Independent MP Ayoub Khan Says He Killed A Dog To Save A Baby's Life
Independent MP Ayoub Khan (Alamy)
4 min read
Independent MP Ayoub Khan has told PoliticsHome he was once forced to kill a dog to save the life of a baby.
Khan, who was elected at last year's general election on a wave of anger over Gaza, helped form the Independent Alliance of MPs along with other pro-Gaza Independents and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
He is now part of the process of founding 'Your Party', a new political party, with Corbyn and former Labour MP Zarah Sultana. Two of his Independent Alliance colleagues, Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed, have recently quit the project amid tensions with Sultana.
The 52-year-old MP for Birmingham Perry Barr spoke to PoliticsHome at Your Party's inaugural conference in Liverpool, which has been dominated by open factional infighting between supporters of Corbyn and Sultana.
In an exchange about his life before entering Westminster politics, Khan, a former councillor, described a situation he once found himself in over 30 years ago, whereby he decided it was necessary to restrain a rottweiler that was attacking a mother and her young child, which resulted in the dog’s death.
“It was either a baby being mauled or restraining the dog. Unfortunately, during the process, the dog lost its life,” he said.
“But it was either a baby or a dog, and nobody was intending to kill anyone, but just trying to protect the baby."
He added: “I didn't intend to kill anybody. But yeah… The dog died as a result of me trying to protect the baby.”
Khan later told PoliticsHome that the mother thanked him for his actions, which police who arrived at the scene deemed lawful, and that the dog’s owner was apologetic.
Members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) were expelled from Your Party on Friday, the eve of its conference.
The party has said it does not admit anyone with existing membership of another political party and that this was clearly stated in the rules when members joined Your Party, but the expulsions have proved controversial.
Khan told PoliticsHome he was sympathetic to the idea that members of other left-wing parties could not be part of Your Party.
He said: “I understand the reasoning behind that is, if you're affiliated to another political party, unless you revoke that membership and join another membership, it is one that makes common sense to me.”
Members of Your Party – as it is temporarily named – will vote on its permanent name by the end of the conference. The four options being put to members following a consultation are Popular Alliance, Your Party, For the Many and Our Party.
Khan backed the option of sticking with 'Your Party', which Corbyn is also understood to favour.
“Given that Your Party is out there in the public domain, it’s one that’s been spoken about in the mainstream media. If I had to pick one, it’d be Your Party,” Khan said.
Independent MPs Hussain and Mohamed both left Your Party in November due to persistent infighting and a power struggle within the party. Hussain wrote in The House that he found himself being "lectured" by people who have "far less connection to Britain’s working class than I could ever discard".
"To be told that I was unfit to represent working-class voices because I introduced a conversation about social conservatism and the left was absurd and insulting," he wrote.
Khan told PoliticsHome he was disappointed to see both MPs leave Your Party, but that he would continue to work with the pair as part of the Independent Alliance parliamentary group.
"We've been working for the best part of over 16 months," he said. "We have a fabulous relationship, a very strong relationship. I'd like to see them come back and never say never, is my view. But I respect the fact that they made that decision."
PoliticsHome exclusively revealed last week that there is a plan to allow a vote among all members during the gathering on whether the party should be led by a single leader or by a ‘collective leadership’ for a period running until late 2027.
The single leader could be any successful candidate – Corbyn, Sultana, another MP or lay member – whereas the collective option would see the chair and deputy chair of the party’s central executive committee (CEC), both of whom must be lay members, lead the party. Under the latter model, MPs would be barred from running.
At the start of the conference day on Sunday, the decision made by Your Party members on the leadership model will be announced.
Khan told PoliticsHome he would not endorse a leadership model, instead promising to respect the outcome of the vote tomorrow.
This post has been updated to include additional details about the incident involving Khan and the dog. A previous reference to "bare hands" has been removed.
