Crispin Blunt: MP should lose whip for Khan remarks - Labour

Crispin Blunt has described the child sex abuse conviction of Imran Ahmad Khan as a "serious miscarriage of justice", despite previously withdrawing similar comments.

Mr Blunt, Conservative MP for Reigate, told the BBC he believed the outgoing Wakefield MP did not get a fair trial.

Last month Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Labour is calling for the whip to be removed from Mr Blunt, who previously apologised for defending Khan.

Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said: "The Conservatives' claims to be the party of law and order and on the side of victims can never be taken seriously ever again."

Khan was thrown out of the Conservative Party after a jury delivered its verdict at Southwark Crown Court in April. He has stood down as an MP - a by-election will be held in Wakefield next month - but is appealing against his conviction.

Mr Blunt told the BBC's Politics South East programme: "I remain confident [Khan] will win his appeal and I will be distressed about our justice system if he doesn't."

The Surrey MP confirmed he did not attend the whole trial nor did he hear the witness evidence in court.

Southwark Crown Court heard Khan forced the boy to drink gin, dragged him upstairs and asked him to watch pornography before assaulting him, at a party in Staffordshire in January 2008.

In April, Mr Blunt, a friend of Khan, said in a now-deleted statement that he was "appalled and distraught" by the verdict, calling it "an international scandal, with dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ Muslims around the world".

He alleged that the case against Khan had "relied on lazy tropes about LGBT+ people that we might have thought we had put behind us decades ago".

Mr Blunt later 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."

In his latest interview, he told the BBC he understood why his original statement had caused dismay, but said he still saw the Khan verdict as a "serious miscarriage of justice".

Mr Blunt resigned as chairman of an all-party parliamentary group on LGBT issues following protests from MPs about his previous comments. The Conservative Party has described his views as "wholly unacceptable".

In a statement released on Sunday, Labour's Mr Reed said the Conservative Party had "ignored complaints" from Khan's victims, adding that "one of their own MPs has doubled down on his appalling defence of Khan's criminal behaviour".

Mr Reed added: "Crispin Blunt should have the whip removed if they have any respect for victims of sexual abuse."

An extended interview with Crispin Blunt can be seen in the BBC Politics South East programme.

Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].