Ex-MP Baroness Smith of Basildon appointed leader of the House of Lords

Baroness Smith of Basildon has been appointed the Labour leader of the House of Lords in Sir Keir Starmer’s Cabinet.

Lady Smith, who served as Basildon’s Labour MP from 1997 to 2010, will be leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal, having previously served in the shadow cabinet with the same brief.

The Leader of the House of Lords is responsible for the organisation of government business in the House, including repeating the Prime Minister’s statements made to the Commons.

Lady Smith had lost her seat to the Conservatives in the 2010 General Election, contesting the newly-created South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency and was appointed to the House of Lords shortly after her defeat.

As an MP, Lady Smith served as a Northern Ireland minister in Tony Blair’s government.

She was also a close aide to Gordon Brown as prime minister before being appointed as Cabinet Office minister prior to the 2010 election.

Lady Smith previously stood for election as a councillor in Southend’s Westborough ward and as parliamentary candidate for Southend West in 1987, ten years before her epic win in Blair’s 1997 landslide.

In that 1997 election, Sir Teddy Taylor – the respected, much-loved sitting MP – was challenged by Labour’s Nigel Smith, then a Southend councillor and notably the husband of Lady Smith.

Albeit on revised boundaries, Sir Teddy won the 1997 election, polling 22,683 votes, 48.7 per cent of the vote. Mr Smith polled 18,458 votes, a 39.7 per cent share of the vote after leading an exceptional campaign.

Lady Smith attended Pitsea Junior School and Chalvedon Comprehensive, later Chalvedon School, in Basildon.

Alongside her appointment, Sir Keir Starmer also appointed Lucy Powell as leader of the House of Commons. Ms Powell, MP for Manchester Central, will also be Lord President of the Council.