Councillor vows to fight despite pressure to quit (From Droitwich Advertiser)

Councillor vows to fight despite pressure to quit

10:50pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

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A COUNCILLOR convicted of driving offences remains defiant, insisting he will continue to serve as a member on Wyre Forest District Council and Worcestershire County Council, despite coming under pressure to quit.

Mumshad Ahmed now sits as an independent on both councils after losing the Conservative Party whip and resigning from the Wyre Forest Conservative Association.

He has accused members of other parties calling for his resignation of “political sour grapes” and that he would be a better councillor as an independent.

He said he was not sacked by the Conservatives, despite the actions of the leader of the district council, John Campion, who took the party whip away from him just days after stating his support.

Mr Ahmed, aged 35, of Hurcott Road, said: “I am going to fight on. I am not going to stand down.

“If, in three and four years time, people decide not to re-elect me, then that is a matter for then.

“I am a hard-working man and I deserve another chance. The magistrate said the same thing in court.

“What is happening now is political sour grapes after I won my seat on the county council.”

He said: “I can now act independently for the people who elected me and do a better job for them, as I am not aligned to a specific party.”

Mr Ahmed said he had already submitted his nomination papers for the county council elections before he was arrested on May 14.

He said: “I regret what I have done and I am really sorry for the offence I committed. I didn’t know what I was doing. I wholeheartedly regret it.”

He said he had the support of the ruling Conservative elite on the district council but that they had been put under “strong pressure” to take action.

He said: “I resigned. They didn’t force me out and I wasn’t sacked. I have had a lot of support as well as all the bad press.”

Mr Ahmed was convicted on June 23 for driving while disqualified and without insurance in May. He was given a 12-week jail sentence, suspended for one year, and banned from driving for two years.

It has also emerged that he was arrested on June 15 on suspicion of driving while disqualified and without insurance. He is currently on police bail pending further enquiries.

He won a seat on the county council on June 4 – while he was facing the driving charges – and has been on the district council for a year.

Mr Campion released a statement last Friday that said: “I have withdrawn the Conservative whip from Councillor Ahmed following revelations in relation to his recent criminal convictions.

“The Conservative group on the district council expects the very highest of standards of behaviour from its members and it is now apparent that councillor Ahmed has dramatically failed to meet those standards and his membership is now untenable.”

Mr Ahmed has referred himself to the ethics and standards committees on both the county and district councils.

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