The latter led to the demolition of John Dobson's Royal Arcade, though Smith's council had it carefully dismantled and planned to rebuild it nearby.

Smith's legacy became associated with the destruction of historic buildings in favour of unpopular concrete structures,[4] despite the key developments happening mainly under other council leaders.

After leaving the council leadership, Smith ran a public relations firm and formed business links with architect John Poulson.

His mother worked long hours cleaning the Wallsend telephone exchange and washing floors at the Shell-Mex office.

When the Labour Party won the 1958 local elections and took control of Newcastle, Smith was appointed Chairman of the Housing Committee.

[13] Smith was a political contemporary and ally of North East Labour stalwart Andy Cunningham, who was also brought down by the Poulson scandal and served a jail sentence.

[15] On the day after the 1964 general election, Smith waited for what he thought would be a certain phone call to invite him to become a cabinet minister in Harold Wilson's government.

[3] Smith's PR firm was involved with Wandsworth Borough Council in pushing a redevelopment scheme, where its contact was Alderman Sidney Sporle.

The subsequent examination of his books disclosed a web of unexplained payments and led to a series of hearings out of which the Conservative MP Reginald Maudling, former chairmen of two of Poulson's companies, was forced to resign as Home Secretary.

On release from Leyhill Open Prison in 1977 Smith attempted to rebuild a political career, but was initially refused re-admission to the Labour Party.

He worked for the Howard League for Penal Reform and campaigned for the rights of released prisoners,[8] and occasionally commented on municipal housing issues.

[8] By 1990 he was a member of the executive committee of the Newcastle Tenants Association, and living on the 14th floor of Mill House, a tower block in the Spital Tongues area of the City.

[6][4] Among his well-regarded achievements are slum clearance,[18] helping establish an independent Newcastle University[4][18] and modernising the local administration.

[19] Conversely, few defend his ethical conduct in the corruption case, although biographer Chris Foote Wood argues that Smith was treated unfairly and that the scandal was mainly the fault of Poulson.

[19][20] Jeremy Beecham, a later leader of Newcastle City Council, argued that the corruption scandal had overshadowed the positive aspects of Smith's legacy.

[21] Owen Hatherley writes that in addition to being overly car-centred, "The problem with the idea of the Brasília of the North is that Newcastle never found a northern Oscar Niemeyer.

[6] In February 1988 Smith made an extended appearance on an episode of After Dark, a live British discussion television programme entitled Freemasonry: Beyond the Law?, along with David Napley and others.

The part was first played by Jim Broadbent in the Royal Shakespeare Company production in 1982, and then by Alun Armstrong in the 1996 BBC television drama version.