Deep respect to this noble gentleman, author and Labour Party activist who has been an inspiration to all who seek a fairer and better world. Currently very ill in a Canadian hospital after a fall.
Harry Leslie Smith 95 is a great British stalwart. A survivor of the Great Depression, a Second World War veteran, a lifelong Labour supporter and a proud Yorkshire man, Harry's life has straddled two centuries. As a young man, he witnessed a country in crisis with no healthcare, no relief for the poor, and a huge economic gulf between the North and South. After the war he saw the refugee crisis at the end of the conflict with his own eyes. Driven to act, he's spent the rest of his life meeting with and advocating on behalf of refugees in Canada and around the world. As well as this he has been a tireless campaigner against poverty.
From the deprivation of 1930s Barnsley and the terror of war to the creation of our welfare state, Harry has experienced how a great civilisation can rise from the rubble. But at the end of his life, he fears how easily it is being eroded. His book 'Harry’s Last Stand' is a lyrical, searing modern invective that shows what the past can teach us, and how the future is ours for the taking.
“Harry is not in a good way,” the 95-year-old’s son John wrote on his father’s Twitter account.
“Harry is in A & E and not in a good way,” the post read. “He asked me to inform you in case things don’t work out. I will keep you posted.”
Earlier this afternoon Leslie Smith told his Twitter followers that he was on his way to hospital.
“Bugger of a day, had a fall and now I am in hospital. It’s nothing, just low blood pressure, but signing off for the next few hours.”
On Saturday, Leslie Smith appeared in video by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees speaking on the refugees he saw in Europe at the close of the second world war.
Crying, he said: “There was a stream of hundreds of thousands of refugees coming south. I can still still see them, absolutely pitiful, starving.
“It doesn’t matter what the colour of your skin is, or what your education was, or whatever your job was before you came here, you are now Canadian.”
As well as travelling the world advocating for rights of refugees, Leslie Smith has also been a tireless critic of the Tories and austerity, and has campaigned relentlessly for the NHS in an attempt to keep it in public hands..
His latest book, Don’t Let My Past Become Your Future, serves as a stark warning as to what life could be like without a publicly funded NHS, which is free at the point of use.
We owe this great man so much. Lets continue to keep him in our thoughts and prayers, we could do with many more people like Harry
For more updates see Harry's twitter feed https://twitter.com/Harryslaststand
