Imran Ahmad Khan: Sex assault conviction MP resigns

Imran Ahmad Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, but says he will appeal against the conviction

Former Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan has formally resigned his Wakefield seat following his conviction for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Khan, who has represented the constituency since 2019, had denied groping the boy at a party in January 2008, but was convicted after a trial.

He announced his intention to quit on 14 April but did not tender his resignation for a further two weeks.

The Treasury confirmed Khan's departure on Tuesday.

He has now been appointed Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, one of the formal mechanisms for an MP to quit the Commons.

Khan, who was found guilty of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court on 11 April, has said he intended to appeal against his conviction.

During his trial, the court heard Khan forced the boy to drink gin at the party in Staffordshire, dragged him upstairs and asked him to watch pornography before assaulting him.

He was elected Conservative MP for Wakefield in 2019 - the first time the city had gone blue since 1931 - but was expelled by the party "with immediate effect" following his conviction.

He is due to be sentenced on 23 May.

The judge, Mr Justice Baker, warned Khan "all sentencing options, including immediate custody, are being considered by the court".

Normally getting a new job is cause for celebration. But if you're an MP and you get appointed as Steward and Bailiff of the Three Hundreds of Chiltern it actually means you're out of one.

MPs can't resign. If they want to they have to be given a job that disqualifies them from being a Member of Parliament.

As soon as Chancellor Rishi Sunak gave Imran Ahmad Khan that new title he was no longer representing the people of Wakefield in Westminster.

By the way, being the Steward and Bailiff isn't an actual job, it is a title that pretty much means nothing.

But it means plenty for the people of Wakefield because they will now definitely have a by-election to choose a new MP.

There's no date immediately, because it has to be called by the Conservatives who won there in 2019, but it's likely to be later this summer.

Responding to Khan's resignation, Louise Haigh, Labour Shadow Cabinet member, said he should "never have been in a position to hold public office".

"The Conservatives were warned about serious allegations of child sexual assault before his election and ignored it," she added.

They turned their backs on victims and let Wakefield down."