Chloe Rebecca Smith (born 17 May 1982) is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich North since 2009. A member of the Conservative Party, she previously served as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from September to October 2022 and Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology from April to July 2023.
Smith was elected in a 2009 by-election following the resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson after the MPs' expenses scandal. Smith held a number of junior ministerial roles under David Cameron and Theresa May, serving two terms as Parliamentary Secretary for the Constitution. She continued to serve in the latter role after Boris Johnson's victory in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election. In the February 2020 reshuffle, she was promoted to Minister of State during the second Johnson ministry. In the 2021 reshuffle, she was appointed by Johnson as Minister of State at the Department for Work and Pensions. After Johnson resigned in 2022, Smith supported Liz Truss’s bid to become Conservative leader. Following Truss's appointment as Prime Minister, she appointed Smith as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. She was later temporarily Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology during the time Michelle Donelan MP was Minister on Leave (Secretary of State), a position given to Secretaries and Ministers of State while on Maternity Leave.
Early life
Smith was born in Ashford, Kent, in 1982. Her family moved to Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, when she was three years old, and she attended comprehensive schools in Swaffham and Methwold. After a gap year working for former Conservative Education Secretary Gillian Shephard, she read English Literature at the University of York. She undertook summer work for Bernard Jenkin.
After graduating from the University of York, she joined Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu as a management consultant. She advised private businesses, government departments and public bodies.
In 2007, Smith was chosen to be the Conservative Party candidate for the constituency of Norwich North at the general election. She then took leave from her job, working for Conservative Central Office on secondment, to "draw up detailed plans to put our policies into practice".
Parliamentary career
Following resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson after the MPs' expenses scandal, Smith became the Conservatives' by-election candidate and subsequently gained the seat, becoming youngest member of the House of Commons. She took her seat in the House of Commons when the parliamentary break ended in October.
On 14 October 2011, she was appointed Economic Secretary to the Treasury in a ministerial reshuffle, becoming the youngest minister serving in government at that point. According to The Guardian newspaper Smith was appointed to the role because David Cameron wrongly understood her to be a trained accountant.
On 26 June 2012, she appeared on the BBC Two current affairs programme Newsnight and was interviewed about Chancellor George Osborne's decision that day to delay plans to increase fuel duty. Jeremy Paxman questioned the apparent change in her views on fuel duty. The interview attracted much comment, being described as a "mauling" and a "humiliation" of Smith. Politicians, including John Prescott and Nadine Dorries, questioned Osborne's judgement for sending a junior minister onto the programme in his place.
In September 2012, Smith was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Cabinet Office.
In August 2013, she was criticised for blocking identification of civil servants and public sector bodies responsible for £77m of flights booked through the Government Procurement Service. In October 2013, she resigned from the Cabinet Office to "concentrate on the most important part of my job: being the Member of Parliament for Norwich North".
In May 2014, she was awarded the Grassroot Diplomat Initiative Award under the Business Driver category for designing and conceiving the Norwich for Jobs campaign, which brought over 400 jobs and apprenticeships for young people in her constituency.
During the campaign for the 2015 general election, Smith was mocked by political opponents for quoting a constituent's letter in her election literature. The letter said she seemed "to act more like a Socialist than a Conservative". Smith responded: "Clearly I am not a socialist. I am a proud Conservative. What the letter writer was saying was my work can appeal across party lines".