Smyth stood for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in North Antrim in the 1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election, narrowly missing out on a seat.
Following the death of David McCarthy, an Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MPA, he easily won a by-election for a seat on the Assembly.
[2] He joined the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and stood unsuccessfully as its candidate for the Westminster seat of North Down at the 1979 general election.
[5] Smyth was also a history teacher at Knockbreda High School in Belfast for many years, and is also regarded as an expert on the Orange Order and its lodges.
[6] In 2011 it was revealed the BBC decided to drop him from its yearly live coverage of the twelfth of July parades in Belfast.