Crispin Blunt criticised for remarks about Imran Ahmad Khan convictionon April 12, 2022 at 2:28 am

Conservative MP Crispin Blunt is facing criticism after defending a fellow Tory MP convicted of sexual assault.

Imran Ahmad Khan, who has represented the Wakefield constituency since 2019, was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008.

Mr Blunt called the verdict a “dreadful miscarriage of justice” although he gave no specifics.

Labour called the comments “disgraceful” and said he should be suspended from the Conservative Party.

Five members of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) for global LGBT+ rights, which Mr Blunt chairs, have also said they will resign in response.

The Conservative Party has issued a statement stating that Mr Khan, who has said he will appeal his conviction, was found guilty by his peers and that “we completely reject any allegations of impropriety against our independent judiciary”.

Mr Blunt is the MP for Reigate and from 2015 to 2017 was the chair of the foreign affairs select committee. He also previously served as the parliamentary under-secretary for prisons and youth justice within the Ministry of Justice.

Writing on his website, he said he was “appalled and distraught” by the outcome of the trial, calling it “an international scandal, with dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ Muslims around the world”.

He claimed that the case against Mr Khan had “relied on lazy tropes about LGBT+ people that we might have thought we had put behind us decades ago”.

“I hope for the return of Imran Ahmad Khan to the public service that has exemplified his life to date,” he said.

The statement provided no further details about Mr Blunt’s criticisms of the case against Mr Khan.

Responding to the statement on twitter, Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds wrote: “This is disgraceful.

“@BorisJohnson and [Conservative Party chair] @OliverDowden must take action against this Tory MP and distance their party from his comments.”

Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed added: “The prime minister should suspend Blunt from the Conservative Party for this utterly reprehensible statement.”

Two MPs from Labour – Chris Bryant and Kate Osborne – and three from the SNP – Stewart McDonald, Joanna Cherry, and Martin Docherty-Hughes – announced shortly after that they would be resigning from the APPG for global LGBT+ rights.

Mr Bryant, who chairs both the committee on standards and the committee on privileges, called Mr Blunt’s comments “completely inappropriate”.

Following Mr Khan’s conviction, the Labour Party said he “should immediately resign so a by-election can take place and the people of Wakefield can get the representation they deserve”.

During his trial, Mr Khan denied groping a teenager at a party in Staffordshire in January 2008.

Southwark Crown Court heard he forced the youngster to drink gin, dragged him upstairs, and asked him to watch pornography before assaulting him.

Following the verdict, the Conservative Party said Mr Khan had been “expelled with immediate effect”, meaning he will for now sit in parliament as an independent.

Mr Khan is set to be sentenced at a later date.