Local elections in Birmingham are rarely national news. Potholes, parking permits, rubbish collection — these are typically the issues that decide council seats. But this year in Sparkhill, a ward in the UK’s second-largest city, the ballot has become something far more combustible.
Shahid Butt, 60, a Birmingham-born father of five, is running as an independent candidate for a seat on Birmingham City Council. His candidacy has ignited fierce debate not because of zoning policy or street safety plans, but because of his past.
In 1999, Butt was convicted in Yemen alongside several others in connection with a plot that included plans to bomb the British consulate, an Anglican church, and a Swiss-owned hotel. Prosecutors at the time described the conspiracy as part of a broader militant effort aimed at expelling Western influence from Yemen and establishing an Islamic state. Butt served five years in a Yemeni prison before being released in 2003.
He has consistently maintained his innocence, claiming his confession was obtained under torture. The trial judge rejected those claims. Under UK law, having served his sentence, Butt is not barred from standing for local office.
“As far as the law is concerned, the law doesn’t bar me in the UK from standing as a councillor,” he told the BBC. “I’m not everybody’s cup of tea… That’s fine.”
But critics argue the issue is not legality — it is judgment.
Butt has recently campaigned on a pro-Gaza platform and played a prominent role in protests last November surrounding a football match between Aston Villa and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv. In widely circulated footage, he urged Muslims to converge on Birmingham and declared, “Muslims are not pacifists… if somebody comes into your face, you knock his teeth out.” He later said his remarks were taken out of context.
Further controversy stems from past public comments in which he quoted Quranic passages warning Muslims against taking Jews and Christians as friends or protectors. At a panel hosted by the Muslim media outlet 5Pillars, he was introduced as a “former mujahid,” a term referring to someone engaged in jihad.
Butt says he has changed and now wants to focus on local concerns: “safer and cleaner streets,” steering youth away from drugs and anti-social behaviour, and fostering unity in Sparkhill.
The backlash has come from across the political spectrum. Labour MPs Sureena Brackenridge and Jess Phillips both publicly condemned his candidacy. Even some members of Birmingham’s immigrant communities have voiced alarm. “It’s a disgrace to allow an extremist to stand,” one resident told the Telegraph. Others said they came to Britain seeking safety from extremism, not to see it re-enter civic life.
The controversy has drawn unusual figures into the fray. Television personality Sharon Osbourne has floated a possible council run, while local Conservative leader Robert Alden has framed the election as a battle to “keep extremists out” of City Hall.
Sparkhill itself reflects Birmingham’s shifting demographics. Once home to a large Irish community, it is now predominantly Pakistani and majority Muslim. White residents account for roughly 8 percent of the population.
