LBC Exclusive: Former Conservative Muslim Forum Chair Defects To Lib Dems

2 November 2019, 13:21

Mohammed Amin told Maajid Nawaz why he has left the Conservatives and instead decided to become a paid-up member of the Liberal Democrats.

Mohammed Amin resigned from the Conservative Party earlier this week after being expelled as Chair of the Conservative Muslim Forum for questioning Boris Johnson’s "moral integrity".

He gave Boris Johnson six months for Boris Johnson to "crash and burn" before he made a decision about joining another party.

He has now, earlier than planned, decided to join the Liberal Democrats.

He told Maajid Nawaz: "I promised that I would tell you in January what I decided to do on a sort of permanent basis if he was still there. Of course, a small thing has happened in between - a general election has been announced - and I cannot sit on the sidelines while the General Election happens, just watching and waiting.

"That's not my style. So early this week, I went on to the Internet, and I applied to join the Liberal Democrat party and the Liberal Democrats have accepted me.

"I filled in this sort of demographic profiling, etc. I also made a donation and my wife has joined the party.

"I saw today in The Times newspaper that my friend from university days, Matthew Paris, has announced that he resigned from the Conservative Party and will be voting Lib Dem.

He hasn't said whether he's joining the party or not but it's a sign of the times."

Maajid Nawaz asked if others would follow in his footsteps in defecting.

He replied: "I'm not in touch with my former colleagues in the Conservative Muslim Forum. Obviously, I know them but we don't really interact very much. I will be seeing one of them at a dinner in a few weeks time for other reasons.

"But I know that there are many liberal-minded Conservatives who have left the party.

I'm also the patron of something called Movement 46, which is a loose association of liberal-minded Conservatives, named after the year 1846 when the Conservative Party split over the corn laws, and many of them will be actively supporting the Liberal Democrats."

He later said: "The Conservative Party is busy reversing David Cameron's entire detoxification project. Many liberal-minded people like Dominic Grieve etc, are no longer inside the Conservative Party.

"Lots of other people who were previously in UKIP have joined and it seems to be voluntarily retoxifying itself, which I find very disappointing."