Tory candidate Afzal Amin suspended after secret plot to stage fake EDL demo is exposed

A Tory election candidate has been suspended after allegedly plotting with far-Right extremists to ignite racial hatred in a bid to win votes.

Afzal Amin is accused by the Mail on Sunday of hatching a plan with the English Defence League (EDL) to announce a protest march against the building of a new £18m "mega-mosque".

The plan was that the demonstration would never actually go ahead, with Amin taking credit for defusing the situation, and winning over voters and police, in the marginal seat of Dudley North.

The plot was revealed in footage obtained by The Mail on Sunday, which was secretly filmed by former EDL leader Tommy Robinson. He revealed that he exposed Amin's scheme because he objected to being used as a pawn in his elaborate power game.

The two are seen in the video at an Indian restaurant in Birmingham on 16 March, as Amin outlines his plan. Mr Amin who has been described on his Tory Party website as a former Army education officer to Princes William and Harry, promises that he would be an "unshakeable ally" for the EDL in parliament.

In the first of three meetings with current EDL chairman Steve Eddowes and Robinson, in January in a Toby Carvery, Amin tried to persuade the EDL leaders to call off their planned February protest.

Eddowes, 48, recalled: "He had wanted us to cancel our protest against the super-mosque in Dudley that we had planned for February 7."

He also made an offer to Robinson and Eddowes to covertly pay EDL members to canvas on his behalf.

"That wasn't going to happen so he just talked about himself a lot and how he knew Churchill's grandson Nicholas Soames and had met David Cameron."

The EDL men admitted they were initially impressed by the Tory hopeful, but were later incredulous at his plans to stage a phantom protest.

"At that meeting, I just listened with bemusement. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. What he was suggesting was to set up a demo and then cancel it after the idea had made the news," said Robinson.

When Robinson says of Eddowes: "But you know if he's going to put out a demo, you have to put out a demo soon really," Amin explains it would all be a hoax. "You've only got to announce it, you don't have to do it. This is my fantasy. If I could demonstrate to the people in Dudley that I can be a positive voice for community cohesion, for development, for campaigning against the evils and the terrorism and the child grooming and all the rest of it, then that would help me a lot in the forthcoming Election," he explained.

"One way of doing that is, if you were to announce a second march about the mosque... and then we have two meetings with the chief of police, members of the Muslim community, we all play our roles, you say 'Yeah we're going to do a march, we're campaigning and so on'. We have a second meeting where things are a bit calmer then at the third one, we have a press conference where we say, 'We were going to do a march. The chief police asked Afzal Amin, members of the Muslim community, we've sat together and... we're going to work closely together.' "

Amin further elaborated on his plot in a phone call on 18 March and in a second meeting at a Pizza Express on 19 March.

Amin explained how he wanted Robinson to pay EDL supporters to canvass on his behalf. 'I'll put it to you bluntly. I need two white working class lads to go round those areas to say to people, "You support the Army, if you support the troops then vote for this guy". That's what I need.'

Reflecting on Amin's suggestions Eddowes said: "This was the same guy who had told us he wanted to be Prime Minister. It seemed entirely dishonest to me. The fake demonstration was fraudulently wasting the time of the authorities. Then he said he would pay our members to canvass for him at the Election. I don't know if that's legal but it didn't seem right to me. It felt like he was trying to buy us off.

"I was really disappointed in the man. I'd met him earlier this year and was really impressed. To me he ticked every box with his British Army background and seemed like a man of real integrity but when I left that meeting on Monday I felt like I wanted nothing more to do with him."

Robinson added: "I was stunned that this respectable man was talking about bribing members of the EDL and organising fake marches. I was equally alarmed when he said he had violently attacked someone. I haven't been an angel, but this man could win his Election and I felt I had to do something."

The MoS reported that they confronted Amin in Dudley about the allegations. He responded to the claims saying that the allegations are 'completely untrue', adding that a second march "was suggested and we rejected it, and we even informed the police about it".

Asked whether he had met Robinson and Eddowes at the Birmingham restaurant, he replied: "I don't know what you're talking about. The very best way to do deal with this is with the police because they are very serious allegations."

A Conservative Party spokesman has confirmed that Mr Amin has been suspended in light of the revelations. "Following an emergency meeting it has been decided to suspend him as a candidate with immediate effect," the spokesman said. "The Conservative Party views this as a matter of extremely serious concern."