Why a day is a long time in Hull politics

You can wait ages for a big story and then two come along at once!
On the day it was announced that thousands of new jobs were coming to Hull, one of the city's most familiar political figures announced he was stepping down from the shadow cabinet.
On Thursday morning, Alan Johnson came to the BBC studios in Hull to welcome the news that engineering giant Siemens had chosen the Humber as the preferred site for a new offshore wind turbine factory, which could deliver up 10,000 new jobs in the growing renewable energy sector.
Mr Johnson was on good form as he chatted with presenter Peter Levy and laughed and joked with my colleagues on what was clearly a positive day for Hull.
Fast forward to Thursday afternoon and the news broke that Alan Johnson would be stepping down as Labour's Shadow Chancellor for what he described as "personal reasons."
I spent much of the evening (and it was freezing cold!) outside Hull's Octagon Centre, where members of the Hull West and Hessle Constituency Labour Party gathered to hear from the man who has represented them in Parliament since 1997.
Alan Johnson arrived and left without making any comment - a first for him in my experience - and sped away in a snazzy red Mini, driven by his constituency secretary Tracy Windle.
The opening words in Nick Robinson's report on the BBC News at Ten was me asking Mr Johnson why he had decided to resign out of the blue. Like the rest of the population I had to wait until the following morning's newspapers to discover the reason.
Speaking personally, Alan Johnson's departure from frontbench politics marks the end of an era.
I have spent much of my career following the three big beasts of East Yorkshire politics - Alan Johnson, John Prescott and David Davis. For as long as I have been covering politics, they have all been colourful figures in either the cabinet or shadow cabinet. Mr Johnson will join neighbouring Tory MP David Davis on the Commons backbenches, while Baron Prescott now plies his trade in the House of Lords.
So I eagerly await the arrival of the next generation of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire MPs at the top table of British politics. I just hope they all remember me on the way down.

I'm Tim Iredale, the BBC's Political Editor in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire and presenter of the regional Politics Show. This is strictly a "no-spin" zone where the political viewpoint is more Humber Bridge than Westminster Bridge. Your comments and observations are more than welcome.
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