Decision Day in Birmingham

It is 12 days to decision day in Birmingham, when a new leader will be elected by 78 Labour councillors to govern Europe's top city for inward investment

The public consultation has been muted, and hustings forbidden until now (surprising, given the portentous moment).

The current favourite is John Clancy, who has endorsements rolling in today from Tahir Ali, Shafique Shah, Tristan Chatfield, Waseem Zaffar, Fiona Williams and Tony Kennedy.

John represents Quinton, and has proposed ‘Brummie bonds’ to provide the investment needed to jump-start house building across Birmingham.

He studied Law in Keele and Manchester, and has spoken for public investment in innovative SME’s and creating jobs rather than vanity projects.

His Clancynomics espouses raising money from private investors through selling of bonds backed by the local authority’s property portfolio. He also favours using government pension funds to invest in local infrastructure.

All good ideas, although an open debate would add to his legitimate hold on power, once Albert Bore releases the reins on December 1.

Penny Holbrook joined the fray at the last minute and vowed to blow the Council House doors off and empower the people.

The other contenders are Ian Ward, Mike Leddy and Barry Henley.