The deadline to vote in Labour’s West Midlands Mayoral selection closed at midday today. The three candidates are:

• Liam Byrne
  • Shadow Minister for Digital. Former Chief Secretary to the Treasury under Gordon Brown. Left *that* note.
  • MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill since a 2004 by-election.
  • Pitching himself as the candidate who can beat the Tories.
• Pete Lowe
  • Former Leader of Dudley Council. National Officer for the managers’ union MIP.
  • Endorsed by Unison, FBU, the Labour Homelessness Campaign, and the Musicians’ Union.
  • Running a left-wing campaign focused on local government experience.
• Salma Yaqoob
  • Former leader of the Respect Party
  • Joined Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, now standing for the mayoralty on his economic platform
  • Backed by Momentum
  • Supported the pro-Hamas ‘Viva Palestina’ convoy
  • Wrote an article in which she imagined Britain becoming an Islamic Republic
  • Referred to the IHH terrorists on board the Mavi Marmara as “martyrs“
  • Called the 2005 London 7/7 bombings a “reprisal event” for the Iraq war
  • Shared a Rothschild conspiracy theory website
  • Deleted all her tweets that continued the word ‘Zionist’. There were a lot.
  • Said “Bin Laden and Blair had far more in common with each other than their divisions.”

Looks like a traditional Momentum vs Moderniser fight between Yaqoob and Byrne