‘The issue is quality of life’ — can a new government make things better in inner-city Birmingham?
Plus, Lawrence Barton’s mom buys out his company
Dear readers — welcome to your Monday briefing.
The party poppers have long been swept up following Labour’s victory at the general election — now thoughts in Birmingham are turning to how the new government can help to improve things here. Will it be enough to win back voters in the inner city who turned to one of the many upstart independents? More in today’s big story.
Looking back: Our weekend read looked at rising tensions in Digbeth as existing independent arts organisations prepare (warily) for the arrival of the shiny new studios that are set to make Birmingham a flagship destination for the film and TV industry. Dispatch member Jim Hawkins called it a “marvellous, thoughtful and intelligent piece” — but find out for yourself and let us know in the comments what you think after reading it here:
Looking ahead: We sent Dan Cave to BMAG’s latest big exhibition yesterday to try out the virtual reality experience that sends you back in time to the height of Acid House in the West Midlands. Look out for his write-up in your inboxes on Wednesday, followed by a delve inside the scandal that has rocked an ‘inclusive’ Birmingham church on Friday. At the weekend, we explore Soho Road’s wedding shops where people from across the UK travel to prepare for their big day — but why are visitors saying they aren’t what they used to be?
Editor’s note: As readers who have been with us since the beginning will know, it’s my aim to grow The Dispatch and make it sustainable — I’m in this for the long haul! We currently have a huge 17,831 free subscribers. Even more impressive are the 796 of you who have signed up as paying members. If you’ve enjoyed any of our recent stories — like our coverage of the election campaign or this feature on the city’s hidden, world class photography collection — and you aren’t yet a member, please consider joining up today to help push us over our 800 goal.
Somewhere over the rainbow
⛅Tuesday: Cloudy but warm with sunny spells. Max 23°.
😎Wednesday: Keep the shades on — more sun expected. Max 24°.
☂️Thursday: Swap the shades for a brolly for light rain in the morning. Max 22°.
⛅Friday: The sun and clouds take it in turns. Max 21°.
🌈Weekend: Expect rainbows — sunshine and rain are in cahoots. Max 21°.
We get our weather from the Met Office.
Big story: ‘The issue is quality of life’ — can a new government make things better in inner-city Birmingham?
Top line: It’s been three weeks since Labour won its landslide victory in the general election. But in Birmingham — where independents protesting Labour’s stance on Gaza decimated MPs’ majorities — the party has a lot to do to win back trust in Muslim communities.
Context: The biggest storyline in Birmingham during the election campaign was the fight by independent and smaller parties against Labour MPs with big majorities. In Perry Barr, longstanding MP Khalid Mahmood was even toppled by Ayoub Khan while Ladywood’s Shabana Mahmood went from having one of the country’s safest seats to scraping through with 3,421 votes more than runner-up Akhmed Yakoob (for more on Yakoob himself — read this).
A difficult campaign: Jess Phillips, Shabana Mahmood and Khalid Mahmood have spoken out about the intimidation they experienced during their campaigns. The Ladywood MP said masked men had shown up to a community meeting “terrifying people” and Phillips said it was the “worst” election campaign she had ever run. Independent candidates also experienced harassment: Jody McIntyre, who stood against Phillips, said he experienced anti-disability discrimination online. The Dispatch understands that independent candidate for Hall Green, Mohammad Faheez, also experienced online abuse.
More than Gaza: Many independents were vocal about their pro-Palestine stance as opposition to the war in Gaza intensified since 7 October. Evidently, anger at the Labour Party’s stance (such as Sir Keir Starmer’s comments on LBC in October that Israel had the right to withhold water) was the main factor for these surges in support. But, as Simon Gilbert reported for the BBC yesterday, there are other factors at play. He quotes Ayoub Khan, discussing conditions in Perry Barr:
“We have some of the highest levels of deprivation, cost of living. So I think all of those factors combined created a tsunami that resulted in my victory.”
Fadel Takrouri was the campaign manager for Mohammad Faheez, who came in third place behind Labour’s Tahir Ali and independent Shakeel Afsar. Speaking to The Dispatch, Takrouri echoed Khan’s words when discussing the economic disparity within Birmingham:
“Very quickly you get on on the A34 and you are in Solihull, and you see that life expectancy, the quality of life, the quality of expectations, aspirations, all this is different to that of Sparkbrook. And this is the issue. The issue is quality of life. Gaza was the emotional spark.”
Anti-Labour feeling: While the Conservative Party was in government for 14 years, most MPs in Birmingham have been Labour during that time. We’ve also faced chaos at the Labour-run City Council, leading to the financial crisis and £300m worth of cuts. After her victory, Jess Phillips said her “constituents will be way better off under a Labour government…but we will have to prove that.”
Will the government fix Birmingham? New deputy PM Angela Rayner has reportedly made addressing the crisis in Birmingham a top priority and has already held talks with the city’s leadership. The Dispatch understands action is expected — but exactly what this will look like is unclear.
Bottom line: It isn’t just the war in Gaza that made inner-city neighbourhoods turn away from Labour — big improvements need to be made to the quality of life for residents. All eyes will be on Angela Rayner and the government over the coming weeks to see how they will help Birmingham thrive again.
Photo of the week
Robert Lockley caught this moment during the Nowka Bais at Edgbaston Reservoir yesterday. The annual dragon boat racing event is a tradition held in the rural villages of Bangladesh after the monsoon rains. Every year since 2015, competitors have travelled to Birmingham from all across Europe to paddle 12 in a boat (plus a musician!). The organisers promote health and well-being for people in the inner city all year round.
