However, his overall cautious approach to reform, which was dubbed "one more heave", sought to avoid controversy and win the next election by capitalising on the unpopularity of the Conservative government.

Following Smith's sudden death in May 1994, he was succeeded as leader by Blair, who led the party to victory at the next general election in 1997.

In 1963, he became a solicitor and then in 1967, an advocate at the Scottish bar, supplementing his income by working as a libel lawyer for the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail.

[1] Smith first stood as a Labour parliamentary candidate aged 23 at a by-election in 1961 in the East Fife constituency; he contested that seat again in the 1964 general election.

[3] Smith made his maiden speech on 10 November 1970, opposing the Conservative government's Family Income Supplements Act 1970.

[5] These included Roy Hattersley, Shirley Williams, Bill Rodgers and David Owen, with all of whom he was later to sit in the Callaghan cabinet.

During the 1983 general election, Smith concentrated on unemployment, arguing that the Conservatives had caused deindustrialisation and that a Labour government would increase investment, and therefore employment.

Smith was appointed Shadow Chancellor by Neil Kinnock in July 1987 following the Labour Party's general election defeat.

Smith made modifications to his lifestyle by going on a diet of 1,000 calories, cutting down on rich foods and fine wines, giving up smoking and taking up Munro bagging.

[24] In September 1992, Smith made his maiden Commons speech as party leader, in which he attacked the government's ERM debacle eight days earlier – an event which was seen by many observers as playing a large part in determining the outcome of the next general election, long before it was even on the political horizon, as from that point onwards the Labour Party was ascendant in the opinion polls, winning several seats from the Conservatives in by-elections (eventually even attracting a Conservative MP to defect to Labour) and trouncing them in local council elections.

[25] At Labour's party conference, Smith branded Major and Norman Lamont the "Laurel and Hardy of British politics".

This echoed his attacks on Major's government made before the 1992 election (while he was still shadow chancellor), most memorably when he labelled "irresponsible" Conservative plans for cutting income tax to 20 per cent,[26] and joked at a Labour Party rally in Sheffield that the Conservatives would have a box-office disaster with "Honey, I Shrunk the Economy" – in reference to the recent Disney motion picture Honey, I Shrunk the Kids – mocking the recession which was plaguing the British economy at the time.

[27] In a June 1993 debate, Smith again savaged the Conservative government, saying that under John Major's premiership, "the man with the non-Midas touch is in charge.

[28] During the same debate, Smith commented on a recent government defeat in the Newbury by-election to the Liberal Democrats, a poor showing in the local elections and a subsequent Cabinet reshuffle by saying that "if we were to offer that tale of events to the BBC Light Entertainment Department as a script for a programme, I think that the producers of Yes Minister would have turned it down as hopelessly over the top.

[29] In the same speech, Smith also attacked the Conservatives' broken election promises (in particular Lamont's recent Budget decision to impose VAT on domestic energy bills) – claiming he possessed the last copy of a 1992 policy document "to escape the Central Office shredder".

Despite his dispatch box successes (Smith was always more effective in the House of Commons than on platforms or at Prime Minister's Questions, though he began to improve at the latter towards the end of his life), Tony Blair and Gordon Brown were, under Smith's leadership, restless and privately anxious that the party had adopted a "One more heave" approach and had become over-cautious in tackling the legacy of "tax and spend".

[31] He also committed a future Labour government to establishing a Scottish Parliament, an aim fulfilled by his successors following his death (most notably his close friend Donald Dewar).

This happened in spite of the strong economic recovery and reduction of unemployment which had followed the declaration of the recession's end in April 1993.

On the evening of 11 May 1994, with around 500 people present, Smith made a speech at a fundraising dinner at Park Lane Hotel, London, saying "The opportunity to serve our country—that is all we ask".

In response to his death, the Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd recalled Parliament to give MPs the opportunity to pay tribute to him.

[37] MPs from across the house also paid tribute to him, including Margaret Beckett, Paddy Ashdown, Neil Kinnock and Dennis Skinner.