{"id":1433825,"date":"2022-04-12T17:14:57","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T21:14:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1433825"},"modified":"2022-04-12T17:15:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T21:15:11","slug":"chair-of-parliament-lgbt-group-resigns-after-defending-convicted-child-abuser-colleague","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chair-of-parliament-lgbt-group-resigns-after-defending-convicted-child-abuser-colleague\/","title":{"rendered":"Chair of Parliament LGBT+ Group Resigns After Defending Convicted Child Abuser Colleague"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchair-of-parliament-lgbt-group-resigns-after-defending-convicted-child-abuser-colleague%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1433825&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1216878343-e1649771895667-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">The Conservative Party chairman of a parliament LGBT+ group has resigned after defending a \u2018friend and colleague\u2019 convicted of child sex abuse.<\/p>\n<p>Conservative Party MP Crispin Blunt has resigned his position as the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT+ Rights after denouncing the conviction of a fellow Conservative MP for child sex abuse.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Imran Ahmed Khan was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/04\/11\/uk-conservative-mp-imran-ahmad-khan-found-guilty-of-sex-assault-on-boy\/\">convicted<\/a>\u00a0on Monday afternoon \u2014 by verdict of a jury \u2014 of sexually assaulting a teenage boy in 2008, a verdict which Blunt initially claimed to have been a \u201cdreadful miscarriage of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/soniasodha\/status\/1513773536984408067\">post<\/a> by\u00a0<em>The Observer\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>Sonia Sodha, Blunt claimed in a now taken down statement that the conviction of Khan was based on \u201clazy tropes\u201d, and that he was \u201cappalled and distraught\u201d at what he called a \u201cmiscarriage of justice\u201d.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Men who sexually abuse children are often adept at deploying accusations of bigotry and bias to rob their victims of voice. I\u2019m appalled to see an MP doing this in defence of a convicted child sex offender, in plain sight. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/43B2iOUCga\">pic.twitter.com\/43B2iOUCga<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sonia Sodha (@soniasodha) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/soniasodha\/status\/1513773536984408067?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 12, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe conduct of this case relied on lazy tropes about LGBT+ people that we might have thought were had put behind us decades ago,\u201d the Conservative Party member said in a statement initially put online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis conviction today is nothing short of an international scandal, with dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ muslims throughout the world,\u201d the long-time transgender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politicshome.com\/thehouse\/article\/after-his-furious-public-spat-crispin-blunt-liz-truss-trans-rights\">advocate<\/a> also wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Blunt has since changed his tone however after being widely condemned for his statement, with one commentator <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rakibehsan\/status\/1513624529351979009\">remarking<\/a> that it was \u201cshameless expressions of identity politics in British political history\u201d, and has since withdrawn his criticism of the jury and resigned from his position as the LGBT+ group chairman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn reflection I have decided to retract my statement defending Imran Ahmad Khan,\u201d the disgraced MP <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CrispinBlunt\/status\/1513794463231057922?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1513794463231057922%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2022%2Fapr%2F12%2Fcrispin-blunt-urged-to-apologise-for-comments-on-imran-ahmad-khan-case\">wrote<\/a> online. \u201cI am sorry that my defence of him has been a cause of significant upset and concern not least to victims of sexual offences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear I do not condone any form of abuse and I strongly believe in the independence and integrity of the justice system,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">MP Imran Ahmad Khan Expelled From Conservative Part After Being Found Guilty of Sex Assault on Boy <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0IqdiR4eqw\">https:\/\/t.co\/0IqdiR4eqw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1513577678548480003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Crispin Blunt\u2019s actions appear to have caused chaos for gay and trans rights activists in Westminster, with\u00a0<em>The Guardian<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/politics\/2022\/apr\/12\/crispin-blunt-urged-to-apologise-for-comments-on-imran-ahmad-khan-case\">reporting<\/a> his defence of Khan resulted in at least three other MPs resigning from his\u00a0All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT+ Rights.<\/p>\n<p>It may also result in further pressure being put on the Conservative Party at a time when Boris Johnson and his government really do not need it, with it just being announced that both the Prime Minister himself \u2014 as well as his embattled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/04\/11\/white-house-told-to-investigate-whether-british-chancellor-broke-immigration-rules\/\">tax-hiking Chancellor<\/a> of the Exchequer \u2014 are both to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.ie\/world-news\/europe\/britain\/downing-st-lockdown-parties-boris-johnson-and-finance-minister-to-be-fined-for-covid-19-breaches-41545845.html\">handed fines<\/a> for their roles in the \u201cPartygate\u201d scandal which saw government officials break Chinese Coronavirus lockdown rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrispin Blunt\u2019s statement was abhorrent,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ITVNewsPolitics\/status\/1513858569455775745\">said<\/a> leftist Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on the issue. \u201cAnd I would have liked to have seen the government be really hard on this, to come out fast and condemn this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was abhorrent for [Crispin Blunt] to put out a statement like that, and I would have expected the Conservative Party to be much, much harder about this and much clearer about this, and I haven\u2019t seen that clarity,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<h5 class=\"western\"><em><span>Follow Peter Caddle on Twitter:<\/span><\/em> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/peter_caddle\"><span>@Peter_Caddle<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n<h5 class=\"western\"><em><span>Follow Breitbart London on Facebook:<\/span><\/em> <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BreitbartLondon\/\"><span>Breitbart London<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Conservative Party chairman of a parliament LGBT+ group has resigned after defending a \u2018friend and colleague\u2019 convicted of child sex abuse. Conservative Party MP Crispin Blunt has resigned his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":297,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1433825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1433825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1433825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1433825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1433825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1433825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}