Smith’s cheerleader revealed as husband

A man who has been writing letters to his local paper in defence of belaguered Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has been unmasked as her
husband. Smith, who took over the Home Office in Gordon Brown's first cabinet reshuffle in June 2007, has taken a battering recently over publishing disputed knife crime figures and the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green, not to mention the always controversial plan to introduce ID cards.

Amid claims that she has become a political liability for the Labour government, a man named Richard Timney has written a series of
letters to the Redditch Advertiser, in the Home Secretary's home constituency, supporting her actions.

But he has failed to mention either that he is married to Ms Smith - who kept her maiden name - or that he is paid £40,000 a year to act as her Parliamentary assistant.

In his latest letter, published on December 8, he wrote in support of Smith's ID card scheme: "If the Tories were serious about protecting Britain's borders they would be supporting ID cards, not standing on street stalls campaigning against them. The Conservatives have made the wrong decision again!"

Tory MP Greg Hands commented: "Things must be bad for the Home Secretary. After allowing police to arrest an Opposition MP and fiddling knife crime figures, she is left with so few friends she has been reduced to using her husband as a cheerleader."

A spokesman for Smith shot back: "Richard is very proud of Jacqui and he is well known in Redditch. He has never concealed his connection to her."