Imran Ahmad Khan: Tory MP for Wakefield guilty of sex assault on 15-year-old boy

[James]

An MP has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Imran Ahmad Khan, who was elected as Conservative MP for Wakefield in 2019, had denied groping the teenager at a party in Staffordshire in January 2008.

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

Khan, 48, who has been suspended by the Conservative Party, was found guilty after a week-long trial.

The court heard that Khan had gone to the boy's bed and "reached in and touched his legs, reaching for, or actually touching, his groin".

The complainant, now 29, said the attack had left him "scared and shocked".

In evidence, he said Khan had started "slow caressing" him and continued despite being asked to stop.

"His breathing was getting quite heavy and I kept pushing his hand away and pushing it back and it would keep coming," the man said.

The court was told that police were called at the time but the teenager did not want to pursue the case.

The man, who cannot be named, contacted the Conservative party in 2019 after learning Mr Khan was standing in the general election.

He then called police after Mr Khan was elected to Parliament.

Jurors also heard from the complainant's older brother, who said the MP had asked if he was "a true Scotsman" and lifted his kilt, before "lunging" at him at the same party.

Another witness described waking to find Khan performing a sex act on him after a party in Pakistan in 2010 where the pair had drunk whisky and smoked marijuana.

Khan claimed he had only touched the teenager's elbow when the boy had become "extremely upset" after a conversation about his confused sexuality.

The MP was found guilty after about five hours of deliberations.

The judge, Mr Justice Baker, said he would sentence Khan at a date to be fixed and he warned him "all sentencing options, including immediate custody, are being considered by the court".

Khan made no comment as he left the court, but a member of his legal team said he would be appealing.

Staffordshire Police said it began its investigation into Khan after the victim came forward in December 2019.

In a statement, the force said: "We know how hard it is to come forward and report these offences, but it is vital to bring those responsible for these offences to justice.

"We would like to commend the victim for reporting the offence committed against him - he has shown real bravery and courage in doing so.

"This case has had a huge impact on the victim and his family for a number of years."

Khan will be thrown out of the House of Commons if he is handed a prison sentence of more than a year, or he could face a recall petition to oust him.

Following the verdict, the Labour party called for his immediate resignation.

"Imran Ahmad Khan should immediately resign so a by-election can take place and the people of Wakefield can get the representation they deserve," a party spokesman said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-61026348

 

[James]

Pretty disgusting stuff.

 

[Bewal Express]

Disgusting. Tory MPs and sexual deviancy are common bed fellows

 

[KingKhanWC]

Disgusting.

"Khan will be thrown out of the House of Commons if he is handed a prison sentence of more than a year, or he could face a recall petition to oust him."

There should be no IF. A lengthy prison sentence is needed. In the UK child abusers get lenient sentences, this needs to change.

But when you have the likes of Prince Andrew never being investigated fully or charged, it sends a bad message to other such evil criminals.

 

[James]

Disgusting.

"Khan will be thrown out of the House of Commons if he is handed a prison sentence of more than a year, or he could face a recall petition to oust him."

There should be no IF. A lengthy prison sentence is needed. In the UK child abusers get lenient sentences, this needs to change.

But when you have the likes of Prince Andrew never being investigated fully or charged, it sends a bad message to other such evil criminals.

He should go to jail for at least five years for committing such a disturbing crime and ideally this should not even be in doubt.

The fact that we are unsure if he will even go to jail or will just get a fine/suspended sentence underlines the poor state of affairs in the UK so called justice system.

 

[Varun]

Imran Ahmad Khan, who was elected as Conservative MP for Wakefield in 2019.......

I thought the Conservative party - as the name suggests - came to power on the bandwagon of anti-immigration, Brexit and Islamophobia. How did a Muslim person join their ranks and climb all the way up to MP?

 

[KingKhanWC]

He should go to jail for at least five years for committing such a disturbing crime and ideally this should not even be in doubt.

The fact that we are unsure if he will even go to jail or will just get a fine/suspended sentence underlines the poor state of affairs in the UK so called justice system.

The UK and its people really need to look hard in the mirror. Jimmy Saville got away with so much abuse, I cant accept many werent aware. Andrew was once again leading the Queen to Phillips memorial after cutting a deal in his civil case, which many see as admission of guilt.

