Birmingham Erdington MP Sion Simon is to step down from Parliament and as a minister to campaign to become the city's first elected mayor.

 He will give up his seat at the next election to lobby for the city to adopt the elected mayor system. 

Mr Simon, 41, told the BBC: "The answer to Birmingham's problems simply don't lie in London.

The sale of Cadbury to Kraft marks the sad end of a long tradition of shared civic pride and sense of place.

"The past is a foreign country," wrote LP Hartley; "they do things differently there." Indeed they do, as we've seen with the kerfuffle over the ownership of Cadbury. Today, Brummies descend on the capital to protest against the sale of the company to the American food giant, Kraft. It is the last rage against the dying of the light for an industry - and indeed, a way of life.

Birmingham City 1 - Manchester United 1

Manchester United missed out on the chance to displace Chelsea at the top of the table when they became the latest victims of a splendid resurgence that leaves Birmingham unbeaten in their past 12 league games.

Cameron Jerome gave the Blues the lead with his fifth goal of the season and it took a contentious own-goal by Scott Dann to salvage a point and spare United what would have been their fourth defeat in the past seven matches. To compound Sir Alex Ferguson's irritation, Darren Fletcher was sent off in the 84th minute for a second yellow card.

Speculation was swirling in the City today that rival bidders are preparing to trump Kraft's offer for Cadbury after the British confectionery group delayed publishing its full-year results and latest trading statement.

Dealers believed that the three-day postponement was linked to talks between Cadbury and the US group Hershey aimed at sealing an agreed takeover deal in the next week or so.