John Smith (Labour Party leader) John Smith (Labour Party leader) John Smith (13 September 1938 – 12 May 1994) was a British Labour politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his death from a heart attack in May 1994. Smith first entered Parliament in 1970 and, after junior ministerial roles as Minister of State for Energy (1975–1976) and Minister of State for the Privy Council Office (1976–1977), he entered the Cabinet at the end of James Callaghan's tenure as Prime Minister, serving as Secretary of State for Trade and President of the Board of Trade (1978–1979). During Labour's time
Scottish Labour Party (1888) Scottish Labour Party (1888) The Scottish Labour Party (SLP), also known as the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Party, was formed by Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, the first socialist MP in the parliament of the United Kingdom, who later went on to become the first president of the Scottish National Party, and Keir Hardie, who later became the first leader of the British Labour Party. The initial spur for the party's foundation was Hardie's unsuccessful independent Labour candidature in the Mid Lanarkshire by-election, 1888. He had tried and failed to gain Liberal Party support for his candidature, and the experience convinced many