Trevor Smith, more formally known as Professor Lord Smith of Clifton, was an unsung hero of the surge towards democratic reform in the 1990s – and he is being unsung still. Smith died aged 83 on 24 April and his death has received only patchy notice since. This neglect is symbolic of the governing class’s indifference and resentment towards efforts to reform our weak democratic arrangements – an attitude for which we are paying the price under Boris Johnson’s careless regime.
Smith was a key financial and intellectual force driving the Blair government’s reluctant series of legislative changes when democratic movement Charter 88 was in its heyday under Anthony Barnett. The movement, along with other organisations, campaigned for open and accountable government, devolution, checks on government power and parliamentary reforms. openDemocracy is part of Smith’s (and Barnett’s) legacy.
Smith was a man of entrepreneurial vision and remarkable political energy, who was unusual in translating his innovative ideas and deeply held principles into action. He was a political scientist of distinction when he took on the chair of the Joseph Rowntree Social Services Trust in 1987, which he transformed and renamed the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust (JRRT). The trust was not a charitable foundation and Smith took full advantage of its freedom from charitable constraints, pursuing a strong democratic direction.
