Kmflett's Blog

A brief history of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award

If you’ve been attending to the Labour leadership election you can hardly have missed that the winner Jeremy Corbyn has been five times winner of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award.

You may have missed that Corbyn’s Deputy, Tom Watson, is also a former winner of the Award.

The question is often asked why Corbyn has won so often and who it is that determines this.

The Award is given by the Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers.

The origins of the Parliamentary Award lie in the reality that the BLF organising committee got tired of MPs promoting themselves for the annual Beard of the Year Award at the end of December and determined that it might be best to allow Parliamentarians to have their own Award.

It was launched in 2001.

For some years the winner was determined by BLF researchers checking which Parliamentarians had beards and if any of them had stayed awake long enough in Parliament to say or do anything notable at all, and particularly obviously about beards.

Hansard was the main tool used.

Jeremy Corbyn won more often the most because he did actually make occasional Parliamentary contributions about beards and also because the Tories in particular made a thing of his informal appearance in the Chamber.

The BLF is not a party political organisation however and the Parliamentary Beard of the Year shortlist tries to have some balance between Labour, Tories, LibDems (more difficult currently) and others (the SNP will certainly feature on the 2015 list).

In more recent times as technology has moved on the Award has moved to on-line voting. This is open to all although precautions are taken to stop any plural voting.

As with pretty much any democratic election the winner tends to be determined by the candidate who mobilises their voters the most effectively.

As Jeremy Corbyn has noted he is proud of his beard perhaps it is no surprise he has also managed to gather the support to win the Award a record 5 times.

Will he win in 2015? That’s up to you

London Socialist Historians Seminars Autumn 2015.

All seminars start at 5.30pm in Room 304 Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, London WC1. Free without ticket

12th Oct: Merilyn Moos, Generations: the impact of the personal and political on children born in Britain to refugees from Nazism

26th Oct: John Newsinger: British Counter Insurgency. A history

9th Nov: Chris Jury: Politics, theatre and history

23rd Nov:  Sue Jones ‘My longing desire to go to sea’: wanderlust and wayward youth in early modern England​

7th Dec: Roundtable, Keith Flett & others. How to remember the 1926 General Strike, 90 years on

The Ambridge Socialist

Covering more than 60 years of the class struggle in Borsetshire

13^th September

How will Corbyn’s victory be greeted in Ambridge?

How will Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the Labour leadership election be greeted in Ambridge. It seems very likely that the BBC’s regular reports from the village will completely ignore it. The Ambridge Socialist expects Joe and Eddie Grundy to repeat their famous rendition of the Red Flag outside The Bull at closing time on Sunday. Susan Carter is likely to be less happy unless Corbyn can see his way to agree the nationalisation of the village shop under workers control.

Socialism & Ambridge: how they are connected

Richard Attlee who plays Kenton Archer is the grandson of Clem Attlee

Thanks to Linda Grant for this important information

Ambridge Socialist poll: is Brian Aldridge a dinosaur?

According to Adam, Brian is a dinosaur. Is he right?

In other news

Henry has started school and has been wetting the bed. For thoughts on this check social media

Meanwhile Rob wants the farm shop to stock ‘national brands’ (well M&S do)

Rooth is not happy. David & Pip have been moving things on the farm without telling her. She really should listen to the Archers more often for updates.

Beard Liberation Front

Press release 13th September

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

BEARD CAMPAIGNERS STAND READY TO ADVISE JEREMY CORBYN

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with mostly clean shaven Labour MPs announcing they won’t serve under new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn it stands ready to advise him on matters related to beards

Corbyn has been a long-time supporter of the Beard Liberation Front, and the BLF, while non-party political, has welcomed the election of the first leader of a major UK party with a beard since Keir Hardie stood down as Labour leader in 1908.

The campaigners say that they understand that socialism is the language of priorities but they stand ready to advise the new Labour leader on making Britain more Beard Friendly.

Policies could include:

No Shaving Zones

Planning restrictions on barbers shops

Higher VAT on shaving products

The introduction of BBC TV newsreaders with beards

BLF organiser Keith Flett said, we are delighted that a Labour leader with a beard has been elected and in due course we hope he will lead the Party to adopt a range of Beard Friendly policies which we are happy to advise him on

2015 Parliamentary Beard of the Year contest

Nominations for the Parliamentary Beard of the Year will open on 1st October. All those nominated will go to a poll in mid-November with a shortlist of the 10 leading beard wearers to go forward to the final public vote.