Peados get lenient sentences here.

Victor Melleney a former BBC producer was given a suspended sentence after being guilty of many indecent images of small children on his laptop.

Meanwhile

" A group of teenagers who swapped residents’ doorstep milk orders as a prank have been sent to a prison as a warning of where they could “end up”. "

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/9696108.teens-sent-to-prison-for-doorstep-milk-prank/

 

[DeadlyVenom]

A Tory MP not being a deviant would be a bigger shock these days.

 

[Markhor]

Read some of the disturbing details about this case the other day.

This incident took place before he became an MP, begging the question why wasn't he properly vetted as a candidate ?

 

[James]

Disgusting. Tory MPs and sexual deviancy are common bed fellows

A Tory MP not being a deviant would be a bigger shock these days.

<b>Blackadder:</b> Now then; criminal record...?

<b>Baldrick:</b> Absolutely not.

<b>Blackadder:</b> Oh come on, Baldrick, you're applying to be an MP!
I'll just put down “fraud and sexual deviancy.”
Now; minimum bribe level...?

 

[James]

This incident took place before he became an MP, begging the question why wasn't he properly vetted as a candidate ?

Khan was not vetted. I can fill in some of the detail here. (Local knowledge.)

The Tory first choice Antony Calvert was generally well known in the area and popular. He had come close to unseating our long-standing Labour incumbent Mary Creagh on a number of previous occasions. In 2019, he was running again — on a pro-Brexit ticket, in Leave stronghold Wakefield — and was strongly tipped to win.

But Calvert made the classic rookie mistake during his campaign of not cleaning up and/or deleting his old social media accounts, and eventually of course a stockpile of his offensive Facebook posts from 2010 were released. Hence, he formally stood down as the party’s candidate.

Wakefield Conservatives were then thrust into panic mode. The deadline date for submitting nominations was fast approaching, and as much as their star man was a goner they also did not want his sullied name on the ballot paper.

So they had to hastily promote a total unknown to take Calvert’s place, someone who was ready to back Brexit to the end, but knowing full well that they as a Party will not have had the time or the means to screen him properly in advance. Enter: Imran Ahmad Khan…

The shrewd Khan won the election runoff and beat Mary Creagh easily. He then made his maiden speech in Parliament a few months later and came across as highly articulate. Turns out in the end however that he was just a sex pest.

 

[Markhor]

<b>Blackadder:</b> Now then; criminal record...?

<b>Baldrick:</b> Absolutely not.

<b>Blackadder:</b> Oh come on, Baldrick, you're applying to be an MP!
I'll just put down “fraud and sexual deviancy.”
Now; minimum bribe level...?

Hasn't aged a day.

 

[irfan]

I see he attempted to play the Ahmadi card when he requested the trial be held in secret.

Another witness described waking to find Khan performing a sex act on him after a party in Pakistan in 2010 where the pair had drunk whisky and smoked marijuana.

so looks like he was an habitual sex pest, wonder what else he got up to in Pakistan, shudder to think the ages involved.

 

[KingKhanWC]

I see he attempted to play the Ahmadi card when he requested the trial be held in secret.





so looks like he was an habitual sex pest, wonder what else he got up to in Pakistan, shudder to think the ages involved.

This makes me so angry, I cant even mention what I'd do this bloke if I ever met him!

Imagine the poor in Pakistan who cant even report this.

The only thing which gives me peace is knowing he will be dealt with in prison by other convicts.

 

[Rana]

Shocking

 

[James]

The only thing which gives me peace is knowing he will be dealt with in prison by other convicts.

I wonder if he will end up in a VPU [Vulnerable Persons Unit] due to his public profile.

https://www.vice.com/amp/en/article/43kpx9/vulnerable-prisoner-units-uk

An interesting read, particularly in terms of the “hierarchy”.

 

[mazkhan]

Apparently the victim in pakistan in 2010 refused to go the police in pakistan because khan had strong ties to pakistani military and goverment officials in pakistan.

I want to know why a foreign tory has strong ties to pakistan military and goverment .
Why has the top brass sold out?

 

[James]

<b>Crispin Blunt criticised for remarks about Imran Ahmad Khan conviction</b>

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".

