14 Facts About Geoffrey Johnson-Smith

Sir Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, was a British Conservative politician.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith was a Member of Parliament from 1959 to 2001, with only a brief interruption in the 1960s.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith won a seat on London County Council in 1955, representing Putney, but lost it at the 1958 election.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith was later a presenter of the BBC magazine programme Tonight in the late 1950s.

Shortly before the 1959 general election, Cliff Michelmore, Tonight's presenter, had a hernia operation and Johnson-Smith was promoted to co-host the show for six weeks.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith's profile was thus at its highest when the election was called, and on 8 October 1959 he ousted the Labour member for Holborn and St Pancras South, Lena Jeger, by 656 votes.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith successfully promoted a bill authorising councils to operate a meals-on-wheels service for the elderly and was on the fast track, within six months becoming PPS to ministers at the Board of Trade; in 1962 he moved to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith briefly returned to television, freelancing for the BBC and Rediffusion's religious programmes.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith was never in the running for the top job, despite his popularity among Conservative ladies, and in April 1971 he instead became Under-Secretary for Defense for the Army with special responsibility for the Ulster Defense Regiment.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith, who was later to launch a successful campaign on behalf of haemophiliacs who had been given infected blood, fought a long battle to curb the Church of Scientology.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith fought a skilful media campaign, but could not prevent Heath losing.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith served on the Board of Governors of the British Film Institute in the 1980s.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith was knighted in 1982 and sworn of the Privy Council in 1996.

Geoffrey Johnson-Smith died in Sussex on 11 August 2010, aged 86.