Regular readers will remember Guido’s pre-election stories about Labour’s sex segregation rallies, organised in Birmingham by Labour councillor Ansar Ali Khan. The sinister gatherings allegedly involved British Muslims being “ordered“ to vote Labour by religious leaders. Labour kept very quiet about it at the time.

Following our story, Khan is now under investigation for ‘undue spiritual influence’. His LibDem opponent Shamsur Rehman has filed an election petition to the High Court:

“I have launched this campaign to clean up local politics in Birmingham from spiritual, foreign or biraderi (Kashmiri clan) influence. The people of Washwood Heath deserve better even if they don’t know it yet. This is a matter of public importance, my purpose is to clean up politics in this city.”

The petition claims:

“It is alleged the respondent channels public money and projects to his existing supporters or predominantly the Kashmiri Muslim community to the exclusion of other communities in Washwood Heath.”

He’s backing Watson and Cooper, for the record.