West Midlands mayor thriller that exposed Tory and Labour challenges

Twenty-four hours later, the ICC in Birmingham was filled with the noise of hundreds of people counting thousands of pieces of paper.

It’s an unmistakeable sound to anyone who’s ever been to watch an election result come in.

As the votes piled up, it started to look like that prediction of defeat the previous morning, illustrated with such raw language, might have been on the money.

One by one, the candidates started to arrive, delivered to the waiting photographers and film crews by an escalator, giving the whole event a bizarre Saturday night TV gameshow vibe.

The predicted result time of mid-afternoon came and went.

Independent candidate Akhmed Yakoob, who stood on a pro-Palestine ticket, was doing very well in Birmingham.

News and rumour filtered in from the six other count centres. The Conservatives doing well in Dudley, Labour up in Wolverhampton, a confirmed result in Tory stronghold Solihull.

“It’s too close to call” was the repeated message from campaign teams as we scanned their faces for any hint of joy or disappointment.