Bob Blizzard: 31 May 1950 – 5 May 2022

The highly-regarded Labour politician and huge supporter of jazz in the UK, Bob Blizzard, who was MP for Waveney, Suffolk until 2010 and former secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group, died of cancer on 5 May aged 71.

Born in Bury St Edmunds in 1950, Bob attended the University of Birmingham where he graduated with a BA in 1971 before becoming an English teacher in Gravesend. During his studies he became interested in politics and developed a wide interest in jazz and prog-rock, collecting albums by Don Rendell and Ian Carr, Graham Collier, Michael Garrick, Stan Tracey, John Surman, Keith Tippett, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Soft Machine, Nucleus and Pink Floyd to name a few who fired his deep and evolving taste in jazz and beyond.

In 1986 he was appointed Head of English at Lynn Grove High School, Norfolk and shortly after became a Labour councillor at Waveney District Council where he was elected leader in 1991. The landslide Labour election victory in 1997 saw Bob win the Tory-held Waveney constituency seat by a large majority which he held until 2010 when Labour lost the General Election. He held several PPS positions in government, resigning one in protest at the Iraq War, before becoming Government Whip in 2008 under Gordon Brown. He was an active member of various All Party Parliamentary Groups but was best known as secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group (APPJAG). Here he established the Parliamentary Jazz Awards in 2005 to help celebrate and recognise the vibrancy, diversity, and talent of the UK jazz scene, which is now one of most important annual UK jazz events.

After losing his seat, Bob continued parliamentary research work with Labour MP Michael Connarty (APPJAG co-chair) and together they launched initiatives to help upcoming young jazz musicians, including the Yamaha/Jazzwise Young Jazz Scholars and Jazz In The House concerts. He became chair of Jazz Services from 2010 to 2013; a trustee of the National Youth Jazz Collective; joined myself and John Cumming in starting Jazz for Labour with a big fund-raising concert at the Barbican in February 2015; and in 2018 launched the annual Lowestoft Jazz weekend, which he was preparing for until he died.

Bob's deep commitment to a more progressive, caring and honest politics and his enormous support for UK jazz will be hugely missed. In tribute, Labour Leader, Sir Kier Starmer said, "It is incredibly sad to learn of Bob Blizzard's death. His committed service to the people of Waveney made him an inspiration to so many people in the Labour Party across Suffolk. He brought his joy for life to everything he did. My thoughts are with his family and friends."