03-15-2020, 04:27 AM
Name: Grant Smith
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White British
Sexuality: Straight
Avatar: Paul Lieberstein
Discord Username: Gianni#0968
Education: University of Leeds, Masters in Management
Career: Regional Sales Manager for a Paper and Stationery Company
Party: Liberal Democrat
Constituency: Leeds North West
Parliamentary Career: Lib Dem MP for Leeds NW, 2005-now; Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 2007-2010; member of the International Development Select Committee 2010-2015; active in various APPGs 2005-2015
Traits (Select two positive and one negative):
Media Unknown
Constituency Appeal
Campaign Organiser
Elected in 2005, Grant Smith never intended, nor was expected, to end up as leader of the Liberal Democrats. Before standing, he was best known for being a prolific force within APPGs. He is seen as an effective, diligent and levelheaded advocate when it comes to his passions, an eclectic array of issues that are rarely politically charged from a party political standpoint and Grant often regards as neglected in mainstream political discourse. A strong believer in human rights, Grant has led campaigns on stateless individuals, international civil society, the rights of women and girls, and supporting the development of international polluter-pays laws, as well as being a passionate advocate of removing trade obstacles faced by the developing world, supporting refugee populations, and causes such as Kurdish sovereignty. He is seen by many medical and social charities as a reliable voice in Parliament and a keen volunteer for APPG grunt work, recognised by industries such as the digital and creative sectors as an astute ally, and known for supporting campaigns backing heterodox initiatives such as UBI and land value tax.
So Grant Smith is, for all his virtues, not natural leadership material. He was never known as someone interested in climbing the greasy pole, instead preferring to use his Parliamentary perch to lobby for forgotten causes and bring attention to low-key issues and bold new ideas. He was also never known as a particularly partisan guy - he often struggled with message discipline, culminating in David Laws telling him to step away from the national media after his prediction of a single digit seat result for the party garnered negative press in the 2015 campaign.
When it comes to front-line politics, the perception of his abilities is mediocre at best. He is not the most exciting speaker or the most adept strategic mind, and though he has a talent for the nuts and bolts of organisation, he has utterly failed to create any media profile of note. Smith’s decision to run was simple: out of all of the Lib Dem MPs willing to run, he was widely viewed as the least toxic, with no contentious beliefs to worry about and a couple of rebellions against the coalition (namely on tuition fees and the bedroom tax) to help distance himself from the Clegg years.
Indeed, Smith’s relative anonymity has been the subject of much mirth around Westminster. One apocryphal story is that, for the first year of his leadership, Nick Clegg mistook Smith’s researcher as being the MP, thinking that the quieter and more reclusive Smith was the researcher. What is true is that the 2015 general election result was an odd count in Leeds. Smith was fully expecting to lose, expecting his own seat to be one of the first to be swept away in what he saw as the inevitable massacre. He had prepared a job for after he lost, booked holidays that he had to swiftly cancel, and had to amend his concession speech into a victory speech at the count. Smith is a much-admired constituency MP, however, and that allowed him to overperform sufficiently to retain his seat.
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White British
Sexuality: Straight
Avatar: Paul Lieberstein
Discord Username: Gianni#0968
Education: University of Leeds, Masters in Management
Career: Regional Sales Manager for a Paper and Stationery Company
Party: Liberal Democrat
Constituency: Leeds North West
Parliamentary Career: Lib Dem MP for Leeds NW, 2005-now; Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, 2007-2010; member of the International Development Select Committee 2010-2015; active in various APPGs 2005-2015
Traits (Select two positive and one negative):
Media Unknown
Constituency Appeal
Campaign Organiser
Elected in 2005, Grant Smith never intended, nor was expected, to end up as leader of the Liberal Democrats. Before standing, he was best known for being a prolific force within APPGs. He is seen as an effective, diligent and levelheaded advocate when it comes to his passions, an eclectic array of issues that are rarely politically charged from a party political standpoint and Grant often regards as neglected in mainstream political discourse. A strong believer in human rights, Grant has led campaigns on stateless individuals, international civil society, the rights of women and girls, and supporting the development of international polluter-pays laws, as well as being a passionate advocate of removing trade obstacles faced by the developing world, supporting refugee populations, and causes such as Kurdish sovereignty. He is seen by many medical and social charities as a reliable voice in Parliament and a keen volunteer for APPG grunt work, recognised by industries such as the digital and creative sectors as an astute ally, and known for supporting campaigns backing heterodox initiatives such as UBI and land value tax.
So Grant Smith is, for all his virtues, not natural leadership material. He was never known as someone interested in climbing the greasy pole, instead preferring to use his Parliamentary perch to lobby for forgotten causes and bring attention to low-key issues and bold new ideas. He was also never known as a particularly partisan guy - he often struggled with message discipline, culminating in David Laws telling him to step away from the national media after his prediction of a single digit seat result for the party garnered negative press in the 2015 campaign.
When it comes to front-line politics, the perception of his abilities is mediocre at best. He is not the most exciting speaker or the most adept strategic mind, and though he has a talent for the nuts and bolts of organisation, he has utterly failed to create any media profile of note. Smith’s decision to run was simple: out of all of the Lib Dem MPs willing to run, he was widely viewed as the least toxic, with no contentious beliefs to worry about and a couple of rebellions against the coalition (namely on tuition fees and the bedroom tax) to help distance himself from the Clegg years.
Indeed, Smith’s relative anonymity has been the subject of much mirth around Westminster. One apocryphal story is that, for the first year of his leadership, Nick Clegg mistook Smith’s researcher as being the MP, thinking that the quieter and more reclusive Smith was the researcher. What is true is that the 2015 general election result was an odd count in Leeds. Smith was fully expecting to lose, expecting his own seat to be one of the first to be swept away in what he saw as the inevitable massacre. He had prepared a job for after he lost, booked holidays that he had to swiftly cancel, and had to amend his concession speech into a victory speech at the count. Smith is a much-admired constituency MP, however, and that allowed him to overperform sufficiently to retain his seat.
Grant Smith
Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West (2005-present)
Media Unknown, Constituency Appeal, Campaign Organiser, Fundraiser Extraordinaire
Previously: Sir Lachlan Domnhall Coinneach Duncan MacMahon; Graham Adiputera; I think I played some dull Labour bloke at one point
Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West (2005-present)
Media Unknown, Constituency Appeal, Campaign Organiser, Fundraiser Extraordinaire
Previously: Sir Lachlan Domnhall Coinneach Duncan MacMahon; Graham Adiputera; I think I played some dull Labour bloke at one point