Henry Smith

Henry Smith finally won the right to call himself MP for Crawley in 2010, having failed to win the seat for the previous two general elections. Smith has been a member of the International Development Committee and the Committee on Arms Export Controls. Smith is a eurosceptic: before the 2016 referendum, he had to ward off speculation that he might defect to UKIP. His anti-EU stance led him to write a letter of no-confidence in Theresa May after the draft withdrawal agreement was released in November 2018. He later supported Boris Johnson in his leadership campaign, noting that “I have not asked for and do not expect a job” in Johnson’s cabinet in return for his support. Smith is a passionate supporter of animal rights, co-chairing the APPG on animal welfare. In 2015, he led the Commons debate on CCTV in slaughterhouses and has called for an end to live exports of animals for slaughter. A rail commuter himself and the chair of the APPG on Southern Rail, he called for better rail services while also criticising unions for rail strikes that have caused “misery to the traveling public.”