Recently by Jonathan Walker

Greg Clark, the Minister for the Cities, urged Birmingham residents to vote "yes" to an elected mayor, after signing the order telling Birmingham to hold a referendum on May 3.

In an article, originally published in abbreviated form by the Birmingham Mail, he said "the choice is yours" - but argued that a Birmingham Mayor would give the city a strong and accountable leader "who fights their corner - batting for Birmingham on a national and international level."

Mr Clarke is a Minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government. He writes:

Yesterday I was delighted to sign an order which will give residents here in Birmingham the chance to put a directly-elected mayor at the helm.

Putting pen to ballot paper, voters here, and those in the nine other cities, hold the power to bring in a new politics on May 3rd.

Why is this such a great opportunity?

Cannock MP Aidan Burley receives a right telling off from the Speaker in this video, as he heckles Dudley MP Ian Austin. The Black Country MP was demanding to know when an inquiry into Mr Burley's involvement in a Nazi-themed stag do would report its findings.

John Bercow, the Speaker, tells Mr Burley (Con Cannock Chase) to keep quiet after Mr Burley shouts "disgrace". Only Mr Austin had his microphone on, but Mr Burley's words were more audible in the Chamber than they are in this clip from the TV broadcast.

Labour should hold open primaries allowing casual supporters to choose the party's candidate for mayor of Birmingham, according to senior Labour figure David Miliband.

Mr Miliband, the former Foreign Secretary and ex-Labour leadership contender, said the candidate for a Birmingham mayor could be decided in an open primary where anyone can vote if they sign a declaration saying they support Labour and pay a nominal fee of £1.

At the moment, the decision will be made just by party members, who so far have a choice of three candidates - Gisela Stuart, Sion Simon and Sir Albert Bore.

Candidates hoping to stand for mayor of Birmingham will be set a strict spending limit of just over £47,000 each - but it's unclear where they will get the money from.

The parties have given no indication that they will actually be willing to fund mayoral campaigns. And with elections for police commissioners also taking place at the same time as the mayoral vote in November, they may simply not have the cash to splash out for leaflets and traditional mailshots.

The funding cap was revealed by Local Government Minister Andrew Stunell, who said candidates would be allowed to spend £2,362 plus 5.9p for every voter.

How does Ed Miliband know what anyone is saying about him?

One thing that struck me as odd in an interview the Labour leader has given to The House Magazine (edited by one Gisela Stuart) is that he doesn't read the papers or watch the television news.

The interviewer, Paul Waugh (here he is on Twitter), reports:

Does he read the newspapers? "No, not really." Does he watch the TV news? "When you get home, the thing I most want to do is spend time with my kids.".

The commentariat are another group that don't trouble him. "You know I think the thing you learn most in this job is you let the commentators, the people who give you advice, to take their own view and you carry on doing the right thing as you see it."

MP Tom Watson has forgiven a researcher who plunged him into an internet row by pretending to be him - and making a joke about rape.

Mr Watson (Lab West Bromwich East), Labour's internet guru in his role as deputy party chair, said he had accepted an apology from the 21-year-old researcher and would not fire her, even though she sent an offensive message in his name.

The MP has also issued an apology after the researcher sent a message on Internet service Twitter stating: "I should log out of my twitter so that my intern doesn't twit-rape me..."

She used Mr Watson's Twitter account, which has 65,000 followers, so that the comment appeared to come from the MP himself.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has hinted at a division within the coalition over plans to introduce controversial regional pay deals.

Proposals to end national pay agreements in the public sector were a surprise announcement in George Osborne's Autumn Statement last year. The policy is opposed by unions and Labour - but Dr Cable, one of the most senior Lib Dems in the Cabinet, has now warned there are "practical problems" with the proposal, calling it "a subject we'll have to approach with very great care".

In today's Birmingham Post we've published a lengthy interview with Dr Cable, who spoke to representatives of regional newspapers about a wide range of topics including high speed rail, city mayors and the failure of big cities to match the economic success of their equivalents on the Continent.

But he also hinted that he had doubts about regional pay, a policy which is supposedly designed to help private sector employers in regions outside London to compete to staff.

The order which forces Birmingham to hold a referendum on creating a directly elected mayor was approved by the House of Commons today - although it was formally opposed by the Labour Party.

Shadow local government minister Chris Williamson demanded a division and then voted against the measure, which obliged the city to hold a referendum on May 3.

Edit - Labour have contacted me to say that this does not mean the party is opposed to a referendum. The party is opposed to national government obliging the city to hold a referendum - which is what the order does - and believes local authorities should be free to hold referendums on the issue if they choose. See more below.

The order was discussed at a Commons delegated legislation committee, which is a Commons committee set up to consider detailed changes to the law which do not require an Act of Parliament. The general power to force cities to hold referendums is contained in the Localism Act, which became law last year, and the Government has drawn up orders for each city which are now being considered in committees, one at a time.