On Tuesday morning, a Tory source told the BBC: "Crispin's views are wholly unacceptable. Following exchanges late last night, we expect the statement to be retracted first thing this morning."

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.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61075923

 

[James]

An utterly bizarre attempted intervention by Crispin Blunt.

 

[MenInG]

Former Justice Minister Crispin Blunt says "I have decided to retract my statement defending Imran Ahmad Khan" and "I am sorry that my defence of him has been a cause of significant upset and concern not least to victims of sexual offences"

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Apparently the victim in pakistan in 2010 refused to go the police in pakistan because khan had strong ties to pakistani military and goverment officials in pakistan.

I want to know why a foreign tory has strong ties to pakistan military and goverment .
Why has the top brass sold out?

I reckon the poor victim was a villager and the pervert spun some lies about the army to protect himself.

Its unlikely that a prominent Ahmadi would have such deep ties.

 

[Rana]

I reckon the poor victim was a villager and the pervert spun some lies about the army to protect himself.

Its unlikely that a prominent Ahmadi would have such deep ties.

Unlikely?

His brother is the Chief Prosecutor of the International criminal court. Don’t underestimate Ahmadis

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Unlikely?

His brother is the Chief Prosecutor of the International criminal court. Don’t underestimate Ahmadis

Yes. But thats in Europe.

I meant in Pakistan its unlikely he will hold sway with top politicians and the army brass.

More likely he spun a story to keep some poor uneducated guy quiet after abusing him.

 

[Rana]

Yes. But thats in Europe.

I meant in Pakistan its unlikely he will hold sway with top politicians and the army brass.

More likely he spun a story to keep some poor uneducated guy quiet after abusing him.

I don’t think that’s how they operate in Pakistan. You would be surprised. I think the vast majority of Ahmadis in Europe/America realise now that Imran Ahmad Khan was an Ahmadi. I doubt 99% of Pakistani/Indian Ahmadis know who he is

 

[James]

New:

During the trial, the victim, who is now 29, said he was "not taken very seriously" when he made an allegation to the Conservative Party press office in December 2019, days before Khan was elected as Wakefield's MP.

The victim went to the police days after the election.

Conservative sources told the BBC the party had found no record of a complaint being made about Khan in the run up to polling day.

Khan tried and failed to ban media reporting of the case, with his lawyers arguing that his life could be at risk, as the consumption of alcohol and homosexuality are strictly prohibited within his faith.

But a risk assessment by West Yorkshire police counter-terrorism security advisers concluded that there was "no objective threat to defendant's life that would arise from being named as the defendant in these allegations".

 

[Manunited18]

Deserves to be put behind bars . Only issues is there seems to be leniency on rulings on peados/sex predators.

 

[James]

<b>Imran Ahmad Khan: Tory MP in sexual assault case had oddball reputation</b>


Imran Ahmad Khan liked to be noticed.

Wandering around Westminster in a pinstripe suit with a cane, he looked and sounded like a Conservative MP from another era, calling colleagues “old boy” and “dear chap”, despite only being in his 40s – “like a tinpot Churchill”, as one of his colleagues puts it.

He was prone to ostentatious displays of wealth, sometimes parking a Rolls-Royce in the parliamentary car park.

In his 2019 victory speech he paid special tribute to his mother, whom he called “ma-mah”, like a member of the royal family.

He is close to his family, particularly his brothers Karim and Khaled, both lawyers, the former a prosecutor at the international criminal court in The Hague.

After becoming Wakefield’s first Conservative MP since 1932, Khan, a keen Brexiter, quickly garnered a reputation as an oddball with a questionable grasp on reality.

One Conservative MP recalled an early meeting of the 2019 intake in Downing Street, where the new MPs were being briefed on the Brexit negotiations.

“My overriding memory of Imran is him piping up: is there no chance we could threaten to close the straits of Denmark [which connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea] as a negotiating position? The Spad there wrote it down and made a note to never trust this man with anything ever again,” the MP said.

Khan had an exhibitionist streak, responding to a criticism that he had been “parachuted” into Wakefield as a last-minute candidate for the 2019 general election by jumping out of a plane and parachuting into the West Yorkshire city for a public appearance.

Though friends knew he was gay, he tried to keep his sexuality a secret.

Shortly after his election win he forced a correction from the Conservative LGBT+ group for saying he was the first openly gay Muslim to be elected in the UK.

