S THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY ACCEPTED MEP AMJAD BASHIR?

You might ask why the UK Independence Party ever had Amjad Bashir MEP as a member, but that ship has sailed. The real question now is why, given the serious allegations against him, the Conservative Party has accepted Bashir.

One might argue that David Cameron and Tory Chairman Grant Shapps’s desperation to put one in the eye to UKIP has clouded their judgment. We’ve seen this desperation already expressed on the back of the Paris terrorist attack. I believe we’re seeing it again here with Bashir.

Questions have been raised as to the “financial” issues which UKIP has stated it is investigating. But I can also report that there have been a number of other discrepancies being investigated. Bashir was asked to explain these to UKIP, but either lied, or failed to present evidence: 

1. THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HE EMPLOYED AT HIS RESTAURANT

Last year the Times ran a story about Mr Bashir’s restaurant. He had employed illegal immigrants, which of course for a UKIP member would be twice as damaging, given the party’s hard line stance on the matter. Instead of coming clean over the matter, Mr Bashir sought to use the party’s legal resources to pursue the Times with the Press Complaints Commission. It has now been discovered that Mr Bashir lied to UKIP, and he did NOT in fact resign a month before the police raided the restaurant, as was reported. The truth, according to the documentation I have seen, is that Mr Bashir resigned three days AFTER the raid, and simply backdated his resignation as a company director.

2. HIS AFFILIATION WITH MUJEEB BHUTTO AND A TERRORIST-RUN POLITICAL PARTY

Bashir is known to be close friends and colleagues with Mujeeb Bhutto, a man who was briefly involved in UKIP before being rumbled as a Pakistani kidnapping gang leader. 

Bhutto seems to have introduced Bashir to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM Party) which Canadian courts have designated a terrorist organisation. The head of the group, Altaf Hussain, was arrested in London last year on suspicion of money laundering. At a meeting at the MQM’s “London Secretariat” last year, Mr Bashir offered his “best wishes” for Mr Hussain. 

UKIP sources have also revealed to me that Mr Bashir was attempting to get UKIP on “good terms” with MQM — which was apparently rejected outright. 

3. THE BRADFORD SELECTION MEETING AND THE ‘PURPLE TROJAN HORSE’

I’ve also learned that a group of Pakistani Asian men gatecrashed a UKIP parliamentary selection meeting as recently as last week. They apparently successfully infiltrated, at the orders of Mr Bashir’s friend Mr Bhutto, and had candidates selected. This led, according to leaked documents  to the Chairman of the Bradford Branch writing to Nigel Farage and UKIP Chairman Steve Crowther, asking for all the “infiltrators” to be removed from the UK Independence Party.

4. BASHIR’S FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES 

UKIP has also stated that there are irregularities in Mr Bashir’s financial expenditure as a party of the European of Freedom and Direct Democracy political grouping in the European Parliament. No further information has been released along this point, though it is thought to relate to expenses claims.

With all this in mind, it beggars belief that the Prime Minister should welcome the defection of Mr Bashir to the Conservative Party today. His exact words were that was he is “absolutely delighted” that Mr Bashir has joined the Tories. I suggest that if enough voters find out about this background of Mr Bashir, this big defection plan may actually do Mr Cameron more harm than good.