Born in London into the Goldschmidt family, the son of billionaire businessman and financier Sir James Goldsmith, he was privately educated at both Eton College and the Cambridge Centre for Sixth-form Studies.

Goldsmith was placed on the Conservative A-List of potential candidates in 2006 and, in March 2007, was selected through an open primary to contest the constituency of Richmond Park against incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Susan Kramer.

After Theresa May called the 2017 general election, Goldsmith was reselected as the Conservative Party candidate for Richmond Park and won with a narrow majority of 45 votes.

After the election, Boris Johnson awarded Goldsmith with a life peerage, making him a member of the House of Lords and allowing him to retain his ministerial position.

While working with ISEC, Goldsmith travelled to India, spending a short time on an ashram in Rajasthan and later lived in Ladakh for six months, studying traditional cultures and helping run a tourist education programme.

[29] In December 2005, David Cameron approved Goldsmith's appointment as deputy chairman of the Quality of Life Policy Group, under former Environment Secretary John Gummer.

[7][24] The group was tasked with examining matters such as carbon emissions, climate change, clean air and transport with a view to formulating Conservative policy.

Commenting on the issue, Goldsmith explained: "everything has been declared on time and accurately; however, for a few weeks last year I was not on the Electoral Roll, my name having been removed from Kensington and Chelsea's voter list, given that I was in the process of signing up for Richmond.

[65] The Commission announced, following their initial 5-day assessment, they had decided to upgrade the investigation to the status of "case under review" and to make enquiries "in order to establish the facts of the matter".

[71] He co-wrote a letter to Home Secretary Theresa May demanding a full independent inquiry with six other MPs: Tim Loughton, Tom Watson, Simon Danczuk, John Hemming, Tessa Munt and Caroline Lucas.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, initially rejected the call but was subsequently forced to concede, after 145 further MPs added their names to Goldsmith et al.'s letter.

[78][79][80] Before declaring himself as a nominee, Goldsmith spent around £50,000 of his own money sending a postal ballot to his 77,000 Richmond Park constituents, asking them if they would consent to him standing for Mayor.

[92] He ruled out supporting development on London's Green belt, although stated that option might need to be considered in ten or fifteen years hence if the city's population continued to rise.

[115][114][116] In April 2017, Goldsmith was reselected as the Conservative Party candidate for Richmond Park prior to the upcoming snap general election to be held on 8 June.

After Amber Rudd's resignation as Work and Pensions Secretary in September 2019, Johnson reshuffled his frontbench and promoted Goldsmith to Minister of State with the right to attend Cabinet.

[121][122] Shortly after his electoral defeat, it was announced he would continue to serve as a minister in the government by being awarded a life peerage and sitting as a member of the House of Lords.

However, Labour MP and former Shadow Environment Secretary Kerry McCarthy said she believed Goldsmith was committed to the government's promise to maintain standards in environmental regulation after Brexit, adding: "because of that I welcome the fact that he is still around to carry on and do that work".

[126] In his maiden speech in the House of Lords, Goldsmith rebutted accusations of cronyism, saying "One political rival described me as a 'turd that won't flush' – a phrase my children are very unlikely to let me forget.

But equally I know many of those heroic people engaged in the battle to protect this extraordinary planet and the species it holds are cheered by having another voice in Parliament and it is an enormous privilege.

[133][134] On 30 June 2023, Goldsmith resigned from his ministerial position, saying the government showed "apathy" towards environmental issues and that Sunak's "simply uninterested" attitude had paralysed policymaking.

[135][136] A day earlier, he had been named as one of 10 parliamentarians accused of waging a "co-ordinated campaign" to interfere with a Commons investigation into Boris Johnson,[137][138][136] which led opposition parties to call for Goldsmith's dismissal.

[140] Journalist Dave Hill noted that the "young Goldsmith was pro-small business and small communities, localist and conservationist" and was "against overbearing government from whatever the source".

[142][25] As a contributing author of the book We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, published in late 2009,[143] Goldsmith has explored global diversities and threats facing humankind.

Among the other contributors are western writers, such as Laurens van der Post, Noam Chomsky, Claude Lévi-Strauss and indigenous persons, such as Davi Kopenawa Yanomami and Roy Sesana.

The book is composed of a collection of photographs, statements from tribal people, and essays from international authors, politicians, philosophers, poets, artists, journalists, anthropologists, environmentalists and photojournalists.

In his essay, Goldsmith writes about how his travel around the world in his youth gave him first-hand experience of the misery brought by the promise of western "progress" and "development".

[149] Less than 24 hours after the 2017 Barcelona attacks, Goldsmith shared his brother's controversial post on social media which compared ISIS's antisemitism to the views of the left-wing British campaign group Momentum.

[151] He has been a member of the advisory board of the JMG Foundation, which disburses grants globally to a range of environmental advocacy groups using the financial legacy left by James Goldsmith.

[153] He is a Patron of the Mihai Eminescu Trust which conserves and maintains communities in Transylvania and the Maramureş,[154] and the philanthropic organization, Fortune Forum (together with Jimmy Wales).

In sentencing, District Judge Daniel Sternberg warned that drivers who speed "emit more harmful emissions" even in hybrid and electric cars, a reference to Goldsmith's interest in environmental matters.