MP Jeremy Corbyn goes on Santa stand-by as Town Hall’s top earner says: No, No, No

Published: 10th December, 2010
by PETER GRUNER

IT was too good to be true. The Town Hall’s top man, the amiable John Foster, being asked to play Santa at a new “people’s” Christmas party for pensioners? 

Mr Foster, one of the highest-paid council chief executives in the country, apparently declined the offer, according to insiders at the Town Hall.

Which left the organisers asking: which well-known local figure could play the role? Step forward Islington North Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, as famous for his beard as his left-wing politics. 

Mr Corbyn has admitted he is not entirely enthusiastic about dressing up as Father Christmas but has volunteered to do it for the party – if no one else is available. 

The £1,033 cost of the party at the Assembly Hall, opposite the town hall in Upper Street, on Wednesday December 22, has been met by axing the council’s annual reception for community figures and council partners.

“Instead, we’ve decided to run a pensioners’ party,” Labour council leader Councillor Catherine West said. “We think it’s much more important to spend money on older residents than a council reception.”

Secretary of Islington Pensioners’ Forum John Worker – his organ­isation has been offered 60 tickets – said: “I’m sorry that Mr Foster won’t be playing Santa, but Jeremy Corbyn will be perfect for the job, I always thought he looks a bit like Father Christmas. Ho, ho, ho.”