Julian Smith

Julian Richard Smith (born 30 August 1971) is a British politician who served as Government Chief Whip from 2017 to 2019 and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Skipton and Ripon since 2010. He was the Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from 2016 to 2017 and Government Deputy Chief Whip in 2017. He served in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Cabinet as Chief Whip of the House of Commons from November 2017 to July 2019. He served in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinet as Northern Ireland Secretary from 2019 to 2020. He successfully negotiated the New Decade, New Approach agreement with Tánaiste Simon Coveney which restored the power-sharing government of the Northern Ireland Executive after three years without devolution at Stormont. Early life Smith was born in the city of Stirling in Scotland on 30 August 1971. He was educated at Balfron High School, a comprehensive school to the west of Stirling, followed by a sixth-form bursary to Millfield School, an independent school in South West England, and the University of Birmingham, where he read English and History.