I WAS greatly honoured to be elected Mayor of Malvern in May.
The position of Mayor is a very old one. The word coming from the French, maire.
At one time a Mayor was also a J.P. Charlermagne’s father who was a Mayor who later became king. I have, you will be reassured, no such ambition.
Clint Eastwood was a Mayor in America, but I think my chance of being a film star with a band of groupies is fading fast. Mrs Thatcher’s father was Mayor of Grantham, seen splendidly robed in a familiar photograph.
Perhaps one of my sons will become Prime Minister, be created Earl of Malvern and sit in the House of Lords.
The Mayor of Worcester also has fine robes. Our Mayor has to make do with his own suits.
One can’t fail to mention the Mayor of London. This is a comparatively new, directly elected post, currently occupied by the one and only Boris Johnson.
Now that our present Prime Minister has declared he will not stand for the position again, and now that Boris is also an MP, I will be surprised if he doesn’t throw his hat into the ring.
Again I have to reassure you that I have no such ambition. Harriett Baldwin may well be relieved to know this. I do have forebears who were Lord Mayors in the city.
Perhaps I will be following in their footsteps. The position of Mayor of Malvern is not old as it was introduced following the Local Government Act of 1972 which abolished Urban District Councils and created parish and town councils.
I am privileged to represent Malvern in what Prince Philip is reported to have said when seeing a line of Mayors to be presented, ‘ah, the chain gang’.
