A Conservative candidate at the general election has been suspended over allegations he schemed with the English Defence League (EDL) to win votes.
The Mail on Sunday reported that Afzal Amin plotted to persuade the EDL to announce a march against a new “mega-mosque” in the marginal seat of Dudley North.
The paper said Mr Amin planned for the march to be scrapped so he could take credit for defusing the situation.
Mr Amin told the paper the allegations were “completely untrue”. Mr Amin, who is currently in Dubai, told the BBC he would be responding “shortly”.
He told the Independent on Sunday that the MoS had provided “small snippets” of more than 57 hours of meetings he had held with members of the Muslim community, the EDL and its former leader Tommy Robinson.
He added he had been trying to “promote better community cohesion” to “serve as a model for further dispute resolution in other towns and cities”.
The MoS claims secretly filmed footage, obtained by Mr Robinson, shows former Army captain Mr Amin allegedly promising that he would be an “unshakeable ally” for the EDL in parliament and help bring their views to the mainstream.
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The paper said when it put it to him he was trying to stir up racial hatred to win the seat, he said: “That’s absolutely untrue, it’s utter rubbish.”
The BBC understands a full disciplinary hearing is expected to be held on Tuesday.
