A Tory General Election candidate suspended over alleged scheming with the Far-Right English Defence League today vowed to mount a “robust defence” of his actions rather than resign.
Afzal Amin, who is seeking to become Tory MP for Dudley North, claimed he was the victim of “a year-long sting operation” after being accused of encouraging the EDL to announce a march against a new “mega-mosque” so he could take credit for defusing tensions when it was called off.
He will face a disciplinary hearing tomorrow and reports indicate he could be sacked as Tory candidate.
The would-be MP and former Army officer is alleged to have outlined his plan to former EDL leader Tommy Robinson and current EDL chairman Steve Eddowes at an Indian restaurant in Birmingham earlier this month.
The Mail on Sunday reported that the 40-year-old allegedly floated the idea of a phoney protest in a conversation secretly filmed by Mr Robinson.
But Mr Amin, who denies any wrongdoing, sought to defend his actions over the march as “very normal conflict resolution”.
“If people do announce that they are going to do an action, and other people disagree with it, then they sit together and they resolve their differences and the action is then stopped; then this helps the communities feel that ‘Yes, on the other side there is a working partner we can work with’,” he said.
“That’s what we were trying to stage-manage.”
He insisted the second march was proposed by Mr Robinson. Mr Robinson is reported to have denied this.
Mr Amin said he would make his case to the Conservative Party at tomorrow’s hearing, adding: “I want to make a robust defence of my actions.”
But a senior Tory source said: “There will be a decision tomorrow... It does not look good.”
