Biography
Born in 1968 to Welsh speaking parents, Mr Simon grew up in North Birmingham and was educated at Handsworth Grammar school and Magdalen College, Oxford.
After graduating in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Mr Simon became research assistant to George Robertson MP, now Lord Robertson of Port Ellen. This was followed in 1993 with a spell as a Senior Manager at Guinness PLC. Between 1997 and 2001, Mr Simon wrote weekly columns in the Daily Telegraph, News of the World, the Daily Express, and remains an associate editor of The Spectator. Whilst freelancing between 1995 and 1997 Mr Simon was employed as a consultant to the Labour Party. In the 1997 General Election campaign, he ran the foreign press department at Labour Party Headquarters, having previously run the European desk in the 1992 election.
Mr Simon was elected to Parliament in June 2001 to represent the constituency of Birmingham, Erdington. He served on the Public Accounts Committee for NEARLY two years from 2003, and was an FCO/DTI Parliamentary Private Secretary during 2004-5. He now sits on the Treasury Select Committee, chairs Labour's Manifesto Group on Law and Order and is Chair of the All Party Group on Private Equity and Venture Capital.
Mr Simon is a Trustee and board member of Action against Medical Accidents, and a founder and Trustee of the Choroideremia Research Foundation Inc.
Mr Simon was a guest judge for our first "X Factor" competition in April 2007.
