Shortly before the 1959 general election,
Cliff Michelmore,
Tonight’s presenter, had a hernia operation and Johnson-Smith was promoted to co-host the show for six weeks. His profile was thus at its highest when the election was called, and on 8 October 1959 he ousted the Labour member for
Holborn and St Pancras South,
Lena Jeger, by 656 votes. He successfully promoted a bill authorising councils to operate a
meals-on-wheels service for the elderly and was soon on the fast track, within six months becoming PPS to ministers at the Board of Trade; in 1962 he moved to the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance. His parliamentary career was interrupted in October 1964 when Lena Jeger had her revenge by 2,756 votes as Labour came to power. He briefly returned to television, freelancing for the BBC and
Rediffusion’s religious programmes. However, he returned to the
House of Commons the following year at a
by-election in the safe Conservative seat of
East Grinstead. When that constituency was abolished for the
1983 election, he was returned for the new
Wealden constituency, and held that seat until he retired at the
2001 general election, having served 41 years in Parliament.
Alec Douglas-Home quickly appointed him an Opposition whip, and when
Edward Heath became leader that summer he made Johnson-Smith a party vice-chairman. When Heath came to power in 1970 he kept Johnson-Smith at Central Office. Soon afterwards
Iain Macleod died suddenly, the party Chairman
Anthony Barber taking his place and Johnson-Smith becoming acting chairman. He was never in the running for the top job, despite his popularity among Conservative ladies, and in April 1971 he instead became Under-Secretary for Defence for the Army with special responsibility for the
Ulster Defence Regiment. Johnson-Smith, who was later to launch a successful campaign on behalf of
haemophiliacs who had been given infected blood, fought a long battle to curb the
Church of Scientology. The Church had its headquarters near East Grinstead and in 1970 he endured a six-week
libel case before a jury vindicated his stance. After the
Bloody Sunday killings of January 1972, he mounted an uncompromising defence of the
Parachute Regiment: "It is bad enough for our troops to have to run all the perils and be shot at by gunmen without having their pain increased by smears in this House." In November 1972, Heath moved him sideways to the Civil Service Department, with the remit of sharpening presentation of government policy. His time there was dominated by the
Kenneth Littlejohn affair, which was still rumbling on when Heath called a
snap election in February 1974. Johnson-Smith fought a skilful media campaign, but could not prevent Heath losing. When
Margaret Thatcher took the leadership, she asked him to oversee media activities at Central Office alongside a fellow television professional,
Gordon Reece. After her
1979 election victory he joined the
1922 Committee executive and chaired the party's backbench media committee. From 1980 to 1996 he chaired the select committee on Member's Interests, having to field embarrassing questions about the business activities of Thatcher's son,
Mark. He served on the Board of Governors of the
British Film Institute in the 1980s. Johnson-Smith specialised increasingly in defence. From 1985 he chaired the military committee of the North Atlantic Assembly, and from 1987 to 1997 he led the British delegation. For six years he chaired the Conservative backbench defence committee. ==Later life and death==