Apology comes at the end of three-year saga

CONDUCT HEARING CANCELLED AS COUNCILLOR SAYS SORRY TO COLLEAGUE

- JANE HAYNES

A VETERAN city councillor has apologised and admitted disrespecting a female colleague who was at the centre of bullying and isolation claims inside Birmingham Labour.

Mohammed Idrees, representing Alum Rock, wrote to Shabina Bano to apologise and admit making 'disrespectful' comments during an alleged campaign against her.

A planned formal hearing into his conduct has now been cancelled.

Another male councillor, Saqib Khan, had earlier been reprimanded for comments he had made and was found to have breached code of conduct rules three times at a previous hearing.

Now the actions of the council's Standards Committee over the entire saga has come under fire, with a senior councillor, Liberal Democrat Paul Tilsley, quitting the committee in protest.

It is the latest chapter in a saga that began in 2022, when Ms Bano stood for the first time to represent Small Heath ward alongside Mr Khan.

She wrote a detailed complaint to the Labour Party about her experiences during and after her successful election campaign, including claims that she was being bullied by what she called an 'inner cabal' of Asian men in the group.

She alleged that she was being intimidated to act 'in line with a Pakistani 'brotherhood/baradari' mentality.

These included a claim that she was put under pressure to vote for a preferred candidate, Waseem Zaffar, in an internal council leadership election in 2022, and was then 'ostracised' for not doing so.

Mr Zaffar lost the election by a single vote either way to incumbent Ian Ward.