1. Sir Alexander Lockwood Smith was born on 13 November 1948 and is a New Zealand politician and diplomat who was High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2017 and Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2013.
Lockwood Smith represented the Kaipara and Rodney electorates and was briefly a list MP.
Lockwood Smith has a PhD in Animal science from the University of Adelaide.
Lockwood Smith was first elected in 1984 as the MP for Kaipara.
Lockwood Smith represented this electorate until it was abolished in 1996 during the shift to mixed-member proportional representation.
Lockwood Smith served as Minister of Education from 1990 until 1996 in the Fourth National Government of New Zealand.
In 1996 Lockwood Smith took up the Agriculture and Trade Negotiation portfolios: Wyatt Creech succeeded him as Education Minister.
Lockwood Smith became Minister for International Trade and for Tourism, as well as holding responsibilities as Associate Minister of Finance, Associate Minister of Immigration, and Minister Responsible for Contact Energy Ltd.
In opposition, Lockwood Smith held a number of spokesperson roles for the National Party, including those of Foreign Affairs, Commerce, and Immigration.
Lockwood Smith later stated that the media had presented his comments out of context, and that he had repeated the views of employers whom he had talked to; he expressed regret at any unintended offence taken.
Lockwood Smith took a rather different approach from his predecessor, being more active in requiring ministers to provide answers to oral questions.
Lockwood Smith was re-elected as Speaker of the House again on 20 December 2011.
Lockwood Smith was expected to retire from Parliament and to be appointed High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom later in 2012, but stayed on until February 2013.
Lockwood Smith gave his valedictory speech on 13 February 2013; this was in fact his first speech in Parliament in four years, as Speakers perform an apolitical role.
Lockwood Smith was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services as a Member of Parliament and as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Lockwood Smith began his term as High Commissioner of New Zealand to the United Kingdom on 25 March 2013, with a powhiri at New Zealand House in London.
Lockwood Smith stepped down from the role on 25 March 2017.
Lockwood Smith was replaced by Sir Jerry Mateparae, the former Governor-General.