“We are incorrect to describe him as an ‘out’ LGBT candidate,” the group wrote, explaining that an “application was made in his name to the LGBT+ Conservatives candidates’ fund”, but Ahmad Khan insisted the application had been made in error.

He acknowledged only during his trial that he was in fact gay.

<b>Born in Wakefield to a doctor and nurse at the local hospital, he was not the Tories’ first choice to contest the seat. He got the call only when the original candidate had to withdraw a month before polling day after journalists dredged up his offensive Facebook history. Corners may well have been cut in the vetting process as a result.</b>

The main complainant in his sexual assault trial testified he had tried to warn the Conservatives about Khan before his election, saying the prospective MP had abused him when he was 15.

The complainant says he was not taken seriously and so went to the police instead.

But delays in the investigation meant Khan was able to win his parliamentary seat with a 3,358 majority and serve 18 months before he was eventually charged, prompting his suspension from the Conservative party.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politic...in-sexual-assault-case-had-oddball-reputation


Interesting article.

Also — see my post above as well as the bolded, [MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION].

 

[Markhor]

<b>Imran Ahmad Khan: Tory MP in sexual assault case had oddball reputation</b>


Imran Ahmad Khan liked to be noticed.

Wandering around Westminster in a pinstripe suit with a cane, he looked and sounded like a Conservative MP from another era, calling colleagues “old boy” and “dear chap”, despite only being in his 40s – “like a tinpot Churchill”, as one of his colleagues puts it.

He was prone to ostentatious displays of wealth, sometimes parking a Rolls-Royce in the parliamentary car park.

In his 2019 victory speech he paid special tribute to his mother, whom he called “ma-mah”, like a member of the royal family.

He is close to his family, particularly his brothers Karim and Khaled, both lawyers, the former a prosecutor at the international criminal court in The Hague.

After becoming Wakefield’s first Conservative MP since 1932, Khan, a keen Brexiter, quickly garnered a reputation as an oddball with a questionable grasp on reality.

One Conservative MP recalled an early meeting of the 2019 intake in Downing Street, where the new MPs were being briefed on the Brexit negotiations.

“My overriding memory of Imran is him piping up: is there no chance we could threaten to close the straits of Denmark [which connect the Baltic Sea to the North Sea] as a negotiating position? The Spad there wrote it down and made a note to never trust this man with anything ever again,” the MP said.

Khan had an exhibitionist streak, responding to a criticism that he had been “parachuted” into Wakefield as a last-minute candidate for the 2019 general election by jumping out of a plane and parachuting into the West Yorkshire city for a public appearance.

Though friends knew he was gay, he tried to keep his sexuality a secret.

Shortly after his election win he forced a correction from the Conservative LGBT+ group for saying he was the first openly gay Muslim to be elected in the UK.

“We are incorrect to describe him as an ‘out’ LGBT candidate,” the group wrote, explaining that an “application was made in his name to the LGBT+ Conservatives candidates’ fund”, but Ahmad Khan insisted the application had been made in error.

He acknowledged only during his trial that he was in fact gay.

<b>Born in Wakefield to a doctor and nurse at the local hospital, he was not the Tories’ first choice to contest the seat. He got the call only when the original candidate had to withdraw a month before polling day after journalists dredged up his offensive Facebook history. Corners may well have been cut in the vetting process as a result.</b>

The main complainant in his sexual assault trial testified he had tried to warn the Conservatives about Khan before his election, saying the prospective MP had abused him when he was 15.

The complainant says he was not taken seriously and so went to the police instead.

But delays in the investigation meant Khan was able to win his parliamentary seat with a 3,358 majority and serve 18 months before he was eventually charged, prompting his suspension from the Conservative party.

https://amp.theguardian.com/politic...in-sexual-assault-case-had-oddball-reputation


Interesting article.

Also — see my post above as well as the bolded, [MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION].

Dear me, seems quite the character. Let's see if Labour can reclaim a brick in the Red Wall.

 

[MenInG]

A Conservative MP found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy has announced he is resigning from the Commons.

Imran Ahmad Khan, who has represented Wakefield since 2019, said he was appealing against the conviction.

But he added it was "intolerable" for his constituents not to be represented properly while he goes to the courts.

