Simon Gilbert | |
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Born | Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England | 6 June 1984
Education | Liverpool University Liverpool Hope University |
Occupation | Journalist / Author |
Simon Gilbert (born 6 June 1984) is an English journalist and author. He is a political reporter on radio, online and TV for the BBC and has worked on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire , BBC WM , Midlands Today and Sunday Politics Midlands. [1]
Previously, he was the chief reporter at the Coventry Telegraph [2] and a regular contributor to the Daily Mirror . [3] [4] [5]
He led the Coventry Telegraph's #bringCityhome campaign in the summer of 2014. [6] The campaign played a role in Coventry City F.C.'s return to the city following their exile at Sixfields in Northampton. Gilbert and the campaign were shortlisted at the Press Gazette British Journalism Awards 2014 in the Campaign of the Year category [7] and Gilbert won the Campaign of the Year Title at the 2014 Pride of Trinity Mirror Awards. [8] The campaign also resulted in Gilbert becoming the only regional newspaper journalist in the country to be shortlisted in the Sports Journalist of the Year category at the 2014 British Journalism Awards. [9]
His work was praised in the House of Commons by then Coventry North East MP Bob Ainsworth and the MP for Folkestone and Hythe, Damian Collins. [10]
Gilbert's coverage around the Ricoh Arena fiasco led to him producing a book which documents the history of the stadium project and Coventry City F.C.'s subsequent fall from grace. The book entitled Coventry City: A Club Without a Home: The Fight Behind The Sky Blues' Return from Exile is published by Pitch Publishing and was released in October 2016. [11]
In 2015, Gilbert was awarded Highly Commended prizes at the Midlands Media awards in three categories: Sports Journalist of the Year, Scoop of the Year and Campaign of the Year. [12]
In 2016 he was shortlisted for Business Journalist of the Year at the Midlands Media Awards. [13]
In 2017 he was shortlisted for Sports Journalist of the Year at the Midlands Media Awards. [14]
In 2019 he was shortlisted in two categories at the Midlands Media Awards: Television Journalist of the Year and Radio Journalist of the Year. [15] He was Highly Commended in the Radio Journalist of the Year category. [16]
In September 2014, Gilbert broke a national exclusive which reported English Premiership rugby union side Wasps RFC were in talks to permanently relocate to the Ricoh Arena, in Coventry, from their home at Adams Park, in High Wycombe. [17] The club later confirmed the takeover of the stadium and moved to the Ricoh Arena in December 2014. [18]
In March 2015, Gilbert revealed that long-serving MP Geoffrey Robinson had told party activists he would step down to allow Greg Beales, Director of Strategy and Planning for the Labour Party and a former aide to Ed Miliband, to contest his seat. An email seen by Gilbert appeared to show Beales and Robinson discussing introductions to prominent members of the local Labour party. The email, apparently sent before any announcement of Robinson's resignation, suggested selection of a new MP would take place within two weeks. [19] A second email, addressed to senior members of the local party, was also later exposed by Gilbert. It stated categorically that Mr Robinson would stand down before the next election; it appears the local Labour party was concerned Labour HQ would deprive them of an opportunity to freely choose the next candidate by strongly referencing Beales. [20] A u-turn would appear to have taken place, due to the Coventry Telegraph coverage and Robinson eventually contested and won Coventry North West. [21]
In September 2015, he broke the news that Maryam Namazie had been banned from speaking at the University of Warwick. [22] The story prompted outcry from the likes of Brian Cox, Salman Rushdie and Richard Dawkins and the ban was overturned a few days later. [23]
In October 2015, Gilbert reported from the scene of the fatal city centre bus crash in Coventry which claimed the lives of two people. [24] [25] He was interviewed live on BBC News and Sky News as the national media sought clarification of the details surrounding the tragedy. [26] [27] [28]
Throughout 2016 and 2017, Gilbert undertook a series of interviews for national newspapers on the situation at Coventry City. He provide comment for The Guardian , [29] Vice Sports [30] and the i . [31]
Gilbert's work on Coventry City led to a Parliamentary debate over the off the field issues at the club, and subsequent mediation, between various parties involved in the dispute. [32]
In April 2017, Gilbert appeared on BBC One's Football Focus discussing Coventry City's off-field problems. [33]
Gilbert exclusively revealed details of a leaked letter by Warwickshire Police to the Home Office in reports aired during September 2019 across the BBC. The letter, signed by the force's chief constable and the Warwickshire Police and Crime Commissioner, talked about the potential collapse of the police force and lives being "put at risk" as a result of the alliance with West Mercia Police being terminated. [34]
Nuneaton is a market town in Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire to the north-east. Nuneaton's population at the 2021 census was 88,813, making it the largest town in Warwickshire. Nuneaton's urban area, which also includes the large villages of Bulkington and Hartshill, had a population of 99,372 at the 2021 census.