The 2015 Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award poll will open on 27th November with the publication of the 2015 shortlist with the winner announced on 11th December 2015

Winners of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award

2001 Jeremy Corbyn

2002 Charles Clarke

2003 Robin Cook

2004 Frank Dobson

2005 David Blunkett

2006 George Galloway

2007 Jeremy Corbyn

2008 John Thurso

2009 Tom Watson

2010 Gerry Adams

2011 Jeremy Corbyn

2012 Jeremy Corbyn/John Randall

2013 Julian Huppert

2014 Jeremy Corbyn

Beard Liberation Front

Press release 13th September

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

CAMPAIGNERS SAY CORBYN IN WITH A CHANCE OF SIXTH PARLIAMENTARY BEARD POLL WIN

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has said that with the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader on 12^th September there has been considerable interest in the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award

Jeremy Corbyn is five times winner of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award and was the winner of the original award in 2001 and while his beard may be a little more restrained these days, it has been a consistent presence on the Parliamentary backbenches for over 30 years.

The Award goes to the MP or Peer whose hirsuteness has made the most Parliamentary impact in the public eye during the year underlining that beards are an increasingly powerful force in Parliament even with what was until recent a largely clean shaven Government.

Details of the winners since the contest started in 2001 and the rules for the forthcoming 2015 contest are below.

BLF organiser Keith Flett said, Jeremy Corbyn will be in with a good chance to take the title for a record sixth time but it’s possible that his Deputy Tom Watson could challenge him if he  re-grows the beard that saw him win in 2009.

2015 Parliamentary Beard of the Year contest

Nominations for the Parliamentary Beard of the Year will open on 1st October. All those nominated will go to a poll in mid-November with a shortlist of the 10 leading beard wearers to go forward to the final public vote.

The 2015 Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award poll will open on 27th November with the publication of the 2015 shortlist with the winner announced on 11th December 2015

Winners of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award

2001 Jeremy Corbyn

2002 Charles Clarke

2003 Robin Cook

2004 Frank Dobson

2005 David Blunkett

2006 George Galloway

2007 Jeremy Corbyn

2008 John Thurso

2009 Tom Watson

2010 Gerry Adams

2011 Jeremy Corbyn

2012 Jeremy Corbyn/John Randall

2013 Julian Huppert

2014 Jeremy Corbyn

Beard Liberation Front

Press release 12^TH September

Contact Keith Flett 07803 167266

CAMPAIGNERS WELCOME THE AGE OF THE BEARD AS CORBYN ELECTED LABOUR LEADER

The Beard Liberation Front, the informal network of beard wearers, has welcomed the Age of the Beard with the news that Jeremy Corbyn has been elected Labour leader

Jeremy Corbyn is five times winner of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award and was the winner of the original award in 2001 and while his beard may be a little more restrained these days, it has been a consistent presence on the Parliamentary backbenches for over 30 years.

The campaigners say that Corbyn has faced many comments about his beard and informal appearance during the Leadership campaign but his victory underlines the growing disenchantment that there is with clean shaven politicians in suits

The 2015 Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award poll will open on 27th November with the publication of the 2015 shortlist with the winner announced on 11th December 2015

BLF organiser Keith Flett said, we hope Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader will herald a more Beard Friendly Britain where how people dress and appear is less important than what they say and what they do

Winners of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year Award

2001 Jeremy Corbyn

2002 Charles Clarke

2003 Robin Cook

2004 Frank Dobson

2005 David Blunkett

2006 George Galloway

2007 Jeremy Corbyn

2008 John Thurso

2009 Tom Watson

2010 Gerry Adams

2011 Jeremy Corbyn

2012 Jeremy Corbyn/John Randall

2013 Julian Huppert

2014 Jeremy Corbyn

The Beard Liberation Front has welcomed Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader noting it opens a new era of the beard in UK politics.

Corbyn is the first Labour leader with a beard since Keir Hardie and 5 times winner of the Parliamentary Beard of the Year.

BLF organiser Keith Flett said the era of clean shaven politicians in suits is drawing to a close though there is some way to go on diversity yet

Contact Keith Flett on 07803 167266