The Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent | |
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Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 18 November 2022 Life Peerage | |
Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent North | |
In office 7 May 2015 – 6 November 2019 | |
Preceded by | Joan Walley |
Succeeded by | Jonathan Gullis |
Personal details | |
Born | Ruth Lauren Anderson 29 June 1979 Edinburgh, Scotland |
Political party | Labour |
Spouse |
Michael Smeeth (m. 2004–2018) |
Alma mater | University of Birmingham |
Website | Official website |
Ruth Lauren Smeeth, Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent[1] (née Anderson; born 29 June 1979) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2015 until 2019. Since 2022 she has been a member of the House of Lords.
After working in public relations roles for the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre and Nestlé, Smeeth became more actively involved in the Labour Party. She stood as an MP candidate in the 2010 election but was not elected. She was named as an intelligence source to "strictly protect" by the US embassy in London in a 2009 diplomatic cable published online in 2011. During her parliamentary career she campaigned for the UK to remain in the European Union. She served as Personal Private Secretary to Tom Watson, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, but resigned so she could vote against a second Brexit referendum. She was elected Parliamentary Chair of the Jewish Labour Movement in April 2019 and served until she lost the contest for the Stoke constituency in 2019.