Biography of Naomi Smith, LibDem parliamentary candidate for the Cities of London & Westminster

LibDem parliamentary candidate Naomi Smith

Naomi was born and bred in London, but lived in Northern Ireland from the age of 10 to 18. It was there that she realised she was a Liberal and began campaigning for a more tolerant and equal society while still at school.

She was educated at Coleraine High School before winning a scholarship to Methodist College Belfast where her passion for politics was nurtured and she chaired an inter-faith session on the future of policing in Northern Ireland, feeding back their recommendations to the Patten Commission.

Having completed her A-Levels she won a scholarship to join the Arthur Andersen graduate programme during her gap year before being sponsored by the firm through university. At Leeds University she studied Economics and Politics and on graduation joined Deloitte in their corporate tax department. Two years later she returned to university to pursue a post graduate diploma in Chinese (Mandarin) and Business, which took her to HSBC in Shanghai.

Returning from Shanghai, Naomi took up her current role as research and development manager at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) where she is also a spokesperson on China.

Naomi's has a strong commitment to social justice and is determined to tackle the growing inequalities which exist in our society. Naomi cares passionately about the Cities of London and Westminster and will campaign to tackle the chronic lack of affordable housing in the constituency, will highlight the failure of the Government to reduce the gap between the rich and poor, and will aim to be an ardent supporter and representative for the whole community.

Naomi has a financial background, with experience of working in both commercial and not-for-profit environments, having spent time at Arthur Andersen in London, Deloitte in Leeds and HSBC in Shanghai, China as well as having worked at LibDem HQ over the 2005 General Election, running the office of the LibDem youth movement. She is currently the Honorary President of Liberal Youth and an accredited party trainer.

She enjoys playing double bass, practising Mandarin Chinese and is a member of both Amnesty International and Liberty. She is also a Freeman of the City of London.