Bedworth is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth, Warwickshire, England. It is situated between Coventry, 6 miles to the south, and Nuneaton, 3 miles (5 km) to the north. In the 2021 census the town had a population of 31,090.
Geoffrey Robinson is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry North West for 43 years, from 1976 to 2019. He was Paymaster General from May 1997 to December 1998, resigning after The bankruptcy of his company Trans Tec. It was revealed that he had lent his government colleague Peter Mandelson £373,000 to buy a house. From 1996 to 2008 he was the owner of the New Statesman, a centre-left weekly political magazine.
Coventry City Football Club is a professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed after the sky blue colours that were part of the club's early years, before making a return in 1962.
Coleshill is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England, taking its name from the River Cole, on which it stands. It had a population of 6,900 in the 2021 Census, and is situated 11 miles (18 km) east of Birmingham, 8.5 miles (13.7 km) southeast of Sutton Coldfield, 11 miles (18 km) south of Tamworth, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Coventry by road and 13 miles (21km) west of Nuneaton. It borders the parish village of Kingshurst in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull to the west. It is also home to the 502 year The Coleshill School seated next to the dual carriageway.
Coventry North West is a constituency in the city of Coventry represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Taiwo Owatemi of the Labour Party.
Coventry South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Zarah Sultana, representing the Labour Party until her suspension and whip withdrawal on 23 July 2024 for voting against the two child benefit cap. She now sits as an independent MP.
David John Nellist is a British Trotskyist activist who was the MP for the constituency of Coventry South East from 1983 to 1992. Elected as a Labour MP, his support for the Militant tendency led to his eventual expulsion from the party in late 1991. He is the National Chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), a member of the Socialist Party, and was a city councillor in Coventry from 1998 to 2012.
The Coventry Telegraph is a local English tabloid newspaper. It is published by Coventry Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Reach PLC Midlands Ltd, along with a number of other local publications.
The Coventry Building Society Arena is a complex in Coventry, West Midlands, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currently home to football team, Championship club Coventry City F.C. along with facilities which include a 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) exhibition hall, a hotel and a casino. The site is also home to Arena Park Shopping Centre, containing one of UK's largest Tesco Extra hypermarkets. Built on the site of the Foleshill gasworks, it is named after its sponsor, Coventry Building Society who entered into a ten-year sponsorship deal in 2021. For the 2012 Summer Olympics, where stadium naming sponsorship was forbidden, the stadium was known as the City of Coventry Stadium.
The Coventry to Nuneaton Line is a railway line linking Coventry and Nuneaton in the West Midlands of England. The line has a passenger service. It is also used by through freight trains, and freight trains serving facilities on the route.
University Hospital Coventry is a large National Health Service (NHS) hospital situated in the Walsgrave on Sowe area of Coventry, West Midlands, England, 4 miles (6 km) north-east of the city centre. It is part of the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW), and is the principal hospital serving Coventry and Rugby, providing a wide range of services. It works in partnership with the University of Warwick's Warwick Medical School. It has a large, progressive accident & emergency department providing a trauma service to Coventry and Warwickshire.
Travel de Courcey was a bus and coach operator based near Coventry in the West Midlands region of England. It operated local bus services in the Coventry and Warwickshire area and National Express contracts.
Coventry Arena railway station is a railway station on the Coventry-Nuneaton Line. Located to the north of Coventry, England, it serves the adjacent Coventry Arena, for which it is named. It was opened on 18 January 2016, along with Bermuda Park station after considerable delays.
Daw Mill was a coal mine located near the village of Arley, near Nuneaton, in the English county of Warwickshire. The mine was Britain's biggest coal producer. It closed in 2013 following a major fire. It was the last remaining colliery in the West Midlands.
Craig Paul Tracey is a British Conservative Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Warwickshire from 2015 until his defeat in 2024, and Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party since February 2024. Originally from the North East, Tracey settled in North Warwickshire in 1997. After serving as a parish councillor he was selected as the Conservative Party's parliamentary candidate for North Warwickshire in 2014. He unexpectedly increased the Conservative majority in the constituency despite not being the favourite to win. A former member of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, Tracey has served as co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Insurance and Financial Services since July 2016.
West Midlands bus route 360 was a 31-mile route that circumnavigated Coventry. Operated by Travel de Courcey, it was the longest urban bus route in Europe.
Emma Rebecca McGann is a British singer-songwriter, musician, and online live-streamer on broadcasting platforms YouNow and Twitch.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is the combined authority for the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom. It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. The authority formally came into being on 17 June 2016.
The Bedworth Echo was a weekly paid-for newspaper which was founded in 1979. The Echo was the only newspaper to exclusively serve Bedworth. It was further distributed to the neighbouring market town of Nuneaton, as well as Atherstone, Coventry, Hinckley, and Market Bosworth.