About a month ago I speculated that Labour MP Sion Simon was about to quit politics. He, you may remember, was the MP who appeared in that cringemaking Youtube video spoofing Webcameron. His catchphrase was "Just Like You".
The Birmingham Post reports this morning that he is standing down, not because he has had to pay back £21,000 in misclaimed expenses, but because he wants to be Birmingham's first elected Mayor. Using his normal, spot-on political judgement, in the BP article he calls Gordon Brown a "towering figure".
If Birmingham really is desperate enough to vote this objectionable oik into the office of Mayor, it will have lost leave of its collected senses.
Coinicentally, I am off to Birmingham tomorrow to chair a pre election Question Time at the City Inn. I think there are still about ten tickets left, so if you fancy coming along to quiz Jacqui Smith, Andrew Mitchell and John Hemming, simply email questiontime@totalpolitics.com
23 comments:
If Birmingham really is desperate enough to vote this objectionable oik into the office of Mayor, it will have lost leave of its collected senses.
Is there any evidence that it has collected any senses to lose?
Actually it's just the sort of potty thing that a local council might do!
The local newspaper the Birmingham Mail has been running a campaign for the past two years or so to get a referendum on an elected mayor for Birmingham.
Despite their campaign they have never been able to gather the required number of signatures to force a vote, despite requiring only about 3% of the population or around 35,000 signatures!
Iain, this sion simon must be mad. If anyone is aware of the history of Birmingham,I would say he is no Joe Chamberlain.....
Iain, you're being rather unfair to Sion Simon I think. To him, Brown is indeed a "towering figure" - whilst Brown is around 5'11, Sion Simon is a paltry 5'6ish.
He's always looked up at Brown in a way most of us never have...
Don't worry, Iain it won't happen. As one intelligent observer of the local scene said of Sion's justification for leaving.
"As to the Mayoralty, this strikes me as an obviously ridiculous, face saving excuse."
He would have lost Erdington anyway.
PS - Myself and many others are looking forward to see you tomorrow in Ladywood.
he's not an oik iain; he's a pompous, humourless, pretentious, arrogant, snide and toxic short-arse socialist toady; the sort of individual who would thrive in a dictatorship.
he embodies everything that is rancid and unattractive in the labour party in 2010 - and all within one skin.
Sorry to post off-topic:
I've put together this spreadsheet which combines the Tories' top 200 target seats with the latest information from the Electoral Commission regarding when the counts will take place, and I'm updating it whenever new information becomes available.
I hope people find it useful:
http://tinyurl.com/ye6vutz
{Sion Simon's seat isn't on the list because it's no 263 on the Tory target list, requiring a swing of 15%}.
He won't stand a chance after the Brummies are invited to see the little squirt doing his Cameron impression on Youtube. The subsequent interviews on TV news programmes are even more damaging.
He's been a naughty boy and needs to find a real job that's not on the public purse.
Having chickened out of facing his constituents, Sion Twat Simon presumably imagines he can become some kind of poor man's proletarian Boris Johnson. In his dreams maybe.
I'd be surprised if even the Labour was daft enough to select him to stand, let alone win an election of Mayor of Birmingham.
What a deluded fool he is. Time to get a real job Sion - it'll be a new experience for you.
I suppose this is a half baked idea to make sure Cadbury stays British...
Kraft would run a mile if they have to deal with this little prat!
I'd caution Birmingham on going down the elected mayor route - they need to take a serious look at Newham before they make their collective mind up...
Birmingham, you have been warned!
Jasper Carrott for Mayor - let's have a professional comedian rather than an accidental one.
Word verification "oustsio" - I kid you not!
I’m sorry to have to use a bad word here but Sion Simon is a thick turd and I wonder how ever a turd like him could become an MP in the first place. Must be because he is a Labour man and the electorate of his constituency would vote for a turd, as long as it was a Labour turd.
It is truly amazing and simply inexplicable why he should ever have been elected.
I am today announcing my candidacy for President of the United States, despite having been born outwith the USA, never having a history of coherent thought or action and having abused public funds; Do you think I have nuch of a chance, Mr Simon?
Although I want as few utter disasters sitting in Parliament.
I do not wish for the complete removal of SS from public life.
If I feel down I have been able to go to the works of Simon for mirth and ego tickles.
The world is a poorer place without him. Like toothless drink sodden but harmless tramps on an otherwise unremarkable high-street.
Sion Simon is despised in Erdington. This could be one of those occasions when a local result bears no relationship to national swings.
I wonder how Sir Albert Bore feels about another rival to his mayoralty ambitions.
If Birmingham deserves Sion Simon as mayor then it must have done something really very evil indeed in a past life.
For *that* Youtube video, and an even more cringeworthy one where he tries to defend himself on Sky News, see my blog: http://torylandlord.wordpress.com/
If Cameron forces a referendum on Birmingham as he seems to have suggested, I don't think there will be sufficient support for an elected mayor.
I don't see an elected mayor improving the situation as regards preposterous changes to the city's roads and the glut of vanity projects that have been forced on the city in the last few years by politicians desperate to make their mark.
A trip back home to see you host an event?
Very tempting, but I can't make it, sadly.
I will campaign against Sion Simon, sould he stand for election as mayor.
There's a link to Sion Simon's famous BBC interview. Those wishing to hear this towering intellect in action have only to click here.
Lord Lavendon said...
"I would say he is no Joe Chamberlain..."
More to the point for the people of Erdington, he's no Julius Silverman or Robin Corbett.
DomFisher said...
"one observer of the local scene said:
"this strikes me as an obviously ridiculous, face saving excuse."
How can a ridiculous excuse be face-saving? Resigning to apply for a job that doesn't exist makes him look even more of an ass.
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