Blunt apologises after outcry over defence of child sex offender MP
A FORMER justice minister has apologised for the “significant upset and concern” caused by his defence of fellow MP Imran Ahmad Khan following his conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
Tory MP Crispin Blunt removed a post from his website and Twitter feed in which he had claimed Khan was the victim of a “dreadful miscarriage of justice”, after the Wakefield MP was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy in 2008.
Anneliese Dodds, Labour Party chairwoman and shadow equalities secretary, called Mr Blunt’s comments “disgraceful”.
Member of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Global LGBT+ Rights, Rhondda Labour MP Chris Bryant described the remarks as “completely inappropriate”.
But yesterday Mr Blunt said he had decided to retract his statement and insisted “I do not condone any form of abuse and I strongly believe in the independence and integrity of the justice system”.
Khan was thrown out of the Tory Party following the verdict and Mr Blunt had come under pressure from the Conservative hierarchy to withdraw his initial statement.
He also offered his resignation as chairman of an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on LGBT issues following protests from MPs about his comments.
Mr Blunt said: “On reflection I have decided to retract my statement defending Imran Ahmad Khan. I am sorry that my defence of him has been a cause of significant upset and concern not least to victims of sexual offences. To be clear I do not condone any form of abuse and I strongly believe in the independence and integrity of the justice system.
“I have today offered the officers my resignation so a new chair can be found to continue the work of the group with full force.”
In a statement published on Twitter, the APPG confirmed it would be electing a new chair and that members had been “shocked” by Mr Blunt’s opinion, which they stressed was a personally-held view.
“Having lost the confidence of the other officers, Crispin Blunt has now resigned as chair of the APPG,” the group said.
Rhondda Labour MP Chris Bryant, who chairs the Commons’ standards committee, said Boris Johnson should encourage Imran Ahmad Khan to resign his seat as Wakefield MP.
Mr Bryant told BBC Radio Four’s World at One: “I think when somebody is found guilty in a court of law, when an MP is found guilty in a court of law of something as serious as this, even if they are going to appeal, my personal view is that they should resign their seat.”
When asked what should happen if the sentence is less than a year, Mr Bryant said: “If I were Boris Johnson I would be ringing him up and saying ‘look, I think that the best place for you if you feel you still have to defend your honour and you think that you’ve been traduced unfairly, then you should fight that battle for your appeal out of Parliament, not in Parliament, and you should resign your seat’.”
Mr Blunt’s retraction follows a statement published on his website on Monday which described the jury’s decision in Khan’s case was “nothing short of an international scandal”.
A jury at Southwark Crown Court took about five hours to decide Khan, 48, was guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, who is now 29.
Khan’s legal team said he plans to appeal against the conviction.