Lembit Opik’s New Job – 4 June 2010
Lembit Öpik: a name – you’d think – anyone would remember. But it seems his constituency didn’t on the 6 May 2010 (election day), when he lost the seat he had held since 1997, MP for Montgomeryshire in Wales.
Following much mocking on the special election-themed version of the popular satirical news programme ‘Have I Got News for You’, it would seem Öpik has now finally found himself a new job.
“Can we get on with it? I’ve actually got an appointment at the job centre in about half an hour…”
– Lembit Öpik, Have I Got News For You, 8 May 2010
So, what is the new job for this politician? A public speaker? A writer? No. A stand-up comedian.
Needless to say, it is not the kind of job you’d expect the ordinary MP to go into following a fairly successful life in politics. But then this is not an ordinary MP. It’s Lembit Opik, a man who once claimed a £40 summons charge in his parliamentary expenses for non-payment of Council Tax. He wanted government money to find planet-destroying asteroids.
So perhaps it’s not too surprising that he does want to go into comedy. He is, after all, a very funny chap, though perhaps more ‘funny peculiar’ than ‘funny ha-ha’.#
