Tory candidate Afzal Amin quits over far-right plot claim

A Muslim candidate for British prime minister David Cameron’s Conservatives withdrew from the general election yesterday, the party said, a day after he was suspended over allegations of a plot to stir up racial tension to win votes.

The resignation is damaging to the Tories, who need to win seats like Dudley North, where the scandal erupted, from the Labour Party, to have a chance of obtaining a majority.

Afzal Amin, who had been due to stand for election in the seat, was shown in video footage and phone recordings published at the weekend trying to persuade the far-right English Defence League (EDL) to announce a march against a new mosque in the area. Mr Amin then allegedly planned to take the credit for brokering the suspension of the protest.

The Tories must now select a new candidate only weeks before the vote.

Mr Amin said yesterday he had only been trying to help improve ties between the area’s Muslims and disgruntled white working class voters.

He said he’d done nothing wrong and had been set up by the EDL, which organises protests against what it says is growing Muslim influence in British society.