A Birmingham City crisis-hit Rotherham recover from a child grooming scandal.
Labour deputy leader Ian Ward has been asked to mentor colleagues in the South Yorkshire town as repairs its shattered reputation following at least 1,400 cases of child sexual exploitation over a 16-year period.
The Local Government Association called on expertise from Birmingham City Council, which is itself trying to recover from the Trojan Horse Islamic plot in schools and child protection failures.
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Coun Ward's role emerged as he received an endorsement from Labour colleague Barry Bowles who has been outspoken on child protection in the city.
The support will also be welcomed by Coun Ward as Coun Bowles has previously in the forthcoming council leadership election.
The authority's 78 Labour members will meet in private on November 23 to choose the next council leader following the resignation of Sir Albert Bore.
Coun Bowles was an outspoken critic of Sir Albert and resigned as chairman of the Hall Green district committee in protest at the leader's lack of openness and dialogue with colleagues.
But the Hall Green councillor said he was firmly behind Coun Ward.
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He said: "Despite supporting John for the last two years I am of the firm belief that Ian Ward is the leader who can move this council forward in the immediate future.
"This is a critical time for Birmingham and the council - something we should not dismiss lightly.
"We have two commissioners and the improvement panel who have expressed concerns about an unwillingness to make the necessary changes to meet the recommendations of Kerslake.
"This relationship has been difficult and put under stress. I believe that Ian has the experience and willingness to build a constructive and proactive relationship with the panel, accepting the need to openly explore why the required progress has failed to be delivered and make a full commitment to delivering the changes required.
"He has been vocal about these issues over the last 12 months and has been frustrated with the unwillingness to accept the gravitas of the situation.
"He is well respected as part of the leadership team from outside bodies and has been entrusted by the LGA to act as a peer group mentor in Rotherham."
Coun Bowles also said that, while Coun Clancy had "some good ideas", he believed they were also "flawed" and not what was needed at this time.
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"His pledge to make free hot school meals available to both infant and junior pupils at all of our LEA primary schools sounds great on paper but, it is not only unworkable, it will not help some of our most disadvantaged children that are attending free schools or academies."
and Labour leadership contenders to have announced thus far.