So congrats to Labour councillor Waseem Zaffar, on his landslide victory in the Chamberlain News Person of the Year awards – or the Chamber POTYs as we like to call them.
The young councillor - who boasts almost as many Facebook followers as Lady Gaga – is even now celebrating his momentous victory by touring the streets of East Handsworth and Lozells in an open-topped bus.
He will be presented with his prize of an engraved enameled late 19th century chamber pot that probably might of been used by Joe Chamberlain himself – as soon as we win that bid on ebay.
Zaffar’s victory is all the sweeter as he held off challenges from his own party leader, Sir Albert Bore, as well as the doughty efforts of former Lord Mayor Anita Ward. Even the pre-Christmas rehabilitation of Andrew Mitchell couldn’t help the Sutton Tory MP rise any higher than fourth place in a poll that reportedly saw a greater turnout than the elected mayor referendum and the police commissioner election combined.
Cllr Zaffar took a break from his victory celebrations to tell The Chamberlain News: “Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for me. I’m flattered. But Lozells & East Handsworth is full of people of the year. They’re the ones who deserve awards. I accept it on their behalf, although it all seems a bit potty to me.”
For those of you watching in black and white, here are those POTY results in full:
