Former Sports Minister wins BISL Parliamentary Darts Challenge

The Bradford South MP edged out his parliamentary colleagues, the current Shadow Minister for Sport, Clive Efford MP and John Whittingdale MP, Chairman of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.

The Darts Challenge  was held to mark the launch of BISL’s highly acclaimed 88-page Leisure Industry Report which was presented to an audience of over 100 business leaders, politicians and media at Rileys Sports Bar in Victoria, London.  Simon Johnson, CEO of BISL, believes the launch succeeded in reflecting both the fun and the serious business credentials of the leisure industry. 

He explained: “The key messages which came out of BISL’s Leisure Industry Report focused on the very serious contributions leisure makes to the UK economy in terms of being a sector which employs 2.6 million people, more than the manufacturing, transport, construction or financial services sectors and one which generates over us$ 312.8 billion of revenue a year when accounting for direct contributions of us$ 183 billion and indirect contributions of us$ 159.5 billion.

“Our messages to government were, in broad terms, give us the right support and we think we will be able to create a further 440,000 jobs by 2020 and specifically, appoint a Cabinet minister responsible for championing the growth of the Leisure Industry in the United Kingdom. Important as these are, we also wanted to demonstrate the social contributions made by the private sector leisure industry, which, provides the UK population with socially responsible and value for money entertainment.  Rileys, Victoria was a perfect venue to showcase the leisure industry both at work and at play and I am delighted that a former Minister for Sport and the current Shadow Minister for Sport were the shining lights of our Parliamentary Darts Challenge.”