Man you might not have heard of to retire from job you might not know exists

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

MAN YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE HEARD OF TO RETIRE FROM JOB YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW EXISTS

Tim Bowles has announced that he will be retiring from politics.

Tim who? Tim Bowles. The West of England?s first metro mayor, who it?s fair to say does not have quite the same profile as his contemporary in Manchester, Andy Burnham, or Bristol mayor Marvin Rees in the level of local government one rung below metro mayor.

Bowles was elected mayor of the West of England Combined Authority (WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about), comprising Bristol, South Glos and Bath & North East Somerset) in 2017, but will not be standing for a second term next year.

Bristol24/7 has asked the Conservatives if the reason why Bowles is not standing again is that he was not selected by the party to contest a second term.

Despite being in charge of a budget of hundreds of millions of pounds, with much government money funnelled through WECA, the former Winterbourne councillor remains little known outside political circles.

Bowles? anonymity is surprising as his official Conservative Party biography says that he enjoyed a successful career in sales and marketing management.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, Bowles said that ?it has been an honour and a privilege to serve the West of England as a councillor and as the region?s first Metro Mayor?.

...continues

Source: Bristol 24/7

[Bmblbzzz]

His name always makes me think of Paul Bowles the Christopher Isherwood character,* but a friend says it makes her think of bowels.

*The Isherwood character is of course Sally Bowles. Paul Bowles is a real person, though I think there might be some indirect connection. But nevertheless this is the thought it causes to be thunked in my branez.

[eightonedee]

I was about to confuse him with Peter Bowles - my inconsistently retentive memory tells me he was a TV^▸ (Thames Valley) actor (To the Manor Born?)

[TonyK]

So many similar names - I shall refer to them as the Serial Bowles.

[patch38]

So many similar names - I shall refer to them as the Serial Bowles.

Grrrreat.

[TonyK]

The Western Super Mayor ((C) bignosemac) has hardly set the world on fire during his term in office, although he might arguably have done slightly less damage than the Bristol Mayor. He seems to have tried to take the credit for things that were in the pipeline, but not had much by way of original thoughts of his own.

I have been trying to find the press report from a ministerial visit to Bristol, where one of First's two electric buses was scrubbed down to remove any last vestige of passengers, fully charged, and used to ferry the two VIPs to the Council House City Hall to be told how good we were at public transport. When the Metro Mayor told the minister that he wished he had more say over the buses, and she told him that he already had the powers, and just needed to use them, I saw him as I did a former colleague who had been doing the wrong job for a decade without realising it.

This isn't about his politics, but about competence in doing the job. That said, having a Conservative mayor ruling the roost over a Labour mayor in the biggest centre of population must take some doing, but I struggle to find anything he has introduced that has done much good. All the big projects had been stitched up long before he came to "Power".