John Smith

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John Smith (13 September 1938 – 12 May 1994) was a British politician who was Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his death in May 1994. He was also Member of Parliament (MP) for Monklands East. Smith first entered Parliament in 1970 and, following junior ministerial roles as Minister of State for Energy (1975–1976) and Minister of State for the Privy Council Office (1976–1978), he entered the Cabinet towards the end of James Callaghan's tenure as prime minister, as Secretary of State for Trade and President of the Board of Trade (1978–1979). During Labour's time in Opposition to Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, he rose through the Shadow Cabinet, as Shadow Secretary of State for Trade (1979–1982), Energy (1982–1983), Employment (1983–1984), Trade and Industry (1984–1987) and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer (1987–1992). After Labour leader Neil Kinnock resigned following the Party's surprise loss in the 1992 general election to new Conservative leader John Major, Smith was elected his successor in July 1992. He continued Kinnock's moves to reform Labour, abolishing the trade union block vote at Labour Party Conferences and replacing it with "one member, one vote" at the 1993 party conference. However, his overall cautious approach to reform, which was dubbed "one more heave", sought to avoid controversy and win the next election by capitalising on the unpopularity of the Conservative government. This frustrated Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, as well as Peter Mandelson. Following Smith's sudden death in May 1994, he was succeeded as leader by Blair, who led the party to victory at the next general election in 1997.