Mayoral ambitions
You read it here first. The Leicester South MP is to leave the Commons to run for mayor of Leicester. Sir Peter spent 17 years, on and off, leading Leicester City Council in the distant era before elected mayors, and last weekend he cruised to victory over a field of local worthies.
The ensuing by-election could be interesting from any number of points of view. The Liberal Democrats briefly held Leicester South after winning the by-election which followed the death of Jim Marshall (also a former Labour leader of the city council) in 2004. They lost the seat in 2005 but remain in second place, ahead of the Conservatives, who held the seat until 1987. Sir Peter - against the trend - extended his majority last May. It's also worth noting that Leicester South covers the main campus for the University of Leicester and for De Montfort University - so student and university staff opinion could be an important factor.
But leaving all that aside, the Localism Bill, currently in its committee stage in the Commons, calls for referendums to be held in the 12 biggest English cities (including Leicester, who have now pre-empted the bill by moving to a mayoral system) so it is not impossible that other MPs may follow Sir Peter's lead (and indeed that of Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone) in leaving the Commons to become a powerful executive mayor at some city hall.
The former Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth has been mentioned in connection with Coventry, and I'm sure there will be others who might choose local power over backbench status in Westminster.
I'm Mark D'Arcy and I'll be writing about what goes on in the chambers and committee rooms at Westminster.
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