Birmingham's mayoral contest risks becoming a massive headache for Ed Miliband after Labour's National Executive Committee ruled that any MP selected as a mayoral candidate for the party must stand down from the House of Commons.
It means Edgbaston MP Gisela Stuart could be ordered to quit as an MP, if she succeeds in her bid to become Labour's mayoral candidate.
That could mean a by-election in Edgbaston, a seat which Labour held with a majority of just 1,274 in 2010 - to the genuine astonishment of local Tories, who were confident of winning the former Conservative stronghold back.
