6 2GM Wednesday April 13 2022 | the times
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Staffordshire in 2008. The court was
told that Khan had forced the teenager
to drink gin and tonic, dragged him up-
stairs, pushed him on to a bed and asked
him to watch pornography before the
attack. Khan, a gay Muslim, was elected
as MP for Wakefield in 2019.
Blunt, who was in court on Monday,
had said: “I am utterly appalled and
distraught at the dreadful miscarriage
of justice that has befallen my friend
and colleague Imran Ahmad Khan.
“His conviction is nothing short of an
international scandal, with dreadful
wider implications for millions of
LGBT+ Muslims around the world. I sat
through some of the trial. The conduct
of this case relied on lazy tropes about
LGBT+ people that we might have
thought we had put behind us decades
ago. As a former justice minister, I wasOnline suicide risk
Gambling addiction and social
media use are being highlighted
as threats to mental health in the
first overhaul of the national
suicide prevention plan in a
decade. The plan acknowledges
the “changing pattern of risk”
caused by technology. Sajid Javid,
the health secretary, said more
support was needed to stop a rise
in mental health problems.Dolphin killed by boat
Marine conservationists are
warning people to act responsibly
on the water over Easter after a
dolphin died when it was hit by
boat propellers. Cornwall Wildlife
Trust said it was “shocked” by the
incident at Porthpean beach.
“Wildlife disturbance, whether by
a boat, jet ski, kayak or even a
stand-up paddleboard, has to
stop,” a spokesman said.Social broadband offer
The telecoms regulator has urged
low-income households to move
to “social broadband” tariffs after
Sky became the latest supplier to
launch such a deal. Ofcom says
that more than four million
households could save an average
of £144 each by switching to one
of the discounted tariffs, which
are available to the recipients of
certain government benefits.Third of GPs ‘will quit’
One in three GPs plan to quit in
the next five years, including
most of those aged over 50.
Intense workloads, paperwork,
and “problem patients” were
factors, researchers from the
University of Manchester said.
The poll of 2,300 GPs in England
found that the pandemic had
lowered job satisfaction and only
51 per cent enjoyed their work.Man murdered toddler
A man has been found guilty of
murdering his partner’s three-
year-old son after inflicting more
than 20 rib fractures during
weeks of “horrendous” beatings.
Nathaniel Pope, 32, was found
guilty at Birmingham crown
court. Kemarni Watson Darby’s
mother, Alicia Watson, 30, was
cleared of murder but found
guilty of causing or allowing her
son’s death. Kermani died in June
2018 at the couple’s flat in West
Bromwich. The couple will be
sentenced at a later date.AAAACDDE
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Cryptic clues Page 10 of TimesGrassroots movement With just over three weeks until the local elections, Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, tries to appeal to Kate Allden in Watford
DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGESTory scandals
David Warburton, 56 The Somerton
& Frome MP had the whip
suspended this month after The
Sunday Times revealed allegations of
sexual harassment, which he denies.Andrew Griffiths, 51 He was found
last year by a family court to have
raped his wife Kate, who left him and
succeeded him as MP for Burton-
upon-Trent. He had quit as a minister
in 2018 for sending sexual messages.Charlie Elphicke, 51 In 2020 the
former MP for Dover and whip was
jailed for two years over sexual
assaults dating to 2007 and 2016.A Conservative former justice minister
has been forced to retract his claim that
the conviction of a fellow MP for
sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy
was a “dreadful miscarriage of justice”.
Crispin Blunt, 61, had said the deci-
sion by a jury to find Imran Ahmad
Khan guilty on Monday was “nothing
short of an international scandal”.
Following calls yesterday for Blunt to
be expelled from the party, he retracted
his comments and said that he was
“sorry” that his defence of Khan had
been a “cause of significant upset and
concern, not least to victims of sexual
offences”. Blunt added: “To be clear I do
not condone any form of abuse and I
strongly believe in the independence
and integrity of the justice system.”
