Farage at war with Tories over the ‘dodgy’ defector
NIGEL Farage was locked in a bitter war of words with the Conservatives last night over the credibility of a defector with links to a convicted kidnapper.
The anti-EU party had been left licking its wounds on Saturday night when UKIP MEP Amjad Bashir announced he was leaving for the Tories.
But Mr Farage hit back yesterday, saying Mr Bashir had already been facing suspension over a string of issues, including claims that he had links to a man jailed for his involvement in a kidnap plot in Pakistan and alleged expenses irregularities.
The Ukip leader launched an all- out assault on Mr Bashir’s record, claiming party officials had been ‘increasingly alarmed by his behaviour over the past few months’.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that Mr Bashir ‘didn’t tell us the truth’ about the alleged employment of illegal immigrants in his restaurant business and warned there are ‘some big open questions in Brussels about money’.
There were also claims of interference in candidate selection in Keighley, West Yorkshire, and links with ‘political extremists’ from Pakistan.
Ukip suspended Mr Bashir on Saturday evening after getting wind that he was about to defect. The MEP, who was once paraded by Ukip as a symbol of the party’s diversity, yesterday accused his former leader of a ‘desperate attempt’ to smear him. Mr Bashir said there was ‘not a shred of truth’ in the allegations made against him. He claimed last night that Mr Farage had even asked him to stand for Parliament last week – a claim dismissed by Ukip last night as ‘risible’.
Mr Farage said he was ‘ genuinely surprised’ the Conservatives had accepted Mr Bashir into the party.
In a further twist last night, Respect MP George Galloway claimed his party deselected Mr Bashir as a council candidate ahead of the 2012 local elections.
The Bradford West MP refused to say what the issues were that led to Mr Bashir’s sacking ‘ but they were sufficiently grave to make us realise that he was not a fit and proper person to represent Respect’.
He added: ‘Clearly both Ukip and the Tories have lower standards.’
A Tory source last night said Mr Bashir denied ever having any involvement with the Left-wing Respect party.
Mr Bashir’s defection was presented as a major coup by the Conservatives, who are trying to squeeze Ukip’s vote ahead of the General Election. David Cameron said he was ‘absolutely delighted’ by the Yorkshire and Humber MEP’s decision.
Tory party chairman Grant Shapps yesterday brushed aside claims against Mr Bashir, which include his on-going friendship with Mujeeb Bhutto, who was sentenced to seven years in jail in the UK after admitting his role as the head of a kidnapping gang in Pakistan.
Ukip claimed Mr Bashir had failed to end his association with Bhutto, despite warnings last year. Sources said he also retained links with Pakistan’s MQM movement, which some regard as a terrorist organisation.
But Mr Shapps defended him, saying: ‘I’m absolutely satisfied that this is somebody mainstream... I’m absolutely satisfied that he is a very moderate MEP who has seen that the only way to deliver what he wants is through the Conservatives.’
He added that ‘they [Ukip] want you to believe that they were going to get rid of this guy, exactly the opposite is the case’.
Mr Bashir claimed Mr Farage ‘runs the party like a dictator’ and said the party had ‘outlived its usefulness’ because the Tories were now the best hope of a referendum on Europe.
He said: ‘I have decided to leave Ukip because it has become a vanity project for Nigel Farage and because many of the criticisms made of the party are true. David Cameron famously said that Ukip was a party of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”.
‘Certainly, I have experienced racism in Ukip. I have been racially abused on social media by other Ukip members who ask offensive questions like, “Are you a Muslim?” ’
Ukip denied he had been subjected to racism. Party sources said allegations of financial irregularities in Brussels would be passed to police.
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