Royston Matthew Smith[1]GM (born 13 May 1964) is a British Conservative Party politician and who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southampton Itchen from 2015 to 2024, when he stood down.
He received the George Medal for disarming a sailor who had killed a Royal Navy officer during Smith's 2011 visit to a submarine.
[4][5] He became an engineer for the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1980, working on the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod fleet for 10 years.
[13] In April 2011, while Smith was visiting the nuclear submarine HMS Astute (S119) as part of the tour, a sailor started shooting with a SA80 rifle, and killed an officer.
Smith has also participated in the OSCE's election monitoring activities in the United States, Italy, Hungary, Russia, and Kazakhstan.
He made the case that Brexit-related gridlock caused by disruption at south coast ports could have a major impact on hospitals and other services.
Smith believed Southampton needed tens of thousands of pounds to cope with what he described as "every eventuality" in the letter.
In the article, Smith welcomed the government’s reset on its approach to fire safety based on the idea of proportionality, as leaseholders will be protected from the costs of remediating dangerous cladding.
[35] In 2019, writing in The Times, Smith made the case for 'levelling up'[clarification needed] before it was adopted as Government policy.
[citation needed] In 2018, Smith met with the Minister with responsibility for coastal communities to discuss his campaign to honour the Spitfire and how Southampton could put in a bid to help fund a fitting memorial to the aircraft.
[37] On 28 March 2017, Smith held a Westminster Hall debate in Parliament calling on the Government to help fund The National Tribute to The Royal Air Force in Southampton.
[38][39] In Chancellor Rishi Sunak's first budget in 2020, it was announced that a planned memorial to commemorate the Spitfire is to receive a £3 million grant from the government.
[45] In 2011, Smith was stopped by police for not wearing a seat belt and later found to have been driving an uninsured car.
[47][48][49] After the 2015 election, UKIP candidate Kim Rose claimed that he had received data on voters in the constituency and advice from Smith to assist his campaign.
Smith's local party association, Southampton Itchen Conservative Association was registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, and the Conservative Party Chairman at the time, Lord Feldman, wrote to complainants to say that no data protection breach had occurred.
[52][53] Smith was accused by members of the opposition of 'callousness' after claiming £1 in parking expenses to visit a food bank in his Southampton Itchen constituency in November 2021.