Imran Ahmad Khan to resign as MP after being convicted of sexually assaulting boy, 15

Imran Ahmad Khan has said he will resign as MP for Wakefield after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Khan said: “While legal proceedings are ongoing, I do not believe that it would ordinarily be appropriate to resign.

“However, owing to long delays in the legal process, my constituents have already been without visible parliamentary representation for a year. Even in the best case scenario, anticipated legal proceedings could last many more months.

“I have therefore regrettably come to the conclusion that it is intolerable for constituents to go years without an MP who can amplify their voices in Parliament.

“Representing them has been the honour of my life, and they deserve better than this.

Imran Ahmad Khan has announced his intention to step down as an MP
Dominic Lipinski

Khan says he will now be able to "focus entirely on clearing my name"
Richard Townshend

“Consequently I am resigning as MP for Wakefield and withdrawing from political life."

He added: “I shall shortly write to the Parliamentary authorities to confirm this.

“I am now able to focus entirely on clearing my name. As I intend for this to be my only statement, I would like to apologise to my family and community for the humiliation this has caused them.

“Questions surrounding sexuality in my community are not trivial, and learning from the press about my orientation, drinking, and past behaviour before I became an MP has not been easy.”

The news comes just days after he was expelled from the Conservative Party with "immediate effect" on Monday.

Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after forcing him to drink gin at a party 14 years ago.

The victim said he wasn’t “taken very seriously” when he made the allegation to the Conservative Party press office days before Khan was elected as the MP for Wakefield in West Yorkshire in the December 2019 general election.

He made a complaint to police days after Khan helped Prime Minister Boris Johnson win a large Commons majority by taking Wakefield in the so-called “red wall” that had formed Labour’s heartlands in the Midlands and northern England.

Southwark Crown Court heard how Khan forced the teenager to drink gin and tonic, dragged him upstairs, pushed him onto a bed and asked him to watch pornography before the attack at a house in Staffordshire in January 2008.