Eleanor Smith (politician)


Eleanor Patricia Smith is a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West from 2017 to 2019.

Early career

Smith started training to be a nurse in 1977, and worked as theatre nurse from 1984–2017 at Birmingham Women's NHS Foundation Trust. In 2011, Smith was elected the first black president of the trade union Unison and later served as regional council chair of TUC Midlands.

Parliamentary career

Smith won the Wolverhampton South West seat in 2017 with a majority of 2,185, an increased majority on that of her predecessor Rob Marris. She credited her victory to backing from Unison and Momentum activists rather than her Constituency Labour Party, who she said made her feel like "cannon fodder".
Smith was the first British African-Caribbean person to represent a constituency in the West Midlands in the House of Commons.
Smith was a member of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee. She was also the Co-chair of two All-Party Parliamentary Groups : one on obesity, and the other on adult social care.
Smith commissioned an outside agency to produce a review into BAME blood, organ and stem cell donation. The review suggested some actions for the Government to take to increase the number of BAME donations. This led to the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary Jackie Doyle-Price agreeing to meet Smith.
At the 2019 election, Smith lost her seat to the Conservative Party candidate, Stuart Anderson.

Black Country flag controversy

Shortly after her election to the House of Commons, Smith was reported to have criticised the design of the flag of the Black Country because of the association of chains with the slave trade, and to have suggested that the design of the flag be changed. On Twitter, she denied calling the flag racist or calling for it to be banned, and in her Commons maiden speech, said that her comments "had been taken out of proportion", and that she had received "many abusive messages" over the issue. The flag had previously been described as "offensive and insensitive" in 2015 by Wolverhampton-born anti-racism campaigner and historian Patrick Vernon, who said its chains were a "disturbing" image of an industry that profited from the transatlantic slave trade and colonial rule in Africa.
In 2018, a United Kingdom Independence Party supporter from Castlecroft was given a nine-week suspended prison sentence for sending racist and threatening emails to several MPs, including Smith, in which he told her to be put on "the first banana boat" to "the jungle clearing you came from". Both the prosecution and defence cited Smith's reported comments about the flag as having motivated the abusive emails.
In July 2020, against the backdrop of the George Floyd protests, West Midlands Fire Service pre-emptively denied permission to local fire stations to fly the Black Country flag on Black Country Day "until we have a clear understanding of the meaning of the chains " due to the potential link to slavery.

Political positions

Smith never rebelled against her party whip on any vote in Parliament. She generally voted for more EU integration, and consistently voted against reducing central government funding of local government.

Personal life

Smith's parents arrived in Great Britain from Barbados in 1954 as part of the Windrush generation.