Former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan has announced he is stepping down as a Wakefield MP following his conviction for child sexual abuse.
His resignation sparked explosive by-elections in West Yorkshire, one of Labor’s traditional strongholds in the so-called Red Wall, which fell to Boris Johnson’s Tories in the 2019 general election.
The race will be a crucial test of Sir Keira Starmer’s ability to win back the Red Wall and the extent to which the prime minister’s call has been tainted by his police fine for a party that disrupted the blockade of 10 Downing Street.
Khan, 48, was expelled from the Conservative Party after being found guilty in Southwark Crown court on Monday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy more than a decade before entering politics.
He said he was appealing the sentence and that “it would not normally be appropriate for him to resign” while the trial continues.
But in a statement today, he said it was “unbearable” for his constituents to continue for months or years until the legal process ended “without a member of parliament who can increase his vote in parliament”.
He said the move would allow him to “focus entirely on clearing my name.”
Khan said it was a “shock” to be “characterized as a sexual predator, rejected and worse” in the three days after his conviction.
Describing the crime he was found guilty of as “touching a foot on a sexual garment”, Khan, a Muslim and gay man, said he wanted to apologize to his family and community for the humiliation he had caused them. “.
He added: “The issues of sexuality in my community are not trivial and learning from the press about my orientation, drinking and past behavior before becoming an MP was not easy.
With a Tory majority of 3,358 in the 2019 election, Wakefield is one of the Red Wall constituencies that Starmer must win if it wants to take control of Downing Street, ranking 38th on its target list. Labor for the elections expected in 2024
Reversing Khan’s victory requires a 3.73 percent change – about a third of the turn that Labor must turn across the country to win an overall majority in the House of Commons.
Labor since 1932, it was held until the last election by Mary Craig, a member of the cabinet in the shadow of Ed Miliband from 2010-15.
A Labor spokesman said: “Wakefield’s people were very disappointed with the Conservatives.
“Only Labor has a plan to tackle the cost of living crisis and give the people of Wakefield the security, prosperity and respect they deserve.
Jurors found Khan guilty after hearing that he forced a teenager to drink gin and tonic, dragged him upstairs, pushed him to bed and asked him to watch pornography before touching his foot near the genital area in a house in Staffordshire in January 2008
The victim filed a complaint with the police days after the 2019 election. The court heard Khan insist that his actions were not of sexual intent and that he had tried to be “nice and helpful” with the boy, who seemed to want to discuss his sexuality.
Judge Judge Baker said he would convict the disgraced MP at a later date, telling him: “All sentencing options, including immediate detention, are being considered by the court.
A sentence of more than a year in prison would automatically drive him out of parliament, while a shorter prison would put him on a withdrawal petition.
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