Politics
New Muslim Birmingham Perry Bar MP questioned rapes by Hamas on October 7
Pro-Palestinian advocate Ayoub Khan overturned Labour majority with support from Muslim campaign group
July 5, 2024 10:08
Pro-Palestinian advocate Ayoub Khan overturned Labour majority with support from Muslim campaign group
July 5, 2024 10:08Ayoub Khan, the independent candidate backed by The Muslim Vote (TMV) who defeated Labour to take the seat of Birmingham Perry Bar, publicly questioned the extent of the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.
Having served as a Liberal Democrat councillor, Khan resigned from the party in May after he had already been selected as its Perry Bar parliamentary candidate, saying he had been told to “hush up” his concerns over the Gaza war but could not do so without compromising his integrity.
In yesterday’s poll he overturned the Labour incumbent Khalid Mahmood’s 15,000 majority to win by just under 500 votes.
Khan’s victory was one of a series of by independent and Green Party candidates endorsed by TMV, an organisation founded by Islamists who backed violent Palestinian “resistance” two days after the October 7 massacres.
Khan posted several clips on TikTok after the massacre that questioned the accuracy of Israeli reports, saying he had yet to see evidence that any of the terror group’s members had beheaded babies or committed rape.
In one he asked, “What do they think we are? Fools?”, going on to make the comparison with the reports of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s stocks of WMD.
The Lib Dems began an investigation after receiving complaints, and having cleared him of any wrongdoing, issued a statement saying Khan had apologised for the videos and agreed to receive antisemitism training – claims he promptly denied.
“Let me make my position absolutely clear,” Khan said in a fresh TikTok video posted at the end of October. “At no stage have I considered my material on TikTok offensive, nor have I agreed with anyone that I would undergo a training course in antisemitism. There is simply no need. It illustrates doesn’t it how the media can get it wrong.”
Nevertheless, he went on to be selected as the party’s Perry Bar candidate before resigning to contest the seat as an independent. Having done so, he said he intended to campaign as hard as he could to ban arms sales to Israel and for an immediate Gaza ceasefire.
“One of the key factors for me is that I was being asked to sign a document that restricted my freedom of speech,” Khan said at the time. “By signing it I would have been restricted from discussing the crisis in Gaza and the atrocities being carried out there, and I could never be comfortable with that. I felt I was at a crossroads politically and that continuing as a Lib Dem would only lead to a dead end.”
TMV celebrated Khan’s victory, claiming in a post on X that TMV-backed candidates had won more seats than Reform UK. “We've shown the power of unity... and as our unity grows, so will our political voice,” it said. “Now is the time to help build the infrastructure for the next election. Join the movement.”