Birmingham by-election on the way?

There’s an interesting post by Rafael Behr over at the New Statesman today about the possibility of Labour MPs standing down from Parliament to run either as mayoral candidates or police commissioners. According to Behr, much of the interest is around Birmingham:

“Two names often cited as possible candidates for the Birmingham mayoralty are Liam Byrne, shadow work and pensions secretary and MP for the city’s Hodge Hill constituency, and Gisela Stuart, MP for Edgbaston. Of the two, fans of politics as spectator sport would much prefer the latter for the simple and faintly dishonorable reason that the battle to fill Stuart’s seat would be by far the more exciting.”

I’m not so sure about Byrne – he’s arguably more influential leading Labour’s policy review – but Stuart is a likely candidate for Birmingham mayor. Don’t write off other Birmingham MPs throwing their hats into the ring either – and it would be foolish to rule out former MP Sion Simon who stood down in 2010 to focus on the Birmingham mayoral race.

Elsewhere there are other MPs – in all parties – who may decide they can achieve more politically as a commissioner or a mayor. If we hear anything, you’ll be the first to know…