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| Owen Smith: who is the man challenging Corbyn as Labour leader? | Owen Smith: who is the man challenging Corbyn as Labour leader? |
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| Even the most ardent supporters of Owen Smith’s campaign for the Labour leadership concede he is not a household name. | Even the most ardent supporters of Owen Smith’s campaign for the Labour leadership concede he is not a household name. |
| But when it became clear that the 46-year-old former BBC producer had elbowed the more senior challenger, Angela Eagle, out of the race against Jeremy Corbyn this week, the excitement among MPs drinking on the House of Commons terrace was palpable. | But when it became clear that the 46-year-old former BBC producer had elbowed the more senior challenger, Angela Eagle, out of the race against Jeremy Corbyn this week, the excitement among MPs drinking on the House of Commons terrace was palpable. |
| “No one knows who he is but they will have ample chance to get to know him over the coming weeks. It is an advantage,” said Jenny Chapman, a friend and fellow member of the 2010 intake of Labour MPs. | |
| “They will see Owen throws himself 100% into everything he is doing. He is going to eat, sleep, breathe this and we deserve nothing less from a leader.” | |
| He may have a long way to go to win the backing of Labour members, but MPs believe Smith is currently their best hope of getting rid of the leader they are desperate to depose. | He may have a long way to go to win the backing of Labour members, but MPs believe Smith is currently their best hope of getting rid of the leader they are desperate to depose. |
| His pitch is to be the soft-left “heir to Corbyn” who would hand his predecessor a presidential role and pledge to keep the party anchored against austerity, while promising to have greater appeal to the wider electorate. | His pitch is to be the soft-left “heir to Corbyn” who would hand his predecessor a presidential role and pledge to keep the party anchored against austerity, while promising to have greater appeal to the wider electorate. |
| But to his detractors who are loyal to Corbyn, Smith is everything that was wrong with politics – from the New Labour model of spin and winning at all costs. They say the former special adviser and lobbyist would undo all the new leader’s work to return the party to a pre-Blair era. | But to his detractors who are loyal to Corbyn, Smith is everything that was wrong with politics – from the New Labour model of spin and winning at all costs. They say the former special adviser and lobbyist would undo all the new leader’s work to return the party to a pre-Blair era. |
| Smith has been MP for Pontypridd in Wales for just six years, but it had been clear to many of his colleagues for some time that he had serious ambitions to lead the party. | |
| He was first named as a possible outside candidate for the leadership after the general election in May last year, but he rebuffed those urging him to stand, believing it was not yet his moment. | |
| Asked by the Guardian last November about his future plans, Smith said he was “flattered and surprised” to be tipped, before giving an open answer to the question of whether he would like the top job one day. | Asked by the Guardian last November about his future plans, Smith said he was “flattered and surprised” to be tipped, before giving an open answer to the question of whether he would like the top job one day. |
| “All of us should want to achieve our maximum potential as politicians. I’m in politics to try to change the world for the better, starting with the town where I grew up and I now represent,” he said. | |
| “I want to be a force for good in the world. Therefore, you need to achieve power. Nye Bevan, my great hero, said it’s all about achieving and exercising power. I’ve devoted my life to that.” | |
| This close identification of himself with Bevan is key to understanding Smith’s thinking, according to Nick Thomas-Symonds, an MP in the neighbouring Welsh constituency of Torfaen, who has written a biography of the Attlee government health minister. | |
| “Owen was always one destined for the top, in my view,” Thomas-Symonds said. | |
| “He was someone who had a very clear sense of what he wanted to achieve … it is an application of socialist principles to government. | |
| “That was also the key about Bevan. You look at the painstaking negotiations for the creation of the NHS – pursuing an ultimate goal and seeing the practical route towards it.” | |
| Related: Corbyn holds out 'hand of friendship' to opponents - as it happened | Related: Corbyn holds out 'hand of friendship' to opponents - as it happened |
| People who have worked for and with Smith say he is much the same in private as he is in public: straightforward, fluent and determined. | |
| He was mocked this week for claiming to be a “Duracell bunny”, shortly after answering a question about having no need for Viagra. But colleagues say the most noticeable thing about him is boundless energy, with him often working 17- or 18-hour days. | |
| This single-minded drive to succeed has also caused some unease among colleagues, especially female Labour MPs, about the way he entered the leadership race late and only after Eagle had launched the challenge to Corbyn, meaning she took the initial flack for triggering the contest. | This single-minded drive to succeed has also caused some unease among colleagues, especially female Labour MPs, about the way he entered the leadership race late and only after Eagle had launched the challenge to Corbyn, meaning she took the initial flack for triggering the contest. |
| Smith denies any manouevring, saying at the time: “I came into the race late because my brother was ill in hospital and I was at his bedside for a few days.” | Smith denies any manouevring, saying at the time: “I came into the race late because my brother was ill in hospital and I was at his bedside for a few days.” |
| Some early backers of Eagle felt guilty for abandoning her leadership bid in favour of his, but the fact that he is a relatively new MP with less of Eagle’s baggage from the Blair era swayed a lot of waverers. | Some early backers of Eagle felt guilty for abandoning her leadership bid in favour of his, but the fact that he is a relatively new MP with less of Eagle’s baggage from the Blair era swayed a lot of waverers. |
| “I wanted to support the female candidate. There is no one more than me who wants a Labour woman prime minister,” said one Labour MP. | |
| “But I just couldn’t bring myself to back Angela because of some of the rightwing MPs she had around her who I want absolutely nothing to do with.” | |
| Related: Angela Eagle stops walk-in surgeries amid security concerns | Related: Angela Eagle stops walk-in surgeries amid security concerns |
