Former Lord Mayor of Bradford and Keighley councillor Zafar Ali has blamed his decision to resign from the Conservative party on ‘dirty Pakistani politics’ and ‘petty political games’ played by Keighley and Ilkley Conservative Association. He argued inappropriate tactics were used when the party ousted him for Javaid Akhtar, who will stand as a Conservative councillor in the 2023 local elections this May.
Hitting out at the selection process, Zafar told Asian Standard that it had been ‘manipulated.’ He added that “such behaviour very much amounts to discriminatory and intimidating bullying tactics. Changing approval rules to put my selection at the disadvantage was the final straw. Leaders of the group have been fully aware of this but have failed to act.”
“All of a sudden fathers, sons, nephews and cousins became member[s] who did not become members a year ago. I did say at the meeting that you have brought dirty Pakistani Politics to the Conservatives and This Association endorsed it. It’s shameful.”
“I wish to state that I do not blame the Conservative group, I do however feel very badly let down by the Keighley and Ilkley Conservative Association who have seen fit to discard me after loyal service.”
Javaid Akhtar, who has previously stood as Mayor of Keighley, already has a varied political background. He stood as a Parish Councillor for Labour in 2019, before standing again in 2021, this time as an Independent candidate for the Central Ward. It is believed Javaid Akhtar joined the Conservative party last year, which was met with a lavish celebration at a local restaurant. The celebration was attended by Conservatives peers and even aired on Pakistani TV channel UK44 – a whole 6 months before he had been announced as a candidate.
Akhtar is well supported by the local community. When he ran as the independent candidate for Keighley Central Ward. Oxford Taxis, to which he is thought to have family connections; lent its support and public endorsement to his campaign.
The incumbent Keighley Central councillor said he believes rules were broken because Javaid Akhtar has applied to be a Conservative candidate before. He was informed he had been unsuccessful on 2 September 2022 and then reapplied on 25 September, which Mr Ali argues was a breach of the rules.
Mr Ali told Asian Standard that the Political Chair, Kyle Green, had said that candidates should not reapply to be on the approved list if they have previously applied and were unsuccessful in the first round. Despite this, Javid Akhtar did apply and was unanimously chosen to stand as the new candidate.
Keighley and Ilkley Conservatives Association were approached for a comment and told Asian Standard: “We would like to put on record our thanks to Councillor Ali for his years of service, especially in his role as Lord Mayor. When selecting candidates we endeavour to do so in a transparent and fair manner and while we acknowledge that few people are happy when they are unsuccessful, we are hugely disappointed that Councillor Ali has chosen to leave the party instead of supporting our new candidate.”
Cllr Rebecca Poulsen, Conservative Group Leader on Bradford Council said, “I’d like to thank Cllr Zafar Ali for his years serving as a Councillor for Keighley Central Ward and particularly for his year as Lord Mayor. Local conservative party members in Keighley Central, following the mandated selection process, selected Javaid Akhtar to be their candidate in May. Any selection process is a competition and naturally I can understand that Zafar didn’t like losing out but, he did.”
Local elections will take place on 4 May 2023.
This article was edited on 16 March 2023. Keep following Asian Standard for more updates.
