Boris Johnson news – live: Tory MP slammed for defending Khan as Starmer accuses Sunak of ‘rank hypocrisy’
Conservative MP Crispin Blunt has been branded “disgraceful” after he came to the defence of Imran Ahmad Khan, a Wakefield parliamentarian thrown out of the party following his conviction in a child sex offence case.
On Monday, Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy more than a decade before he entered parliament and is now awaiting a sentence.
Denouncing his conviction, Mr Blunt, also the chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on global LGBT+ rights, said that Khan was a victim of a “dreadful miscarriage of justice” and his sentencing will be “an international scandal” having “dreadful” consequences for gay Muslims worldwide.
His comments drew widespread condemnation from several members with SNP MPs Martin Docherty-Hughes and Stewart McDonald quitting their positions as vice-chairs and calling on him to stand down.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has accused Chancellor Rishi Sunak of “rank hypocrisy” for using “schemes” to reduce his tax burden as the cost-of-living crisis worsens.
The embattled multimillionaire chancellor is facing questions over his family’s tax arrangements and wrote to the PM seeking an investigation just days after The Independent revealed his wife’s “non-dom“ tax status.