Brum in brief
Barton or bust: A few weeks ago we delved into the business dealings of one Lawrence Barton, the so-called face of Birmingham’s Gay Village (as the owner of multiple popular venues) as well as a man with an eclectic array of political titles, from “night-time economy champion” to “deputy lord lieutenant” to “leadership commissioner”. Barton’s company, GB Holdings Ltd, had called in the administrators — they had huge debts. Well, guess what? They’ve found a buyer! It’s Barton’s mom (as well as his business partner Terence Runcorn). Mrs Barton and Mr Runcorn have picked up the company for £35,000 via a tiny company called Delivering Excellence Ltd. The good news here is that the venues owned by GB Holdings (such as the iconic Nightingale) will stay open, and staff will keep their jobs. But it’s bad news for the creditors who were owned money by GB Holdings who won’t be getting it back. The irony here is that GB Holdings’ biggest creditor was another Barton family company, GB Training (UK), which is being pursued by the taxpayer-funded Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for several million pounds. The more GB Training might have clawed back, the more the taxpayer might have clawed back.
Skin-flint: Birmingham-based cosmetic surgery firm Skin has collapsed, leaving hundreds of jobs on the line. Skin, which claims to provide the largest network of specialist skin care clinics in the UK, appears to have shut up shop, with customers arriving for appointments only to find the centres closed. Calls to their phone line have also been met with messages the company has “ceased trading”. Read more.
Hot wheels: A crew of quad bikers was seen riding dangerously down Hurst Street in the early hours of Saturday morning, with police now investigating the reports. Social media videos show the four-wheeled drivers jumping pavements and red lights (“terrorising cars & pedestrians” according to the video poster). "This sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated on the streets of our city," said Chief Inspector Rich Evans of West Midlands Police, the BBC reported.
Home of the week
This beautifully, RIBA-designed three-bedroom home in Harborne has its own garden bar and not one, but two outside seating areas. It’s yours for £500,000 (not exactly chump change).
Media picks
🎧 Love it or loathe it, the no.11 bus route is iconic — it’s the longest urban bus route in Europe! A new exhibition by Birmingham City University architects delves into the city’s landscape via the route. Learn all about it from this BBC Sounds podcast.
📰 Journalist Rebecca Cope has written about her experience of becoming a single mother just eight weeks after the birth of her daughter, in The Times. The Brummie returned to her hometown and found a new and supportive community in this emotional but uplifting first-person read. “Now I have come to see my single motherhood as my superpower. I’m double the mum — two parents in one.”
Things to do
Tuesday
🎭 The sequel to the hit comedy play Cluedo opens at the Alexandra Theatre. Cluedo 2 — The Next Chapter is written by written by BAFTA Award winners Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran. The Southern Daily Echo says it is “frightfully funny”. Tickets from £13.
🎶 Catch the Dirt Road Band featuring guitarist Steve Walwyn (Dr. Feelgood), bassist Horace Panter (The Specials), and drummer Ted Duggan (Badfinger, The Beat, Desmond Dekker) at Snobs from 8pm. There are performances throughout the day too — and they’re completely free. Find out more here.
Wednesday
🧪 Each Wednesday during the summer holidays, Thinktank Science Museum is holding Lego invention workshops to build your own ‘Science Rover’. Tickets are £4.50 and admit one adult and one child. Book here.
🎸Head to the Dark Horse for the Moseley International Punk Festival where tickets cost a donation of your choice and nobody will be turned away due to lack of funds. Doors open at 5.30pm.
Thursday
🎤 Rising star Helen Bauer will perform her unfiltered brand of stand-up for the opening of Kings Heath Comedy Festival, starting at 7pm and hosted by Barbara Nice. You’ll need to join the waiting list for this one — but 30 shows are happening over the weekend so be sure to book tickets for those!
🎤 Catch Baeur for the second time, when she closes Close Up Comedy at Hockley Social Club. Doors open at 5 to give you time to get street food and hit the bar, before the performances from 8pm. Tickets from £7-£13.
I do find it astonishing that the Labour Party complain about “intimidation” in this General Election when for the last 20 years plus, they have turned a blind eye to this behaviour from their own activists in inner city Birmingham.
In the 2022 election campaign, a Labour activist was caught on film punching and kicking a Small Heath resident to the ground who had used robust language to state they would not be voting Labour. See https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/probe-launched-labour-election-punch-23724004
While this assault took place, two Labour candidates who would be successfully elected Councillors stood by and ignored it. Labour claimed they would investigate this incident, yet the outcome of this investigation has never been made public.
I could also go back to the postal vote fraud of the 2004 which resulted in six Labour Councillors being sacked as Councillors. All the violence from Labour activists involved in this widespread fraud at the time has never been properly reported. Yet Labour has never investigated their own behaviour, nor issued an apology, for the disgrace they brought to this city at the time.
Coming to this General Election, I am the administrator of a local Facebook group for Moseley and Kings Heath – see https://www.facebook.com/groups/1699168073667527/. Throughout this campaign, I was on an almost daily basis getting Labour activists trying to get the posts of the two independent candidates in Hall Green and Moseley constituency taken down. The online abuse that these activists targeted at these independent candidates was appalling resulting in several being either banned or suspended for 28 days.
If Labour wants “intimidation” removed from elections – and I would certainly welcome this – then they need to put their own house in order first, before pointing their finger at others.
Of course they can, purely on the basis that no one could be worse than the Tories.
As for the “ independents “ taking aim at Jess Phillips , who resigned over Gaza , beggars belief.
Not too bright .