| Since Eagle crashed out of the race, Smith has made a decision to surround himself with senior women, including Kate Green as his campaign chief, and Lisa Nandy and Heidi Alexander as his strategic co-chairs. | Since Eagle crashed out of the race, Smith has made a decision to surround himself with senior women, including Kate Green as his campaign chief, and Lisa Nandy and Heidi Alexander as his strategic co-chairs. |
| In contrast to Eagle, Smith did not vote for the Iraq war or the airstrikes on Syria – the fact he was not an MP at the time means he was not asked to decide. | |
| And, although he supports Trident, he always couples that point with a reminder that he is a former member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and is passionate about multilateral disarmament. | |
| “I have huge admiration for Angela, but Owen is turning the page and there is a fresh story we need to be telling,” said Green, a former shadow women and equalities minister. | |
| Born in Morecambe, Lancashire, Smith is the son of a Welsh historian, Dai Smith, and was educated at Barry boys’ comprehensive school in south Wales. | |
| He studied history and French at the University of Sussex and went on to work as a BBC producer on the Welsh political programme Dragon’s Eye and Radio 4’s Today programme. | |
| Related: When will Labour’s tribal warfare come to an end? | Maya Goodfellow | Related: When will Labour’s tribal warfare come to an end? | Maya Goodfellow |
| He has been quick to claim an “ordinary background”, but got into some hot water for saying he was a “normal” person with a wife and children. Although he did not mention Eagle, some of her supporters were livid at the implied contrast with their candidate, who is in a civil partnership. | He has been quick to claim an “ordinary background”, but got into some hot water for saying he was a “normal” person with a wife and children. Although he did not mention Eagle, some of her supporters were livid at the implied contrast with their candidate, who is in a civil partnership. |
| However, it is past jobs as policy chief at pharmaceuticals companies Pfizer and Amgen, and as special adviser to Paul Murphy – the former Northern Ireland secretary, who did vote for the Iraq war – that have proved the most problematic. | However, it is past jobs as policy chief at pharmaceuticals companies Pfizer and Amgen, and as special adviser to Paul Murphy – the former Northern Ireland secretary, who did vote for the Iraq war – that have proved the most problematic. |
| Questions have been raised about the ethics of the companies he worked for, and quotes unearthed in which he endorsed greater choice in the NHS, potentially involving more private providers. | |
| This provided ammunition for an attack on his past by Diane Abbott, the shadow health secretary, who said: “I know Owen Smith says he wasn’t a lobbyist, but for practical purposes he was. | |
| “This is important because there is no issue closer to party members’ hearts than the NHS … people find the link between lobbyists and politics very distasteful.” | |
| The ability of his rivals to paint him as a signed-up member of the political and media elite is acknowledged in private by many of his supporters to be a weak spot in contrast to Corbyn, who has spent a lifetime very much outside the establishment. | The ability of his rivals to paint him as a signed-up member of the political and media elite is acknowledged in private by many of his supporters to be a weak spot in contrast to Corbyn, who has spent a lifetime very much outside the establishment. |
| But Murphy, now a Labour peer, who has known him for more than a decade, argues that Smith’s background working as an adviser to him during the Northern Ireland peace process is an asset. | But Murphy, now a Labour peer, who has known him for more than a decade, argues that Smith’s background working as an adviser to him during the Northern Ireland peace process is an asset. |
| “He went to places they wouldn’t let me go to for security reasons – Shankill Road, the Falls Road – and act as my emissary,” Murphy said. | |
| “He was actually taking part in the peace process and built up a trust with political leaders. When he was there in the week, we virtually lived together. It was a time of crisis after crisis and he showed all his skills: good judgment, brilliant advice to me on difficult issues. | |
| “He really went off to work for Pfizer on the basis that political advisers inevitably are in a transitory job and he had a young family. But ultimately it was politics that he wanted.” | “He really went off to work for Pfizer on the basis that political advisers inevitably are in a transitory job and he had a young family. But ultimately it was politics that he wanted.” |
| Related: Jeremy Corbyn has served Labour well. But Owen Smith is the leader we need | Louise Haigh | Related: Jeremy Corbyn has served Labour well. But Owen Smith is the leader we need | Louise Haigh |
| Smith’s backers say that if he wants to have any chance against the incumbent leader, his strategy will have to be to focus on policies and a firmly leftwing vision to attract the membership. He revealed on Friday that he has hired Neale Coleman, former head of policy for Corbyn, to work on his leadership campaign. | Smith’s backers say that if he wants to have any chance against the incumbent leader, his strategy will have to be to focus on policies and a firmly leftwing vision to attract the membership. He revealed on Friday that he has hired Neale Coleman, former head of policy for Corbyn, to work on his leadership campaign. |
| Current polling of the party selectorate does not look good, though, suggesting that Corbyn is once again heading for a landslide victory that would cement his supremacy in the Labour party. | Current polling of the party selectorate does not look good, though, suggesting that Corbyn is once again heading for a landslide victory that would cement his supremacy in the Labour party. |
| But Smith’s backers are still upbeat about his ability to persuade his party that he is more of a leader than Corbyn, yet not one from the same old mould as Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, who members rejected so decisively just last year. | But Smith’s backers are still upbeat about his ability to persuade his party that he is more of a leader than Corbyn, yet not one from the same old mould as Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, who members rejected so decisively just last year. |
| “He’s good and he’s the best we have, but he’s got room to improve,” said Chapman. | |
| “And his strength is he speaks from the gut in a way people are sometimes not quite used to. I’ve watched him develop over the last six years and can see he is going to get a lot better during this contest. He is going to have to.” |