Birmingham Erdington MP Jack Dromey has this afternoon apologised to the House of Commons for failing immediately to declare payments of £57,000 from trade union Unite.

This was his statement: "Mr Speaker, I would like to make an apology to the House.

"A report has been published by the Standards and Privileges Committee following an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Labour's Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls was in town this weekend and came very, very close to endorsing Sion Simon's bid to become Birmingham's first directly-elected mayor.

Mr Simon, the former MP for Birmingham Erdington, is up against Gisela Stuart, sitting MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, and Sir Albert Bore, leader of the Labour group on the city council, for the party's nomination.

Staffordshire MP Aidan Burley (Con Cannock Chase), who attended a Nazi-themed stag do in France, has issued a fulsome apology on his personal website.

He said: "I am deeply sorry, and want to take this opportunity to offer the people of Cannock Chase an unreserved, wholehearted and full apology for the terrible offence this incident has undoubtedly caused . . . I feel ashamed that Cannock Chase has been placed in the limelight as a result of my behaviour."

He also added: "Being involved in a fancy dress party does not mean you endorse, tacitly or explicitly, the actions and philosophy of the person that is being impersonated. In fact, quite the opposite is true. I have no sympathies whatsoever with Nazism, racism, or fascism."

The Children's Society has published the results of a survey which found most 13 to 17 year olds and adults believed the main reason for the summer riots was that rioters wanted "to get goods and possessions they couldn't afford to buy".

According to the Children's Society, this proves that Theresa May, the Home Secretary, was wrong to claim that the riots were about "instant gratification".

Instead, according to the Children's Society, it proves that "poverty" was one of the key causes of the riots.

David Cameron was in Oldbury, in the Black Country, launching a new project "to radically transform the lives of the country's most troubled families" today.

Almost £450 million will be spent trying to help 120,000 "troubled families" through measures such as the creation of "a national network of Troubled Family 'Trouble-Shooters' who will be appointed by local councils", according to a statement issued by the government.

Officials working for Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, have contacted me to correct a story which appeared in today's Birmingham Post and on our website about the Government offering more powers to cities if they choose to have a mayor.

I believe our story accurately reflects what we were told by a Government Minister yesterday - and Government policy as set out in a new document published today.

Did you know the Conservative Party has been infiltrated by Guardian-reading liberals?

It has, according to Shropshire MP Daniel Kawczynski (Con Shrewsbury and Atcham), who said he was dismayed to discover that so many of his colleagues were members of the liberal elite when he tried to discuss Saudi Arabia with them.

An MP is demanding to know why taxpayers have forked out hundreds of thousands of pounds to former Prime Ministers via a little-known grant.

Tony Blair has received £272,888 since quitting as Prime Minister, while Gordon Brown has received £83,718.

Lady Thatcher received £529,100 over the past five years, while John Major received £490,921.

In Mr Brown's case, the cash comes on top of the £29,963.91 he has claimed in MP's expenses since quitting Downing Street last May.

Young people have been invited to enter a prestigious writing competition backed by the Birmingham Post & Mail, giving them a chance to visit Parliament and meet top politicians and journalists.

The contest is organised by the Parliamentary Press Gallery, which includes journalists from leading regional and national newspapers as well as broadcasters and political bloggers.

Fantastic news - MP John Hemming has reported that Beauty the cat has been found alive and well, and appears to have been living happily in Sparkhill for the past year.

As you may know, Beauty was stolen by Mr Hemming's wife, Christine Hemming, from the home of his long-term girlfriend Emily Cox.

Mrs Hemming, who received a nine-month suspended prison sentence for the theft, has insisted that she did attempt to return the cat by pushing it under a fence near Ms Cox's home. However, Beauty never did make her way home, and her fate has been a mystery since the theft last September.

Black Country MP Tom Watson (Lab West Bromwich East) told News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch that his company faced a new scandal as devastating as the phone hacking scandal, when he travelled to Los Angeles to confront the media mogul in person.

He took part in News Corporation's annual general meeting in the US, after being appointed as a proxy by the US trade union organisation AFL-CIO, which owns a small amount of News Corp shares.

Mr Watson, who led the campaign to expose phone hacking by journalists on the News of the World, the former Sunday tabloid owned by News Corp's subsidiary News International, said police were investigating allegations that private investigators employed by the newspaper group hacked computers.

Referring to Glen Mulcaire, the investigator who was convicted of illegally intercepting phone messages in 2007, he said News Corp faced a "Mulcaire 2".

The MP also accused News Corp of employing investigators to impersonate a former Prime Minister (presumably Gordon Brown) and Illegally obtain information from former army intelligence officers.

From this week's Birmingham Post. Protests against corporate greed and inequality have spread from Wall Street to Britain and across the globe. I asked demonstrators in London's financial district what they hoped to achieve.

