'Blue wall' Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, will stand trial in March over claim he groped 15-year-old schoolboy in 2008
- Imran Ahmad Khan, 47, is the Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire
- The MP denies molesting a 15-year-old boy 'in the strongest terms', he said
- The MP faces a single count of sexual assault against the then-teenager
- A provisional date for the trial set for March 21, 2022 at Southwark Crown Court
A Conservative MP accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy 13 years ago will stand trial in March next year.
Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, allegedly groped the 15 year-old in January 2008 at a house in Staffordshire.
Mr Khan, who was elected as Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire, in 2019, appeared at the Old Bailey today via video-link.
The MP had denied the single charge of sexual assault when he appeared at the Old Bailey in September.
Judge Mrs Justice McGowan provisionally fixed the two week trial for March 21, 2022, at Southwark Crown Court.
Imran Ahmad Khan, 47, (pictured) the Conservative MP for Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said he denies 'in the strongest terms' an allegation he groped the teenager in Staffordshire
The MP - who has been suspended by the Conservative Party pending the outcome of the legal proceedings - faces a single count of sexual assault against the then-teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. Pictured, Ahmed Khan with Prime Minister Boris Johnson
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Earlier this year, Mr Khan posted a statement on Twitter which read: ‘It is true that an accusation has been made against me.
‘May I make it clear from the outset that the allegation, which is from over 13 years ago, is denied in the strongest terms.
'This matter is deeply distressing to me and I, of course, take it extremely seriously.
'To be accused of doing something I did not do is shocking, destabilising and traumatic. I am innocent.
'Those, like me, who are falsely accused of such actions are in the difficult position of having to endure damaging and painful speculation until the case is concluded.
'I ask for privacy as I work to clear my name.'
He remains on unconditional bail ahead of his trial next year.
Mr Khan, from Wakefield, helped Boris Johnson win a large Commons majority in 2019 - with the Tories now representing 45 per cent of the Northern Powerhouse constituencies.
He turned Wakefield - that was previously in the so-called 'red wall' that formed Labour's heartlands in the Midlands and the north of England - blue with his win.
The ‘blue wall’ MP has had the Tory whip suspended pending the outcome of the legal proceedings.
According to his website, the MP was born in Wakefield, where he attended the independent Silcoates School before going to university at the Pushkin Institute in Russia and graduating from King's College in London with a bachelor's degree in war studies.
Before entering Parliament, he worked for the United Nations as a special assistant for political affairs in Mogadishu.
The Crown Prosecution Service previously said it made the decision to charge Mr Khan after reviewing a file of evidence from Staffordshire Police.
Staffordshire Police had probed the historic sexual assault claim for more than a year - but did not make an arrest during that time.
