Birmingham Dispatch

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Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has misled the public about her role in a 2005 election fraud trial in Birmingham, The Dispatch can reveal. Evidence from the court transcript shows that Mahmood’s postal ballot was mentioned in court and that she submitted evidence, contradicting her statements earlier this month that she had no involvement. The transcript suggests that her ballot documents were passed to the Crown Prosecution Service after doubts about the “unsustainable” discrepancy between two signatures on her voting forms, although no action was taken. In another major development, the judge in the case, Richard Mawrey KC, has told us he doesn’t recognise Mahmood’s claim that allegations of elections fraud against the family were “dismissed”. When we showed Mawrey the explanation offered by Mahmood’s spokesperson, which was also given to the Daily Mail when they followed up the story on 4 May, the recently-retired deputy high court judge said that it “appears to bear no relation to reality as I recall it”. Click the link in our bio & head to our website to read more 🔗

Aged 17, I’m driving through the serene Ludlow countryside. It’s a beautiful day, my hands are at ten to two on the steering wheel, my eyes fixed on the road. Things are fine, better than fine. I’m a natural at this. Out of nowhere, my driving instructor Chris gestures at a hill ahead of us — Clee Hill, that is, and says: “You know you can see the Ural mountains in Russia from up there?” He isn’t right, but later, I do eventually puzzle out where he pieced this together from. Apparently, there is no higher point from the top of Clee Hill until the Urals. Apparently, radio signals from Russia have been picked up from atop the hill, and, if this isn’t proof enough for you: the now-closed pub which was Shropshire’s highest was called The Kremlin. So why not believe something like that? Fast forward through the years to the present day, or within whistling distance of it — just three weeks ago. Now, I’m 23 and once again, I’m driving, except this time I’m with my dad. We’re heading through Hagley and he points to Wychbury Monument and tells me King Arthur is buried there. He’s half joking, but he’s sure he heard this from someone else. I contact the Hagley history group to fact check my dad’s friend and they tell me that they’re only interested in facts. They also say they have never heard this legend. Fine, my mistake. These two incidents are colourful, but they’re not exactly anomalies: I’m constantly being told myths and folklore about this area. My nan will say Dudley Castle has a resident ghost, my mum will swear that the roundabout by the Hawthorns is haunted and plenty of Dispatchers got in touch with me to share tales just as seemingly unbelievable as my own. The beauty of the Midlands is that folklore and legend is widespread and accepted — from pig men, to aliens, to trolls under bridges to ghosts. Click the link in our bio for more🔗

The atmosphere at the Utilita Arena on Friday is more like a wake than an election count. This is thanks to the large Labour contingent; glum-faced councillors pinned with red rosettes are hunched over at secluded tables or braving the main hall, huddled in large groups for comfort. One lone Labour figure strides purposefully down the lines of busy tables. It’s Sir Albert Bore. Set to retire, this is his last count after 46 years as the member for Ladywood and his solitary march seems to symbolise the gravity of the situation for his party. Overnight on Thursday, Reform have seen sweeping success across various West Midlands councils including Redditch, Tamworth, and Dudley. From the off at the Birmingham count, there’s a consensus from candidates across all parties that a Reform majority is likely. Even if they don’t win, Labour’s leadership of Birmingham City Council looks set to end after 14 years in charge. What comes next is anyone’s guess Click the link in our bio for more🔗

Last weekend, the government tried to stop us from publishing our exclusive story on the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Mahmood’s special adviser at the Home Office threatened to sue The Dispatch (a tiny, local team with two full time journalists) for defamation and breach of privacy, as well as to invoke “injunctive relief to restrain publication.” Yesterday it was discussed on @privateeyenews podcast with Ian Hislop, Helen Lewis, Adam Macqueen and Andrew Hunter Murray. Watch above⬆️ Our exclusives can be read at the link in our bio🔗

Coventry City’s revival is an endemically feel-good British underdog story, a West Midlands Full Monty or Billy Elliot, underpinned by similar class subtext and indelibly marked by the wider historical hardships Coventry has faced.  And the football club isn’t an anomaly — there’s a general feeling that Coventry might be about to enter a new moment in the sun. Read the full story of Coventry’s revival via link in bio 🔗

Barbara Holland, 76, and Raghib Ahsan, 79, live in a neat terrace in Handsworth overlooking the park. When I visit, they are both wearing house slippers and colourfully patterned sweaters. Ahsan ushers me into the living room then briskly heads to the kitchen to make coffee while Holland joins me on the squishy sofa. She reaches for a large folder. It is one of many that they have lugged down from the office upstairs, where they keep reams of meticulously organised paperwork. Much of it is left over from their careers — Raghib is a solicitor and Barbara is a retired teacher and play worker. But several files hold documents relating to a notorious case of vote-rigging that shook Birmingham in the summer of 2004. It is known in Birmingham as “the banana republic” trial, a reference to the memorable phrase used by the judge. Back then, Ahsan was secretary of a small party called the People’s Justice Party (PJP). The PJP drew considerable support from the Kashmiri community in north and east inner-city Birmingham. He had served as a Labour councillor for Sparkhill in the 1990s before parting ways with the party. In 2003, an employment tribunal ruled that Labour had discriminated against him in not selecting him as a candidate from 1997-2000. Holland was, and remains, a member of the Labour Party. When the PJP took three Labour councillors in Bordesley Green to election court in 2005, Holland’s habit of meticulous record-keeping proved crucial in securing their win. Justice Richard Mawrey KC wrote in his judgment of the case that he placed “considerable reliance” on her documentation. Mawrey found “widespread fraud” in the ward’s 2004 election and banned three Labour councillors from office for five years (as well as three from the neighbouring ward of Aston, although one was later cleared of personal guilt). Click the link in our bio to read more🔗

