Royston Smith (politician)

Early life and education

Smith was born in Harefield, Southampton, a council estate in Southampton and attended Bitterne Park Secondary School.

Career

Smith served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) for ten years, flying as a ground and flight engineer in Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft. He subsequently worked for British Airways for 16 years as an aeronautical engineer. Smith owned Bitterne Park Triangle Cycles between 1993-2003 and served as the Chairman of the Triangle Traders’ Association.

2011 HMS Astute shooting

In April 2011, Smith conducted a civic tour of the submarine HMS Astute as leader of Southampton City Council when a sailor ran amok and started shooting, killing an officer. Smith tackled the gunman and brought him down so that he could be restrained and disarmed.

"We were in the control room when someone entered and there was an exchange of words. He [the gunman] stepped out with another man and two shots were fired and then he entered the control room again and began shooting again... He had a magazine with 30 rounds in it so I took the view that someone had to stop him. I pushed him against the wall and we wrestled, then I pushed him into another wall which resulted in him going to the ground and I managed to get the weapon from him and threw it aside under a table. I shouted for someone to help as I held him down and my chief executive was the first to come, and he did a remarkable job of restraining him".

For this act of bravery, he was awarded the George Medal by the Queen.

Political career

Royston Smith represented Harefield Ward on Southampton City Council from 2000-2016. Serving as leader of Southampton City Council between 2010-2012.

He first contested Southampton, Itchen at the 2010 general election, being defeated by Labour's John Denham by only 192 votes. Smith was subsequently elected at the 2015 general election with a majority of 2,316 votes.

On 20 February 2016 Smith was named as the least active of the members of parliament first elected in 2015 by The Independent, making only five speeches and asking two questions, in contrast to the most active, Louise Haigh, who asked 471 questions and made 90 speeches. Smith defended his record by stating that his constituency is "challenging"

Following the deal secured by Prime Minister David Cameron and the announcement of the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, 2016 Royston Smith endorsed a vote to leave the European Union