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Siôn Simon MP
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 5 October 2008 |
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| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
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| Preceded by | David Lammy (Now Minister at the DIUS) |
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Member of Parliament
for Birmingham Erdington |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 11 June 2001 |
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| Preceded by | Robin Corbett |
| Majority | 9,575 (30.2%) |
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| Born | 23 December 1968 Doncaster |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Alma mater | Magdalen College, Oxford |
| Website | Sion Simon's website |
Siôn Llewelyn Simon (born 23 December 1968) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He has been Labour member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington since 2001. Simon is currently the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Further Education at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
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Background
Born in Caernarfonshirecitation needed to Welsh-speaking parents, Simon grew up in Birmingham, attending Handsworth Grammar School before enrolling at Magdalen College, Oxford in 1987. While at Oxford he was elected head of the college JCR (Junior Common Room) in his second year.
After university, he was research assistant for George Robertson MP for three years.
Professional career
After a stint working for Guinness, he became a journalist, working for the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Express and the News of the World. He continues to be an associate editor at the Spectator.
In the 1992 election campaign he ran the European desk for the Labour Party and then, during the 1997 campaign, the foreign press department at Labour Party Headquarters. In the 2005 General Election he stood for and held the seat of Birmingham Erdington with a majority of 9 575. Sion has also appeared as a judge in St Edmund Campion School Version of X Factor in 2007 and also appeared in Series 2 on April 25 2008.citation needed
Shortly after Gordon Brown became Prime Minister he became Vice-Chair of the Labour Party, with special responsibility to draft the Law and Order manifesto for the upcoming General Election.
Following the October 2008 reshuffle by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Sion Simon was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Further Education in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills1
Controversies
On 5 September 2006 he and Chris Bryant co-ordinated a letter which was signed by 17 Labour backbenchers calling for Tony Blair to resign.2 The MPs failed to force Mr Blair out of office, but the Prime Minister did publicly pledge to stand down within 12 months.
On 12 October 2006 controversy erupted over a YouTube spoof by Simon of David Cameron's video blog, in which, pretending to be Cameron, he offered people one of his children and the opportunity to sleep with his wife. This led to expressions of disgust from both parties with the stunt being called "tasteless".3 4 Traffic for Cameron's video blog increased tenfold after the controversy. In an interview on Sky News that same day, he described David Cameron's attempts to reach out to the youth culture as "shallow" and "pathetic".5 The video was removed on 13 October by his friend Tom Watson MP, who he described as a "proppa blogga".6
At the time of the Labour Party Conference in September 2007, Simon wrote a triumphalist article for the New Statesman in which he predicted that "Shortly there will be an election, in which Labour will increase its majority" and continued:-
- "That is a frightening responsibility. The young princes who now stride the parade ground with the confidence born of aristocratic schooling can never be afraid. They never have been. Like latter day Pushkins drilled in the elite academy of Brownian blitzkrieg, they are bursting with their sense of destiny. It’s not the Milibands, the Ballses or the Burnhams who are unconsciously nervous. This is the moment for which they were created. They are ready."[1]
Exactly one year on, when Labour had failed to call the 2007 election and were well behind the Conservatives in the opinion polls, he was accused of "hubris"[2]
Personal life
Simon suffers from the rare genetic disorder, choroideremia, a condition that leads to progressive deterioration in eyesight and in its later stage, blindness.7 He co-founded, and works as a trustee for, the Choroideremia Research Foundation Inc.8
References
- ^ Mail on Sunday
- ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Minister joins Blair exit demands
- ^ BBC News Player
- ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Tories shrug off Cameron send-up
- ^ Sky News Video Player
- ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Labour MPs 'sorry' for Tory spoof
- ^ BBC NEWS | Politics | Sion Simon
- ^ Who We are
External links
- Sion Simon's website
- Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Sion Simon MP
- TheyWorkForYou.com - Sion Simon MP
Offices held
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by Robin Corbett |
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington 2001 – present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by David Lammy (Promoted to Minister in the department) |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills 2008 – present |
Incumbent |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 10 November 2008, at 13:30.
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