Ladywood selection row nears its end

A bitter internal Labour Party row may be resolved soon.

Shabana Mahmood is about to learn whether or not she is Labour's candidate for Birmingham's Ladywood constituency.

Ms Mahmood, who is the daughter of Mahmood Ahmed, the chairman of Birmingham Labour Party, won the selection contest last June.

But the result was challenged by supporters of Birmingham city councillor Yvonne Mosquito, who had also applied to become the Labour candidate.

They claimed that as many as 30 people were prevented from voting for Coun Mosquito by officials, on the grounds that they had not been members of the local Labour Party for long enough.

Labour's head office in London set up an inquiry chaired by Amicus official Mike Griffiths, to try to work out if the rules had been broken or not.

It's taken six months for him to come to a conclusion. We should learn what it is this week.

But this may not be the end of it. One possibility is that Mr Griffiths suggests the contest is run all over again, leading potentially to a fresh round of feuding.

Ladywood is currently represented by Clare Short, the former Labour MP who is now an independent and will leave the Commons at the next election.

Whoever becomes Labour candidate is almost certain to be the constituency's next MP.