EXCLUSIVE: Shabana Mahmood’s postal ballot was examined in an explosive vote-rigging trial, in which the judge concluded there had been “widespread fraud” in two wards at the 2004 Birmingham city council elections. The elected candidates were required to step down and banned from office for five years. The case turned, in part, on signatures by the same person that didn’t match, prompting allegations of ballot-tampering and fraud. The Dispatch has seen relevant documents, and can reveal that Mahmood’s signatures on her postal-vote application and the declaration of identity she submitted with her ballot appear markedly different. Mahmood’s special adviser at the Home Office last night threatened to sue The Dispatch for defamation and breach of privacy, as well as to invoke “injunctive relief to restrain publication” when we sought comment from the home secretary. The adviser had earlier in the day explained that the discrepancy between the two documents came about because Mahmood used two different signatures at the time. When we pushed back against the legal threats and said we were publishing the story today, a spokesperson for Shabana Mahmood said: “Shabana Mahmood signed both of these documents, which are clearly in her own handwriting. False allegations that her father signed these documents were dismissed, with no adverse finding, over twenty years ago.” The spokesperson added: “Shabana Mahmood is a dedicated public servant, who serves Birmingham, this country, and has long championed our democracy.” Click the link in our bio to read on🔗

Some shots from our sold-out Hustings on Monday night held at @theprioryroomsbham The hot topics included bins (particularly after Labour leader John Cotton’s Monday afternoon announcement about a deal being in sight if a Labour administration is reelected), council finances, and the potential of a coalition. Many thanks to the speakers for attending, the audience for your sharp questions and participation, and @lewisjwarner for being a brilliant host. Sign up to The Dispatch via the link in our bio for access to future events. & finally, don’t forget to get out and vote on 7 May🗳️

Storm clouds are gathering over Aldridge. Not literally — actually the Saturday sky is a deep blue and the sun is beating down on the tarmac of Morrisons carpark. But the mood amongst those assembled here is aggrieved. There’s been an injustice. And the crowd won’t rest until it’s been righted. Or at least, they will not be giving Morrisons their custom, no siree. “I won’t use Morrisons again, not after how he was treated,” pledges a middle-aged woman with cropped hair and a lilac hoodie. Nearby a man dances in and out of the road, clad in a Union Jack blazer. Nearly 100 people have gathered to protest the firing of Sean Egan who, until December of last year, had worked in Aldrige’s Morrisons branch since he was 17. Egan had climbed the market street ladder to the position of manager when he tackled a man named Daniel Kendall, who was making off with two bottles of Jack Daniels. As Egan tells it, he had recognised Kendall — a prolific shoplifter — and confronted him. Kendall was not best pleased about this, reportedly spitting at the 46 year-old. The incident escalated until an “altercation” took place, Egan told the BBC, which involved the manager and Kendall’s “heads connecting”, until the thief was bundled out of the store and arrested by police. Photo: ITV Click the link in our bio to read more 🔗

“Hugo, do you want to get some B roll of us wearing our woke suits?” Amaar Shahzada says, grinning. We’re huddled by a hedge on Clarence Road in Harborne. It’s the sort of handsome, manicured street where some of the front doors are framed with columns and the gardens are a wash of green. It’s late afternoon and there’s a chill in the air but the group shows no sign of wearying. I’ve been watching Shahzada and Hugo Rasenberg shoot a Conservative campaign video with Andy Street. The former mayor has just left and we’re planning to head out door-knocking. But I can’t let Shahzada’s request go unchecked. “What,” I ask with genuine puzzlement, “is a ‘woke suit’?” “Non-traditional menswear,” Rasenberg answers for him. “I can’t stand wearing a crisp suit.” I glance at his navy jacket and matching trousers and realise they are a bit baggy, while he wears his shirt tie-free and open at the neck. It is a look that says: fiscally responsible by day, pint in hand by 5.15pm. “The problem as a young baby-faced candidate,” Rasenberg muses, “is if you wear a business suit you look like you’ve just stolen it off your dad.” Optics are important to this pair who are a part of a cohort of spritely new Tory candidates standing in the local elections on 7 May. They’ve come up through the party’s youth wing, the Young Conservatives, and are hoping to inject some fresh blood into the Birmingham group by winning at the polls in two weeks time. Click the link in our bio to read more🔗

When I try out the new line for myself, the 08.20am train from Kings Heath to Birmingham New Street feels oddly subdued for rush hour, with just three of us waiting on the platform. I point this out to a man next to me and he shrugs. People are set in their routines, he says. This number of people is similar to the afternoon before, where there’s only a few of us waiting for the 15.57pm train to Kings Norton. Amongst them is Sarah, who lives in Moseley, and who is standing at New Street clutching her Camp Hill line tote bag — she was one of the locals who went to visit the new Moseley Village station on the very first day. Some residents thought it was never going to open, I learn. After years of delays, Sarah is one of a few who tell me they had almost given up hope. This is fair — it’s been a long time coming. Plans to reopen the stations closed to passengers for over 80 years were announced in 2018, with government funding secured under the then Mayor Andy Street. The business case for the project was fully approved in 2021 with initial completion set for mid 2023, and total costs estimated to be at £61.4m. Since then, there have been delays caused by badger setts along the line in Moseley, an 8.2m well at Kings Heath, and a Victorian brick wall at Pineapple Road which had to be preserved along with rising cost pressures. And in the middle of all this chaos? A mayoral election. The back and forths and delays have now created the perfect conditions for a political tug-of-war between Richard Parker, the current Mayor of the West Midlands, and Andy Street, the former. But, the more I dig into the circuitous route this new line has taken to finally open, the more I start to wonder: who got it over the line? Click the link in our bio to read more🔗