Tributes to the ‘world’s oldest rebel’
● RAF veteran championed the welfare state
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn led tributes to a social justice activist who has died aged 95.
Harry Leslie Smith moved listeners to tears at the 2014 Labour Party conference when he spoke about life before the welfare state.
Mr Corbyn described him as “one of the giants whose shoulders we stand on”.
“We will all miss Harry Leslie Smith – he was one of the giants whose shoulders we stand on”
JEREMY CORBYN
Jeremy Corbyn has paid tribute to social justice activist and RAF veteran Harry Leslie Smith who has died aged 95, hailing him as “one of the giants whose shoulders we stand on”.
Mr Smith, also known as “the world’s oldest rebel”, who came from Barnsley in South Yorkshire, was a critic of austerity and championed human rights and the welfare state.
He appeared at the Labour Party conference in 2014 to speak about life before the NHS and moved listeners to tears with his story.
A post on his Twitter account, which has more than 250,000 followers, announced his death yesterday morning.
The tweet said: “At 3:39 this morning, my dad Harry Leslie Smith died. I am an orphan. #istandwithharry”.
Labour leader Mr Corbyn shared a video clip of Mr Smith speaking about the importance of the NHS, and wrote: “We will all miss Harry Leslie Smith – he was one of the giants whose shoulders we stand on.”
Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson tweeted: “The world is a far better place for his life, words and deeds; and a far sadder place with his loss. Farewell @Harryslaststand”
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband tweeted: “Very sad to hear of the death of Harry Leslie Smith. He was one of a kind who never wavered in his fight for equality and justice. We should all carry his passion, optimism and spirit forward.”
Mr Smith’s verified Twitter account links to a Facebook
page called Harry’s Last Stand, which is the title of a book he wrote.
A post on that page, dated 21 November, says: “My dad, Harry Leslie Smith is critically ill in hospital in Ontario Canada after a fall, yesterday morning. You can follow updates on his twitter feed @ harryslaststand and the hash tag #Istandwithharry This is his son, John.”
Mr Smith, an RAF veteran, survived the Great Depression and Second World War, and rose to prominence in 2013
after writing an article for the Guardian declaring that he would no longer wear a poppy.
The son of a coal miner, Mr Smith has spoken of growing up in the “barbarous” and “bleak” time of 1920s Barnsley, saying “it was an uncivilised time because public healthcare didn’t exist”, before warning that “we must never ever let the NHS free from our grasp because if we do your future will be my past”.
He suffered the loss of his sister Marion at the age of three from tuberculosis and would
go on to support his family aged seven when he took up work as a barrow boy for a brewery in Bradford.
The then shadow health secretary Andy Burnham was moved to tears by Mr Smith at the 2014 Labour Party conference, where he received several standing ovations as he told his story.
He called voting for Labour and the creation of the health service after the 1945 general election one of the proudest moments of his life.
“People ... who because of the welfare cuts and austerity measures are struggling once more make to ends meet, and whose futures I fear for,” Mr Smith said.
“Today we must be vigilant. We must never ever let the NHS free from our grasp because if we do, your future will be my past.”
The global financial crisis of 2008 prompted Mr Smith to take a “last stand” against what he saw as the excesses of capitalism.