Leicester to jump the gun for city Mayor contest?
Leicester is the biggest city in the East Midlands. It's also one of the most culturally diverse in Britain. And it celebrates that with banners across the city.
"One Passion. One Leicester," says the slogan. So why not ONE person to run the city, a London-style elected Mayor, for example?
The idea attracts Ross Willmott, a former leader of the Labour-run City Council. He talks up the advantages of having an elected Mayor.
"Local people will see that one person is in charge and has the authority.They can be there to get some credit but clearly can be held responsible. And that's clearly lacking in the current system."The current system he talks about is based on the majority party choosing the city's council leader.
Leicester has now been chosen by the government as one of 12 English cities to be run by a Mayor... if that's what voters want.
We'll get the details of the proposed powers of city Mayors and the referendum timetable in the government's Localism Bill, to be published later this month.
But Leicester's Labour Party has decided to jump the gun. Using existing local government legislation, it wants to press ahead with a London-style Mayor without the need for a referendum.
Leicester's Conservative leader Councillor Ross Grant isn't totally signed up to the Coalition's enthusiasm for city mayors... and makes this accusation against Labour in Leicester.
"I think it's a disgrace actually. If we're going to change the model of government for Leicester, then the people of Leicester should decide whether we have a mayor or not. Backroom deals currently going on among the Labour group about moving to a Mayoral system are outrageous."It's 10 years since Tony Blair and New Labour first paved the way for elected Mayors for our big cities. But outside of London, it was down to towns like Mansfield in Nottinghamshire that actually embraced the idea.
Tony Egginton stood as an independent and won not once but twice. He saw off Labour's election machine; even a challenge from the town's Labour MP Alan Meale.
In Leicester, one of its Labour MPs is undaunted by the political risk of entering a Mayoral race. He's Sir Peter Soulsby, the MP for Leicester South and another former leader of the city council.
"If I am fortunate enough to be selected by my own party and backed by the voters of Leicester, I have no doubt that having an elected Mayor would be so much better for the city," he says.
But the prospect of an all-powerful elected Mayor alarms some Labour insiders.
"I'm worried really because I think it's a step back. I don't think it's democratic. The current set-up works very effectively," believes Councillor Paul Westley, a member of Labour's Cabinet in Leicester.
He'll be voting against moves for an elected Mayor when the issue is decided by the Labour group. It has the final say.
If Labour's ambitions in Leicester for a Mayor get the green light, voters will go to the polls next May to elect their councillors... and the person to run their city for the next five years.
Hello. My name is John Hess. I'm the BBC's Political Editor for the East Midlands and this blog will offer my musings on the political scene from Westminster to closer to home. 
