Labour councillor Ansar Ali Khan has called for a public apology from Birmingham Erdington MP Jack Dromey, who himself insisted Khan apologise for appearing to call their constituency “shit” in leaked footage revealed last week. Following Dromey’s statement – in which he demanded that Khan “apologise to the people of Erdington” – Khan immediately pushed back with demands of his own:
“In actual fact, what I was saying in the video is: ‘is constituency vich/ich’ […] I am shocked and disappointed to see a statement by Member of Parliament Jack Dromey on this issue, demanding me to apologise for something I definitely did not say or do…
“Despite not naming me in the statement, it is clear that Jack Dromey MP was referring to me and I am very disappointed that he chose to address the allegation in this manner without verifying what I actually said in the video
I demand a public apology from Jack Dromey MP.”
Dromey is yet to respond…
Following our exclusive video of Labour councillor Ansar Ali Khan appearing to call his Erdington constituency “sh*t“, whilst leafletting on behalf of Labour MP Jack Dromey, the MP has issued a statement:
“Like many Erdington residents, I find these comments outrageous and deeply offensive. I have made my views clear to the volunteer and expressed my disgust at what was said. I strongly disassociate myself from these remarks. I am proud to have served as the Member of Parliament for Erdington since 2010 and these comments in no way reflect my views of the fantastic and vibrant community we have here. I have been informed the matter is being referred to the West Midlands Labour Party for them to investigate and take action. I have also demanded the volunteer apologise to the people of Erdington.”
So far Ansar Ali Khan has not apologised.
Readers will remember Guido’s pre-election stories about Labour’s sex segregation rallies, organised in Birmingham by Labour councillor Ansar Ali Khan. Well, Khan has been in court this week facing an election challenge over claims that Muslims in his ward were “ordered” to vote Labour. The defeated LibDem candidate, Shamsur Rehman, claims Muslims were told that if they did not vote Labour as instructed they would “go to hell”. The election court case centres around this Facebook photo, which features Khan alongside Labour MP Khalid Mahmood:
The case continues…
Regular readers will remember Guido’s pre-election stories about Labour’s sex segregation rallies, organised in Birmingham by Labour councillor Ansar Ali Khan. The sinister gatherings allegedly involved British Muslims being “ordered“ to vote Labour by religious leaders. Labour kept very quiet about it at the time.
Following our story, Khan is now under investigation for ‘undue spiritual influence’. His LibDem opponent Shamsur Rehman has filed an election petition to the High Court:
“I have launched this campaign to clean up local politics in Birmingham from spiritual, foreign or biraderi (Kashmiri clan) influence. The people of Washwood Heath deserve better even if they don’t know it yet. This is a matter of public importance, my purpose is to clean up politics in this city.”
The petition claims:
“It is alleged the respondent channels public money and projects to his existing supporters or predominantly the Kashmiri Muslim community to the exclusion of other communities in Washwood Heath.”
He’s backing Watson and Cooper, for the record.