The decision will trigger a by-election for his seat, which had previously been held by Labour for 87 years.

Earlier this week, Southwark Crown Court found Khan guilty of groping the teenager at a party in Staffordshire in January 2008.

The jury heard he had forced the youngster to drink gin, dragged him upstairs and asked him to watch pornography before assaulting him.

The verdict saw the Conservative Party expel him "with immediate effect".

Khan, who is 48 and has continued to deny the offence, is awaiting sentencing.

If he received a prison term of more than a year, he would be automatically disbarred from being an MP.

Posting on Twitter, Khan said it would not "ordinarily be appropriate to resign" while legal proceedings were continuing.

But he added: "Owing to long delays in the legal process, my constituents have already been without visible parliamentary representation for a year.

"Even in the best case scenario, anticipated legal proceedings could last many more months.

"I have therefore regrettably come to the conclusion that it is intolerable for constituents to go years without an MP who can amplify their voices in Parliament."

It will be up to the Conservative Party when the by-election for his Wakefield seat will be held.

But parliamentary rules state they have to move a writ - the legal process to trigger a by-election - within three months, and the vote has to take place between 21 and 27 days later.

A Conservative spokesperson said: "Decisions will be made in due course by the chief whip's office."

Anonymity plea

During the trial, the victim, who is now 29, said he was "not taken very seriously" when he made an allegation to the Conservative Party press office in December 2019, days before Khan was elected as Wakefield's MP.

The victim went to the police days after the election.

Conservative sources told the BBC the party had found no record of a complaint being made about Khan in the run up to polling day.

Khan tried and failed to ban media reporting of the case, with his lawyers arguing that his life could be at risk, as the consumption of alcohol and homosexuality are strictly prohibited within his faith.

But a risk assessment by West Yorkshire police counter-terrorism security advisers concluded that there was "no objective threat to defendant's life that would arise from being named as the defendant in these allegations".

BBC

 

[James]

Good that he has stepped down.

Most likely the first decent thing that this guy has done with his life in quite a long while.

It is time for Wakefield to elect a new MP.

Labour will probably come back in.

 

[Markhor]

This gets crazier and crazier. Claiming to be an adviser to the President of Belarus at 18 years old

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...rkshire-the-rise-and-fall-of-imran-ahmad-khan

When Imran Ahmad Khan was selected as the last-minute Conservative candidate for Wakefield in the 2019 general election, he sold himself as a “local lad”. He made a big deal of being born at the local hospital, where his late father was a doctor and his mum a nurse, and educated at Silcoates, the town’s lesser private school.

It was perhaps odd, then, that none of the local Tories seemed to have any idea who he was, with claims he had been “pushed” on to the constituency. He was a stranger even to Nadeem Ahmed, who had been the leader of the Conservative group of Wakefield council since 2014: “Wakefield is a close-knit place. I didn’t know anybody who knew him.”

He didn’t even pretend to live locally, giving his address as a Lake District mansion where his mother lived. The Labour party liked to call him “the Windermere candidate”.

Ahmad Khan quickly established a reputation as an eccentric character with a penchant for telling wild tales about his previous life as a counter-terrorism consultant in some of the most dangerous parts of the world.

In his booming voice, his accent more Duke of York than West Yorkshire, he would tell war stories about getting blown up by an IED in Afghanistan – some people were shown the scars he said came from burning shrapnel – and negotiating with the Taliban.

He talked proudly of his brothers, Karim and Khalid, who are both high-flying lawyers – Karim is the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in The Hague and has been in Ukraine this week investigating war crimes.

To some, he appeared sometimes to be playing a part, growing an extravagant Kitchener-style moustache and wearing red trousers with rainbow-striped shirts. “On Remembrance Sunday I remember him turning up to the Cenotaph hobbling with a cane, almost as if he himself had been wounded in battle,” said one local politician. “Then the next day you’d see him twirling the cane around and walking normally.”

Ahmad Khan was selected as the Tory candidate a month from polling day after the original choice had to step down because of offensive Facebook posts. Much of what the Guardian has learned about his past casts doubts on whether the Conservative party did proper background checks to establish if he was a fit and proper person to represent them in parliament.

The party says it has no record of anyone complaining to it before the election that Ahmad Khan was a paedophile – the victim in his sex offence trial claimed that he had done so. But it did not respond when asked by the Guardian if he had been vetted.