Johnny spent last night sleeping under a pile of cardboard. He doesn't have a tent, but he doesn't regret making the journey from Staffordshire to soak up the "festival atmosphere" and protest against the billions poured into failing banks.

Aaron's also making do without a tent - after somebody stole his belongings on the train from Coventry to London. Luckily, he's already made friends among the protesters camped outside St Paul's Cathedral in the heart of London, and they've offered to let him share theirs.

Both young men are among the hundreds taking part in protests in London's financial district, inspired by the Occupy Wall Street events in the United States.

There was a time when the Conservatives were seen as the party that supported the police - and enjoyed the backing of officers in return.

But somehow, David Cameron has managed to turn rank and file cops against the Tories.

Evidence for this is contained in a hard-hitting and moving report which tells the story of ordinary police officers as they struggled to cope during August's riots.

Published by West Midlands Police Federation, it was originally distributed to the Home Affairs Select Committee, which is conducting an inquiry into the riots, and is now being sent to every MP.

Here is the full text of Liam Fox's resignation letter to Prime Minister David Cameron:

Dear David,

As you know, I have always placed a great deal of importance on accountability and responsibility.

As I said in the House of Commons on Monday, I mistakenly allowed the distinction between my personal interest and my Government activities to become blurred. The consequences of this have become clearer in recent days. I am very sorry for this.

Labour's new Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg is making waves - after overseeing a major reversal in Labour policy just a week into the job.

Mr Twigg has said Labour now supports free schools, such as the three in Birmingham and the Black Country, as long as they are raising standards for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

As recently as September 25, Labour leader Ed Miliband was firmly opposed to the free schools policy.

MPs don't always know what questions have been asked in their names - because researchers submit the query without telling them, it has emerged.

Asking questions of Government departments is one of the key tasks of any backbench MP, whether they are in a governing party or in opposition.

While many questions are posed orally in the Commons - including the high profile Questions to the Prime Minister on Wednesday - MPs also submit written questions on a regular basis. The benefit of doing it this way is that they are guaranteed to get an answer, rather than standing up in the Chamber and hoping the Speaker calls them.

This was the moment David Cameron came face to face with the West Midlands MEP threatening to cause him a major headache.

Nikki Sinclaire collared the Prime Minister during the Conservative conference in Manchester - and asked him when his government would back a referendum on leaving the European union.

There are 234,000 unemployed people in the West Midlands, giving an unemployment rate of 8.9 per cent, according to new official figures.

This is an increase of 8,000 people over the past three months.

But it's not an historic high for the region. This time two years ago, unemployment stood at 280,000.

Birmingham has one of the highest unemployment rates of any local authority, with 60,000 people unemployed. This is an unemployment rate of 12.9 per cent - it means roughly one in eight people in the workforce are unemployed.

Eric Pickles has done Birmingham City Council one favour. Never again will the authority be criticised for failing to ask staff and council house tenants whether they are gay.

Mr Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, confirmed at the Conservative conference that he planned to scrap rules which forced councils to carry out surveys into people's private lives.

Birmingham was a victim of these rules recently, when the Audit Commission criticised it for failing to ask staff in its housing department - and residents in council housing - what their sexuality was.

MPs will attempt to ban colleagues from using Twitter in the Chamber, in what may be a bad-tempered debate this Thursday.

Many MPs now regularly whip out their phones during debates and send a tweet or two about the discussion taking place.

But Tories James Gray (Con North Wiltshire) and Roger Gale (Con Thanet North) want to put a stop to that.

They have submitted an amendment to be discussed on Thursday October 13 - Speaker allowing - which will effectively outlaw Twitter in both the Chamber and during select committee meetings.

At long last, serious attempts are being made to cut fraud at the ballot box.

It's a pity that Labour can't bring itself to support these long-awaited changes - even though it was cheating by Labour candidates which demonstrated that they were needed.

You might think that Britain doesn't have a problem with electoral fraud. Sadly, that's not true, as we discovered in 2005 when an electoral court ruled there had been widespread fraud in Birmingham, Britain's largest local authority.

Postmen were intimidated into handing over sacks full of postal votes. Ballot papers were changed once votes had been cast, unbeknownst to voters, using correction fluid. And police discovered six men in a warehouse with 274 unsealed postal votes.

Campaigning West Midland MP Tom Watson has been rewarded with a job in Labour leader Ed Miliband's top team following his battle to expose phone hacking by some newspapers.

Mr Watson (Lab West Bromwich East) joins the Shadow Cabinet as Labour's campaign co-ordinator and deputy party chair.

The high-profile MP has been widely praised after helping to reveal that journalists on the News of the World tabloid hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

His role now will be to shake up Labour's campaigns across the country, and to improve the way it uses the Internet to communicate with voters.

Mr Watson has experience of fighting and winning elections for Labour, after overseeing a series of by-elections, including the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election campaign which saw Liam Byrne elected for Labour in 2004.