Chris Smith MP, who was Secretary of State for Culture between 1997 and 2001, yesterday revealed that he has been living with HIV for 17 years.
Mr Smith, who was also the first member of parliament to reveal that he is gay back in 1984, was diagnosed HIV-positive in 1987, and attributes his survival to early diagnosis, early antiretroviral treatment and high quality care in the National Health Service.
Mr Smith held a number of demanding front bench posts during Labour’s period in opposition, including health spokesman, before being appointed to the Cabinet in 1997. Mr Smith told The Sunday Times that he didn’t consider it necessary to disclose his HIV status to Prime Minister Tony Blair when he was appointed to the Cabinet, and only told Mr Blair a few weeks ago.
“I didn’t feel the need to tell people except for a very, very few as it was not in any way affecting my work,” he said in an interview.
Mr Smith decided to make a public statement about his HIV status following the disclosure by Nelson Mandela that his son had died of AIDS earlier this month.
“HIV still leads to too much injustice. Let’s take a lead from Mandela and face that injustice, and the ignorance and prejudice that give rise to it, head on,” said Mr Smith.
“I didn’t really know what response there might be, but I hoped, and actually this is indeed happening, that saying something may help to demystify the issue of HIV to counter some of the prejudice and lack of knowledge that does exist and help to move things forward a bit,” he told The Times today. Mr Smith revealed that the Prime Minister phoned him yesterday to congratulate him on his statement.
Mr Smith is likely to be enlisted as a campaigner by Chancellor Gordon Brown in his bid to win more resources from wealthy countries to fight AIDS in the developing world. His announcement comes just days before Nelson Mandela is due to arrive in London to lobby G8 finance ministers for an increase in funding directed to AIDS.