Tony Homewood, a Conservative councillor in Wakefield who acted as Ahmad Khan’s election agent in 2019 and previously worked as an “execution consultant” in the US to teach prison staff how to hang inmates, said on Twitter that Ahmad Khan had been “pushed” on the constituency. He claimed that Ahmad Khan had “applied for the seat originally and was in fact not selected for interview”.

He added: “What we might all ask is how candidates are selected and how can the situation come about where someone as wholly inappropriate as Ahmad Khan can get approved?” Homewood did not respond to a request for an interview.

During his two-and-a-half-year spell as Wakefield’s MP, Ahmad Khan has given differing versions of his CV. He no longer mentions his work for the private intelligence company SCL, parent company of controversial data consultants Cambridge Analytica.

But he has made no attempt to hide his job setting up the Syrian Media Centre, the UK propaganda arm of the Syrian government, where he was director of communications and strategy from 2004 to 2005. On his LinkedIn page, he says he “successfully organised the official launch party drawing on my own contacts to ensure that the guests included over 200 leaders drawn from the worlds of media, politics, diplomacy, industry, academia and art (eg. Rt. Hon. Michael Portillo, Sir David Frost).”

His now-deleted profile page for the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on foreign affairs claimed that he “worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and M&C Saatchi from 2015 to 2018, where he advocated a novel approach to achieve greater political and popular support that might provide solutions to issues affecting the eradication campaign”.

But M&C Saatchi insists he worked for them as an external consultant for only one month in 2019. Ahmad Khan disputes this.

In a piece for the Times this week, one of his former parliamentary interns, Felix Mohaupt, claimed Ahmad Khan told him he had done a postgraduate degree at Georgetown, one of the most prestigious universities in the US.

Asked why there is no record of this, Ahmad Khan said he was due to attend Georgetown but couldn’t because his father died. His lawyers told the Guardian: “We are unable to speculate as to whether Felix misunderstood our client or what was stated, and our client has no recollection of the conversation with him, or indeed of Mr Mohaupt.”

One thing missing from his LinkedIn profile is a brief spell at Leeds University, where he started a degree in politics, Russian and parliamentary studies in 1992.

Julian Watson, who was on the same course, said of Ahmad Khan: “He was very full of himself and prone, I think, to exaggerating his achievements. One of the things he used to boast about was having been a special adviser to a president of a former Soviet country. Hardly likely given he was 18 at the time. He dropped out/was pushed out after a few weeks or months. The next time I was aware of him he had just been elected Wakefield MP. I was gobsmacked.”

The Guardian has been unable to verify a claim made on his deleted APPG profile that “in the early 1990s [when Ahmad Khan was in his late teens or early twenties] Imran served as Special Advisor to President Stanislav S. Shushkevich of Belarus”.

But some of Ahmad Khan’s wilder claims do appear to have at least some basis in reality.

Alex Ulster, the son of the Earl of Gloucester and a former British army officer, said he worked with Ahmad Khan on counter-extremism projects for the UK Foreign Office between 2008 and 2014, before Ahmad Khan left to work for the United Nations.

Having met in the 1990s when doing a degree in war studies at King’s College in London, in 2010 the pair set up a consultancy called Xain Research and Communication, which had contracts with the British government.

Ulster was a little vague about what exactly they did – “you’ll have to ask the Foreign Office”, he said. (The Foreign Office had not responded by the time of publication.)

But he said Ahmad Khan used to do what he called “atmospherics”, walking around villages in Pakistan and Afghanistan, finding out what was going on and reporting back to the Foreign Office.

“He did a lot of stuff in Afghanistan. It wasn’t for very long, but we did a project where he was meeting people who were Taliban,” he said. “These were village-level people, not the leadership of the organisation or senior leaders … He was not negotiating on behalf of a government or anything of that level. We were doing what was called atmospherics.”

Asked to explain, he compared it to a reporter wandering around Wakefield asking about the byelection: “Vox populi. We would feed that back.”

He denied they were essentially evidence-gathering. “We would absolutely not call it intelligence, but it’s, you know, the flavour on the streets,” said Ulster. He laughed when asked if Ahmad Khan was a spy – a persistent rumour in Wakefield. “No, he is not a spy,” he said. “I think I would know if he was a spy.”