Ministers had distanced themselves
from Blunt. James Heappey, the defence
minister, said: “Absolutely nobody in
Her Majesty’s government is seeking to
be critical of the decision of the court.”
The Conservative Party said it “rejects
any allegations of impropriety against
our independent judiciary”.
Labour described Blunt’s defence of
Khan as “completely inappropriate”.
Five members of the all-parliamentary
group on Global LGBT+ Rights, which
Blunt chairs, said they would resign in
protest.
A jury at Southwark crown court
took about five hours to decide that
Khan, 48, was guilty of sexually assault-
ing the boy, who is now 29, at a house in
Crispin Blunt supported Imran Ahmad
Khan and attended his sex assault trial
I was wrong to reject guilty verdict
on MP in sex case, says ex-minister
prepared to testify about the truly
extraordinary sequence of events that
has resulted in Imran being put
through this nightmare start to his
parliamentary career.”
Sir Peter Bottomley, the Father of the
House of Commons, who also attended
court on Monday, said the final jury
verdict should be respected. The Tory
MP said he had attended the trial “most
days” because “no one should be alone
in court”, adding: “It was not the verdict
I anticipated. Unless overturned on
appeal, the jury verdict following the
summing up has to be respected.”
Khan, who denied attacking the boy,
will be sentenced at a later date. He
plans to appeal. The court was told
about another alleged attack in which
he performed a sex act on an aid worker
in Pakistan in 2010. Sean Larkin QC, for
the prosecution, said during legal
argument that Khan had not been
charged over the incident because of a
“mere technicality”.
Police were contacted about Khan’s
attack on the boy days after the 2019
election in which he led the Tories to
victory over Labour in the West York-
shire seat for the first time since 1931. He
had the whip suspended when he was
charged last June and was expelled
from the party upon the guilty verdict.
If he receives a jail sentence of longer
than a year, a recall petition will be held.
His majority in the constituency is 3,358.
In Reigate, the seat in Surrey where
Blunt has been an MP for 25 years and
has a majority of 18,310, residents had
mixed views on his intervention. Rob
Ford, 52, a motorbike mechanic, said
that he was “out of touch” and should
resign. Jacqueline Inwood, 56, a shop
owner, said: “It is extraordinary he was
defending someone who was convict-
ed, quite appalling really. But com-
mendable he issued an apology.”
However, Sarah Tye, also 56, a long-
time Conservative voter, said: “We are
all too quick to judge these days; he’s
apologised. Let’s just move on.”Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Miranda Bryant, Laurence Sleator
Profile
C
rispin Blunt
was once
easily
typecast as
a particular
type of Conservative
MP (Oliver Wright
writes).
A graduate of
Wellington College
and Sandhurst, and
the son of a major
general, Blunt spent
11 years in the armed
forces. A short spell in
the Ministry of
Defence followed
until he was elected
for the ultra-safe seat
of Reigate in 1997.
A solid if
unspectacular
political career
followed. He entered
government as ajunior justice minister
under the coalition.
But within months
he made headlines
after separating from
his wife of almost 20
years — with whom
he had two teenage
children — to “come
to terms with his
homosexuality”.
While the party was
supportive, it was less
pleased with some of
his more liberal
attitudes to his new
brief. He was
overruled by No 10
when he announced a
relaxation of rules
governing prison
parties, and lost his
position in 2012.
Since then Blunt,
whose niece is theactress Emily Blunt,
has used his position
on the back benches
to support gay rights.
He chaired the all-
party group on global
LGBT+ affairs and in
2016 became the first
MP to declare in the
Commons that he had
used poppers.
Blunt had closely
followed the Imran
Ahmad Khan case
and offered to provide
a character witness to
the court.
Nevertheless his
outburst at the guilty
verdict took Tory
whips and other MPs
by surprise. He may
have retracted his
comments but his
future is still in doubt.