The former Labour and Co-operative MP Doug Naysmith, who has died aged 82, maintained a discreet profile at Westminster and may have been little known outside his constituency city of Bristol, yet he played a crucial role in one of the most far-reaching items of legislation enacted this century.
As a scientist with a doctorate in immunology, he was an influential member of the health select committee that persuaded the Blair government not to compromise, but to allow a free vote on the introduction of the proposed public ban on smoking. Naysmith, MP for Bristol North West from 1997 to 2010, regarded the subsequent passage of the legislation to introduce a total ban, which came into effect in 2007, as the highlight of his career.
