Catherine Anne Smith

Baroness Smith of Cluny  link (Lawyer)
Born	4 May 1973 Edinburgh, Scotland
Alma mater	University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde
Parents	John Smith
Long time trustee of the John Smith Trust (JST), named after her late father, a "charity" which is in effect an MI6 cut-out or contractor. Placed in the job of Advocate-General for Scotland in 2024.

Not to be confused with Catherine Cornelius Smith

Catherine Anne Smith, Baroness Smith of Cluny is a Scottish lawyer and life peer who was appointed Advocate-General for Scotland in August 2024. She is the youngest daughter of former Leader of the Labour Party, John Smith. Before she became Advocate General, Catherine Smith was a long time trustee of the John Smith Trust (JST), named after her late father, a "charity" which is in effect an MI6 cut-out or contractor.

Early life and education

Catherine Anne Smith was born as the youngest of three daughters. Her father, John Smith, was at that time the Member of Parliament for North Lanarkshire, and was later the leader of the Labour Party from 1992 until his death in 1994. Her mother, Elizabeth Smith (née Bennett), was made a life peer and appointed to the House of Lords as Baroness Smith of Gilmorehill in 1995. Her elder sister, Sarah Smith, is a BBC journalist.

Smith attended Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh. She studied history and law at the University of Glasgow, gaining Master of Arts (MA) and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degrees, followed by a Diploma in Legal Practice (DipLP) from the University of Strathclyde.

Career

After working as a paralegal in Sydney, Smith was a solicitor in Glasgow and Oban from 1999 to 2004. She was called to the bar as a member of the Faculty of Advocates in 2007, and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2021. Smith has sat as a part-time sheriff since 2022. She has primarily worked in reparation and public law, specialising in cases involving personal injury, clinical negligence and judicial review. Prior to her appointment as Advocate-General for Scotland in 2024, she was a member of the Edinburgh law firm Compass Chambers.

Smith was a founding member of Justice Scotland, an arm of the London-based non-governmental organisation Justice, which promotes law reform and human rights, and served as its vice chair from 2012 to 2022. She was counsel to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. Between 2012 and 2021, she was Standing Junior Counsel to the Advocate General, serving under Lord Wallace of Tankerness, Lord Keen of Elie and Lord Stewart of Dirleton. Smith was appointed to the panel of counsel to the Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2015, and has been an advocate member of the Scottish Civil Justice Council since 2020.

Smith co-founded and has chaired the John Smith Centre for Public Service at the University of Glasgow since 2014. As a trustee of the John Smith Trust since 2005, she visited Kyiv and Warsaw in 2023 to support rule-of-law and human-rights projects.

Smith was created a life peer as Baroness Smith of Cluny, of Cluny in the City of Edinburgh, on 9 October 2024 to allow her to sit in the House of Lords.

Advocate General for Scotland

On 29 August 2024, Smith was appointed Advocate-General for Scotland, a law officer of the Crown who advises the British government on Scots law. Her appointment marked the first time that all three Scottish law officers were women, alongside Dorothy Bain (Lord Advocate) and Ruth Charteris (Solicitor General for Scotland).

Palestine Action hearing

On 26 May 2026, Craig Murray posted on X:

Very strange events around our Palestine Action hearing tomorrow:

1) The Advocate-General Catherine Smith is appearing in person for the govt - very rare;

2) The permission hearing was Court No 1 with live streaming. Now no live streaming and Court no 6 - small public gallery.

Why are they being suddenly much less open?

We now have the govt arguments for the Palestine Action hearing tomorrow.

They state that the Advocate-General is appearing in person because of the constitutional significance.

They rely on the argument the Scottish court may not take a different view from the English courts.

They do not address Palestine Action and the reasons for proscription at all.

Their constitutional arguments were already dismissed at the permission hearing. They don't become more telling just because a UK govt minister turns up in person to state them.

But if this is a case of constitutional significance, why is it not being livestreamed and why is it relegated to a smaller room?

Is this all the Establishment putting the fix in?

David Miller responded:

It might seem strange, comrade, but it’s actually an indication that the British State is directly involved in attempting to sabotage the Palestine Action case.

And when I say the British state, I mean MI6.

Before she became Advocate General, Catherine Smith was a long time trustee of the John Smith Trust (JST), named after her late father, the former Leader of the Labour Party.

What is that? It’s a charity which is in effect an MI6 cut-out or contractor. In the years between 2020 and 2024 when Catherine stepped down after being appointed Advocate-General, the *lowest* proportion of the budget which came from the Foreign Office was 92.8%. In 3 of the five years it was 100%.

The money came from the intelligence controlled ‘slush fund’, as it was described by a parliamentary committee, of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF). The fund is overseen by the Deputy National Security Adviser in the Cabinet Office, a bona fide spook.

In addition to being funded directly by British intelligence, the JST has been attended by a variety of spooks, some of whom may indeed be ‘former’!

These include Jeremy Craig Oliphant, a former MI6 operative; Margaret ‘Meta’ Ramsay, a career MI6 operative and university friend of John Smith and other Labour Party luminaries from Glasgow University; and our old friend Chris Donnelly of Integrity Initiative (I.I.) fame. Donnelly is a former colleague of Oliphant, and while he was running the Integrity Initiative was an Hon Colonel in the Specialist Group Military Intelligence. The Integrity Initiative came to grief when it was revealed that Donnelly’s think tank was registered to a derelict mill in Fife, and was revealed to be taking state money to attack the leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn.

The Scottish charity regulator concluded this was not a charitable purpose and both the JST think tank and the I.I. were closed down.

It’s interesting to note that the JST and the Integrity Initiative were funded from the same pot, the CSSF ‘slush fund’ for taking on the Russians in covert operations. All of this was run out of an obscure part of the Foreign Office called HMG Russia Unit, which was a ‘liaison point’ for covert ops against Russia and involved reps from all 7 (as it was then) British Intelligence agencies.

A key element of this work was known as ‘counter disinformation’ and was run for some years by a diplomat called Andy Pryce. He gets a little shirty when described as a MI6 officer, which he denies. Nevertheless, he was clearly the handler/overseer of the Integrity Initiative and very possibly the JST too.

So, perhaps the strange happenings in Edinburgh are not so strange after all?

References

[Upload logo to Wikipedia.png] This page imported content from Wikipedia on 27 November 2024.
Wikipedia is not affiliated with Wikispooks.   Original page source here