Colchester Chronicle

And so Saint Bob of Sunny Colch is now Sir Bob.

Blimey.

Sometime in the New Year and the MP for Colchester will arrive at Buckingham Palace to greet Brenda, no doubt wearing his best Lib Dem yellow waistcoat – or is it red or blue nowadays? No one is really sure.

“And what do you do Mr Russell?” will be the question being asked of the man by the Jubilee Girl.

“I am Mr Colchester, Ma’am. Have you ever been to Britain’s Oldest Recorded Town?”

Bob is Bob is Bob. He will treat Brenda in the exact same way that he has treated residents, constituents, party members, opposition councillors, opposition MP’s and even his own Party Leader: I am Bob Russell, MP for Colchester. What can you do to help support MY town?

Good man.

A Who’s Who entry for Sir Bob would boast twenty years as the New Town Councillor at Colchester Borough Council, holding the office of Mayor and the Leader of the Council, and then the small matter of being LibDem MP for Colchester since 1997, fighting four elections and winning them all. Oh yeah – he is also the current Parliamentary Conkers Champion.

Who saw this one coming? Not members of the local LibDem party, who awoke on New Year’s Eve, searched around for their conscience (it’s still in there somewhere, friends – keep the faith…) and then almost choked on their muesli on hearing that Colchester’s Favourite Son now needs to be addresses as a Sir. Which is what many folk around the town have been referring to his Bob-ness for over many years now, such is his reputation.

Sir Bob – as yer man has now expressed he would like to be now known – is someone who has divided the town with his honest opinions, yet somehow still managed to unify Colchester with his undoubted love and passion of the town. You only need to look at the conclusive results from the last general election to see that Sir Bob is still a mighty force within the town.

Local poet Martin Newell is spot on, as ever, describing a recent Westminster meeting with Sir Bob:

“I was expecting, therefore, something of a warhorse. Yet, somewhere inside each man, no matter how formidable his exterior, there remains a boy. The Bob Russell who meets me today, is cheerful and boyish – almost conspiratorially so.

Years ago, when he got cross about one of my early articles, even my Mum took his side. I was mildly crestfallen at this: “He’s a very good constituency MP, Martin,” she pointed out to me. On the way around Parliament, we meet a party of children from Stockport and he stops to talk to them. “This is Bob Russell, MP,” the tour guide tells the kids. He’s been around the Palace of Westminster for a few years now and they all know him. For a splenetic, old bruiser he seems very well thought of.”

This is the impression that The Chronic came away with, having spent a very enjoyable hour in the company of Sir Bob towards the end of the summer. With Westminster still in recess, we got the feeling that Sir Bob was making the most of his final few days of the fag end of the summer in his beloved hometown. Transport, infrastructure growth and yes, *shhh* firstsite were all discussed. Sir Bob wouldn’t budge. He remained firm to his principles, convinced that he has the best interests of Colchester at heart.

It is this dedication to constituents that has served Sir Bob so well. He is no totem of the political elite. Only last month he was fighting the Tendring Tories with a blunt email rebuff, telling the blue rinse mob to take their Tory tanks away from his constituency border. This fighting talk plays out well in the town, if not in the bubble that is the world of the political elite.

As one would expect from a man that divides as equally (and fairly) as he rules around this manor, the local reaction online to the Knighthood was mixed. Colchester Labour Party Chairman, @JordanNewell got in first with the telling tweet:

Congratulations to Bob Russell on his knighthood. A fitting end to his long career in public service?

— Jordan Newell (@jordannewell) December 31, 2011

Ouch. This is a man remember that trailed Sir Bob by a crushing 16,471 votes in the last general election.

OUCH, OUCH indeed, Comrade.

@ColchesterViews shared his / her views, adding:

So, our MP Bob Russell, now Sir Bob, a very good socialist in his day, now a Lib Dem (whatever that is). His reward for keeping it shut?

— Colchester Views (@colchesterviews) December 31, 2011

Which drew the reasoned response from @ColchesterRob of:

@colchesterviews 35 years of public service from councillor,mayor to MP. Like him or not, he has served Colchester well.

— Rob (@ColchesterRob) December 31, 2011

As ever with the messy world of politics, the truth is probably best met halfway in-between.

For all the pomp and pageantry of a date at the Palace, the question remains for Colchester of: What next? Local Libdem party members talks off the record of the struggle to find a worthy successor for the man who has fought their corner so well for over four decades. Put simply, the Big Beast political talent that the local party so desperately needs right now can’t be found within Colchester. Parachuting in a political puppet to carry out the dirty work of the Coalition government will not go down well with locals that voted for the man, and not the free market rampage being carried out under the name of his party. It would be a brave man or woman to walk in the footsteps of Sir Bob.

But this is a man that has surprised Colchester in the past, and who is to say that come 2015, he may still yet stand again as the MP for the town that he so clearly loves? This is a question that I put directly to Sir Bob during our recent Colchester catch-up. Like all wiry old and wise political animals, Sir Bob was cuddly, yet kept his cards close to his chest:

“I’m sixty-five, I shall be sixty-nine at the next general election. I think we’ve got to see what happens. It’s a question of maintaining that enthusiasm and belief that I can do the job. I enjoy representing my hometown in Parliament. However long that goes on for, Mother Nature will decide.”

There are a few politicians that are fortunate to guide their own destiny. If the electorate doesn’t get you, then the greasy pole of politico climbers in your own party will put you out to pasture. Sir Bob seems to be in favour with the former, and the lack of the latter could still pave the way for a remarkable fifth term of office in serving the town.

And so Arise Sir Bob of Sunny Colch – it would be a harsh scribe to state that the man doesn’t deserve the honour.