38 Facts About Royston Smith

Royston Smith was born on 13 May 1964 Harefield, Southampton to Frank Wilmot and Marie Cecilia Royston Smith.

Royston Smith grew up in the suburb of Bitterne Park, and attended Bitterne Park School.

Royston Smith became an engineer for the Royal Air Force in 1980, working on the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod fleet for 10 years.

Royston Smith then worked for British Airways as an aeronautical engineer at London Heathrow for 16 years.

Royston Smith owned the local bike shop Triangle Cycles in Bitterne Park from 1993 to 2003, and was the chairman of the Triangle Traders' association.

Royston Smith founded the public relations consultancy Vigilo Ltd in 2006.

Royston Smith has been a director of 3S Fire Ltd, a fire management consultancy affiliated with the HFRS since 2013.

Royston Smith joined the Conservative Party after the 1997 general election.

Royston Smith had previously voted for the single issue Eurosceptic Referendum Party.

Royston Smith was first elected as a Conservative councillor for the Harefield ward in the 2000 Southampton City Council election.

Royston Smith had previously unsuccessfully contested the council elections in 1998 as an independent candidate and in 1999 as a Conservative.

Royston Smith was a cabinet member for economic development on the council between 2007 and 2010.

Royston Smith was the leader of the council until 2012 when the Labour Party took over the council.

Royston Smith was appointed as chairman of Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service in 2009 and was re-appointed in 2014.

Royston Smith was awarded the George Medal for his actions.

Royston Smith stood as a Conservative candidate in the Southampton Itchen constituency in the 2010 general election.

Royston Smith came second in the seat, losing by 192 votes to the incumbent Labour MP John Denham.

Royston Smith was elected as MP for the constituency in the subsequent 2015 general election.

Royston Smith was re-elected in the 2017 and 2019 general elections.

Royston Smith is a member of the UK Delegation Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Royston Smith has participated in the OSCE's election monitoring activities in the United States, Italy, Hungary, Russia, and Kazakhstan.

Royston Smith sat on the Work and Pensions Select Committee between December 2016 and May 2017.

Royston Smith was a part of the Committees on Arms Export Controls between October 2017 and July 2018.

Royston Smith has been a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee since September 2017.

Royston Smith supported Brexit in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum.

Royston Smith voted for Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement on 29 March 2019.

Royston Smith made the case that Brexit-related gridlock caused by disruption at south coast ports could have a major impact on hospitals and other services.

Royston Smith believed Southampton needed tens of thousands of pounds to cope with what he described as "every eventuality" in the letter.

However, Royston Smith said that he believes that the insurers have gotten off too lightly and he had made his views known to the Secretary of State and in debates in Parliament.

In 2019, writing in The Times, Royston Smith made the case for 'levelling up' before it was adopted as Government policy.

Royston Smith associated Southampton with post-industrial towns to argue that Government Ministers should look South not just North when it comes to Government priorities in regenerating cities.

In 2018, Royston Smith met with the Minister with responsibility for coastal communities to discuss his campaign to honour the Spitfire and how Southampton could put in a bid to help fund a fitting memorial to the aircraft.

On 28 March 2017, Royston Smith held a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament calling on the Government to help fund The National Tribute to The Royal Air Force in Southampton.

In 2010, Royston Smith campaigned for Itchen College to retain government funding following government cuts, to protect Southampton's estate regeneration programme and for investment into Woolston shopping parade.

In 2011, Royston Smith was stopped by police for not wearing a seat belt and later found to have been driving an uninsured car.

Royston Smith was fined and given six points on his driving licence.

On 20 February 2016, Royston Smith was named by The Independent as Britain's least active MP out of the MPs that were newly elected in 2015.

Police looked into the matter and said Royston Smith had no case to answer.