Sir Tony Robinson

Sir Tony Robinson    (Actor, comedian, television presenter, political activist)
Baldrick means Baldrick
Born	Anthony Robinson 15 August 1946 Homerton, London, England, UK
Nationality	British
Children	2
Spouse	Mary Shepherd

Not to be confused with the UK police whistleblower Tony Robinson

Sir Tony Robinson is an English actor, comedian, amateur historian, TV presenter and political activist. He is known for playing Baldrick in the BBC television series Blackadder and for hosting Channel 4 programmes such as Time Team and The Worst Jobs in History. His autobiography entitled "No Cunning Plan" was published in September 2016.

As a member of the Labour Party, Sir Tony Robinson served on its National Executive Committee from 2000 to 2004. On 3 May 2019, he announced that he had left the party, tweeting:

“I’ve left the Labour Party after nearly 45 years of service at branch, constituency and NEC levels, partly because of its continued duplicity on Brexit, partly because of its antisemitism, but also because its leadership is complete shit.”

Baldrick means Baldrick

At PMQs on 26 October 2016, Jeremy Corbyn cited Theresa May's tautological declaration "Brexit means Brexit" and compared her to Sir Tony Robinson's Blackadder character Baldrick:

"On Monday, you told the House, 'We have a plan which is not to set out at every stage of the negotiations the details'.

"I've been thinking about this for a couple of days."

Tory MPs heckled Corbyn, who added:

"I think when you're searching for the real meaning and the importance behind the Prime Minister's statement, you have to consult the great philosophers."

But before he could reveal his thinker of choice, Tory MP James Cleverly piped up, shouting “Marx”! After Speaker John Bercow interjected to calm the roaring Conservative benches, Corbyn continued:

"All I can come up with is Baldrick, who says ‘our cunning plan is to have no plan’.

"Brexit was apparently about taking back control. But the devolved governments don’t know the plan, the banks don’t know the plan, Parliament doesn’t know the plan. When will the Prime Minister abandon this shambolic Tory Brexit and have a plan that delivers for the whole country?”

Theresa May responded:

“Of course, the actor playing Baldrick was a member of the Labour party , I recall.”

Minutes later on Twitter, Robinson tweeted:

"Just to clarify, I am still a member of the Labour Party. 40 years and counting"

and:

"Baldrick means Baldrick"

PPC at Richmond Park?

Sir Tony Robinson aka Baldrick is understood to be adding a postscript to his autobiography "No Cunning Plan" - published in September 2016 - to include a cunning plan to stand as the Labour candidate in the by-election on 1 December 2016 at Richmond Park, the constituency vacated by Tory Zac Goldsmith on 25 October 2016.

On 5 November 2016 journalist, author, and railway historian Christian Wolmar was formally selected as the Labour candidate.

Arise Sir Baldrick

In November 2013, at Prince William's second investiture, Tony Robinson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for public and political service. Describing what happened at the ceremony, Sir Tony said a "little bit of Baldrick crept over me":

"I messed it up completely - I forgot that you were supposed to bow at the beginning, I was just stood there and I was looking at HRH and he was looking at me. I stepped forward and knelt. Then I went the wrong way."

"He said that he was a big fan of Blackadder and was there going to be another series? I said we have always talked about it."

"I said to him 'would you be prepared to be in it?' He said 'yes' like a shot. I managed to do a bit of casting while he was awarding my knighthood. I think that is probably a first."

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