Constituency : Bermondsey 1983-2015
Simon became the last Alliance victor of the 1979-83 parliament when he took Bermondsey from Labour in one of the most infamous of by-election campaigns. The right wing MP Bob Mellish had resigned the Labour whip some months earlier but wasn't interested in the SDP. He then decided to resign the seat. Labour leader Michael Foot was goaded by Jim Wellbeloved into denouncing the prospective Labour candidate Peter Tatchell who had called for extra parliamentary action. He was also a gay rights activist and a draft dodger from New Zealand. Foot did not have the power to remove him. Mellish backed his friend John O'Grady who stood for the Real Bermondsey Labour Party and toured the constituency singing homophobic songs. The Liberals were criticised for issuing a leaflet explaining the tactical situation under the heading "The Straight Choice" but Simon still won by a landslide.
Simon was educated at the Cathedral School, Landaff and Cambridge. He became a barrister. He is a practising Christian.
Simon retained his seat easily in 1983. In 1984 he took advantage of Labour's doziness in a late night debate to become the first Liberal to speak from the dispatch box since Asquith. He held a variety of spokesmanships over the yeas became associated with the left wing of the party. He led the rebellion on defence that embarrassed David Steel at the party conference in 1986. He became disenchanted with the merger process in 1988 and was reportedly threatening to join the Greens but he denied this. In 1991 he was voted Britain's most conscientious MP in a neutral survey which helped boost his majority in 1992. In 1997 he was the only Liberal Democrat to hold his seat where Labour was the main challenger.
Simon stood for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats in 1999 by which time he had something of a reputation for disorganisation. He came second to Charles Kennedy. In 2004 he stood for London Mayor and came a distant third. He became President of the party a year later, serving for four years. When Kennedy was forced to resign, he stood again but was embarrassed when The Sun revealed his use of a gay chatline and he had to admit to being bisexual. The Bermondsey campaign was immediately mentioned but Tatchell came to his defence saying he'd long since apologised and had always voted the right way on gay issues.
Simon became Deputy Leader in 2010 , defeating Tim Farron , and became the government's access to higher education czar, a poisoned chalice if ever there was one. He became a minister for justice in the latter days of the coalition government. He was knighted in 2017.
Simon was defeated after 32 years as an MP in 2015 and fell further behind in 2017. He went to work for the Open University. In 2018 he became Chancellor of London South Bank University and announced that he would not be standing for Parliament again.
He is now 67.
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