Nation polls were also his brainchildren.

In politics Smith supported the side of dissent, usually but was not always centre-left. As a young man he was anti-establishment and he used his wit and gift for mimicry to undermine authority figures. It was therefore ironic that he enjoyed the House of Lords so much and that he enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle in later life. “Dress right, think left” was his rejoinder to those who thought that he had abandoned his earlier principles. It was fitting that at the Rowntree Trust he regularly backed lone mavericks; he was one himself.

Smith’s ability to mix with most sorts, his gregariousness, and the repartee made him the centre of attention in any gathering. But behind his personal kindness and wit (including a never-ending supply of blue jokes) there was a toughness. He was exasperated when things were not done as he wanted and on time. He was also quick to decide which staff could be relied upon and those who were “bloody useless”.

In 1991 Smith became vice-chancellor of The University of Ulster. With some 20,000 students spread over four campuses, this was the largest university in Ireland. It needed and received strong leadership. His directness could confound come senior colleagues. He modernised the degree structure and remodelled departments into schools. Perhaps most significant was his personal promotion of the Peaceline Campus in Belfast, between the Falls and the Shankill, the site of which was opened by prime minister Tony Blair and President Clinton. A further coup was President Clinton’s acceptance of an honorary degree from the university. Smith was a persuasive public voice for the province and served as president of Belfast Civic Trust.

In spite of diabetes and a stroke, he was still enthusiastic about his many interests. But, aged 62, he decided that he had had enough of the pressures on universities. The House of Lords and the attractions of resettling in York became increasingly appealing.

Awarded a life peerage in 1999, Smith was very active in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Northern Ireland. He strongly supported Chris Patten’s report on reorganising the Royal Ulster Constabulary and served on a number of committees, notably the EU Law and Institutions Scrutiny Committee, and an enquiry into complementary medicine. In 2001 he chaired the high-profile enquiry into animal rights. For this, he received police protection.

Smith was, above all, good fun. A friend congratulated him the day he was elevated to the Lords and asked how he intended to celebrate. “Lay siege to Lady Smith,” was the instant response.

He retired from the Lords in 2019. He is survived by his second wife Julia and their daughter Naomi and two sons, Adam and Gideon, from his first marriage to Brenda Eustace.

Trevor Smith, politician, academic and lord, was born on 14 June 1937 and died on 24 April 2021