Paedophile MP’s conviction for sex attack on boy likely to hand Labour victory in Red Wall by-election: Opposition favourites to win Imran Ahmad Khan’s Wakefield seat ‘at a canter’
- Wakefield MP found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenager at a house in 2008
- If jailed for more than a year he faces automatic expulsion from the Commons
- Conviction sets up by-election in a Yorkshire seat with a small Tory majority
Imran Ahmad Khan’s conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage boy has almost certainly handed Labour back one of the Red wall seats it surrendered at the 2019 election.
Wakefield MP Khan, 48, was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting the teenager at a house in 2008.
He was expelled from the Tory party following yesterday’s verdict and will be sentenced at a later date.
If, as it likely, he is handed a prison sentence of more than a year, he faces automatic expulsion from the House of Commons.
If the sentence is less than a year, he could be subject to a petition to oust him in the recall process.
Either way, the conviction sets up a likely by-election in a Yorkshire seat with a small Tory majority of 3,358, at a time when the party is under mounting pressure over its handling of the economy, as well as the lingering effects of the Partygate scandal.
Damian Lyons Lowe, the chief executive of the polling firm Survation said: ‘Were a by-election called now, Labour should win this seat ”at a canter”.’
His firm’s most recent figures showed Labour on 49 per cent in the area, up nine per cent on the 2019 election, with the Tories down 11 per cent on 36 per cent.
Wakefield MP Khan, 48, was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting the teenager at a house in 2008.
After being convicted of sexual assault yesterday at Southwark Crown Court, judge Mr Justice Baker warned Khan: ‘I make it clear that all sentencing options, including immediate custody, are being considered by the court.’
The victim, now 29, told a jury he was left feeling ‘scared, vulnerable, numb, shocked and surprised’ after Khan touched his feet and legs, coming within ‘a hair’s breadth’ of his privates, as he went to sleep in a top bunkbed.
He ran to his parents and 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.
But he told jurors ‘it all came flooding back’ when he learned Khan was standing in the December 2019 general election.
The Tory hopeful was literally parachuted into the constituency in a skydiving stunt after he was selected to replace Antony Calvert weeks before the election.
Days ahead of the poll, the victim said he contacted the Conservative Party press office, to tell them what Khan had done to him, but added: ‘I wasn’t taken very seriously.’
Mr Khan won the seat in a shock victory over former Labour shadow minister Mary Creagh.
Khan made no comment as he left court, but his lawyers said he maintains his innocence and will appeal, which would delay any by-election process being started.
Labour has called for his immediate resignation from Parliament as the opposition party pushed for a by-election in the hope of winning back their former territory.
This morning Defence Minister James Heappey said there were now mechanisms through which he can can be removed from his seat and subjected to a by-election.
Asked if Khan should resign his seat, Mr Heappey told Sky News: ‘He has been convicted, that’s happened in a court of law so it’s a judgment that of course we respect. He has had the whip removed and has been expelled from the Conservative Party.
‘The way that Parliament works is that you are elected as an individual, so his seat in the House of Commons is his until he personally chooses to vacate it.
‘There are mechanisms now through recall petitions that have been in place since I think 2015 from memory, so if he chooses not to, there are now mechanisms through which he can be removed from his seat and subjected to a by-election.
‘I understand he has plans to appeal, but quite frankly everybody in Government respects that a court of law has found him guilty and that must be the judgment until he appeals successfully.’
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