Siôn Simon

Siôn Simon
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Creative Industries
In office 9 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Barbara Follett (as Minister for Culture, Tourism and Creative Industries)
Succeeded by	Ed Vaizey (as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries)
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Further Education
In office 5 October 2008 – 9 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	David Lammy
Succeeded by	Kevin Brennan(as Minister of State)
Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington
In office 7 June 2001 – 6 May 2010
Preceded by	Robin Corbett
Succeeded by	Jack Dromey
Personal details
Born	Siôn Llewelyn Simon 23 December 1968 (1968-12-23) Doncaster
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Magdalen College, Oxford
Website	Official Website

Siôn Llewelyn Simon (born 23 December 1968) is a British Labour politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington from 2001 to 2010. Simon was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Creative Industries. On 3 February 2010, he announced he would be standing down at the 2010 general election to attempt to become the first directly elected Mayor of Birmingham.

Background

Born in Caernarfonshire to Welsh-speaking parents but raised in Birmingham, Siôn Simon attended Handsworth Grammar School, where he joined the Labour Party at aged 16. Simon enrolled at Magdalen College, Oxford in 1987, elected President of the college Junior Common Room in his second year.

Professional career

After university, Simon was a research assistant for George Robertson MP for three years. After a stint working for Diageo in their Guinness management team, 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 election campaign, the foreign press department at Labour Party Headquarters. In the 2001 General Election he stood for and held the seat of Birmingham Erdington with a majority of 9,962. He retained the seat at the 2005 General Election with a slightly reduced majority of 9,575. Simon appeared as a judge in St Edmund Campion Catholic School's production of The X Factor in 2007, and also appeared in Series 2 on 25 April 2008.

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, Sion Simon was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Further Education in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

In June 2009 Simon was moved to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to become Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Creative Industries after Innovation, Universities and Skills was merged to make the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. In February 2010, he declared his intention to resign his Birmingham seat at the next election with a view to becoming the city's first elected mayor, citing the difference he perceived such positions to make to communities. Jack Dromey replaced Simon as MP in the 2010 General Election.

He contributed to the book What Next for Labour? Ideas for a new generation in September 2011, his piece was entitled Why Mayors Matter and Why Labour Should Support them.

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. The MPs failed to force Blair out of office, but the Prime Minister did publicly pledge to stand down within 12 months.

On 12 October 2006 Simon created a YouTube spoof of David Cameron's video blog, in which, pretending to be Cameron, he offered viewers 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". In an interview on Sky News that same day, Simon described David Cameron's attempts to reach out to the youth culture as "shallow" and "pathetic" and told his interviewer to "be quiet". The video was removed on 13 October by his friend Tom Watson MP, who he described as a "proppa blogga".

At the time of the Labour Party Conference in September 2007, Simon wrote an article for the New Statesman in which he wrongly predicted that "Shortly there will be an election, in which Labour will increase its majority".

In the aftermath of the British parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, Simon announced he would repay approximately £21,000 out of monies that he had claimed to pay rent on a flat owned by his sister.

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. He co-founded, and works as a trustee for, the Choroideremia Research Foundation Inc.

External links

• Guardian Unlimited Politics - Ask Aristotle: Sion Simon MP
• BBC Interview with Sion Simon MP, Minister for Further Education
• TheyWorkForYou.com - Sion Simon MP
• Siôn Simon: championing an elected Mayor for Birmingham - campaign website

Offices held

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Robin Corbett	Member of Parliament for Birmingham Erdington 2001–2010	Succeeded by Jack Dromey
Preceded by David Lammy	Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Further Education 2008 - 2009	Succeeded by Kevin Brennan (as Minister of State)