But he said Ahmad Khan was “quite ballsy – he went to places I wouldn’t … He was quite committed, you know, to the cause.” The cause being? “Anti-terrorism. And, you know, trying to stop the Pakistanis and Afghans from blowing each other up.”

Constituents in Wakefield were less enamoured of their MP, with some complaining that when they went to ask for help they had to sit under a huge portrait of Margaret Thatcher. After his conviction this week, many were outraged when he initially refused calls to stand down.

But by Thursday evening the pressure had become too much and he quit, saying he would focus entirely on clearing his name.

“As I intend for this to be my only statement, I would like to apologise to my family and community for the humiliation this has caused them,” he wrote.

“Questions surrounding sexuality in my community are not trivial, and learning from the press about my orientation, drinking, and past behaviour before I became an MP has not been easy.”

 

[James]

This gets crazier and crazier. Claiming to be an adviser to the President of Belarus at 18 years old

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...rkshire-the-rise-and-fall-of-imran-ahmad-khan

He sounds like a bit of a nutter imo.

 

[MenInG]

A former Conservative MP has been jailed for 18 months following his conviction for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

At a trial last month, Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, who was elected as Wakefield MP in 2019, was found guilty of groping the boy at a party in 2008.

Khan was expelled by the Conservative party following his conviction and later stood down as an MP.

The judge said he did not accept Khan had "any remorse" for what he had done.

Passing sentence at Southwark Crown Court, Mr Justice Jeremy Baker said the victim had been "profoundly psychologically affected" by Khan's actions.

He added: "The only regret you feel is towards yourself for having found yourself in the predicament you face as a result of your actions some 14 years ago."

Mr Justice Baker said there was a "significant degree of brutality" in the lead-up to Khan's assault on the teenager.

"I am satisfied the complainant was particularly vulnerable. Not only was he 15 years of age at the date of the offence, but I accept his mother's description that he was not very worldly and very young for his age," he said.

The judge told Khan: "Although it may well be, over the years, you had let yourself believe you had got away with having committed this offence, I am sure you were aware from the outset there was a risk there would be a day of reckoning."

However, Mr Justice Baker went on to say that he did not consider Khan's offence to be "sufficiently severe enough to place the assault into the most severe category".

The jury at Khan's trial heard he had forced the boy to drink gin at the party in Staffordshire, then dragged him upstairs and asked him to watch pornography before assaulting him.

The victim, now 29, told the court he was left feeling "scared, vulnerable, numb, shocked and surprised" after Khan touched his feet and legs, and was within "a hair's breadth" of his genitals.

The court was told that a police report was made at the time, but no further action was taken because the youngster did not want to make a formal complaint.

However, the victim told jurors "it all came flooding back" when he learned Khan was standing in the December 2019 general election and he went on to file a complaint.

'Horrible ordeal'

Reading an impact statement in court, Khan's victim said he had had "suicidal thoughts" and had suffered difficulties in his relationship and at work due to the assault.

"Because of this assault, throughout my teenage years I found being touched in any way difficult," he said.

"My mental health has deteriorated rapidly since deciding to come forward and having to constantly relive an event I tried to bury for such a long time.

"I have struggled with the guilt of dragging my family back into a horrible ordeal they would rather forget, and watch them struggle with their own guilt for allowing that man into the house."

In mitigation, Khan's defence lawyer Gudrun Young QC said the former MP had gone from "high public office" to being "utterly and completely disgraced, with his life and career in ruins, shamed and humiliated at every turn".

"To say his reputation is in tatters does not do the matter justice. It has been completely destroyed," she said.

"Mr Khan's fall from grace has been spectacular. He will always be known as a disgraced former MP and he will take that to his grave."

In a statement issued after the sentencing, the NSPCC said: "We hope seeing Khan face justice for the sexual assault he committed over a decade ago offers some solace to the brave young man who spoke out against his abuser.

"Abuse can have a profound and long-lasting effect on children and young people, but no matter who the perpetrator is, it is important to remember it is never too late to speak out and get support."

Earlier this month, Khan formally lodged an appeal against his conviction.

A by-election is due to be held on 23 June to elect a new MP for Khan's former constituency.

BBC