Conservative comes unstuck after trying to tarnish Labour rival by association with ‘extremist’ Muslims

Here’s what Conservative mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith said to the Evening Standard about Sadiq Khan:

To share a platform nine times with Suliman Gani, one of the most repellent figures in this country, you don’t do it by accident.

Gani, imam at the Tooting Islamic Centre, has featured in many of the somewhat tendentious “extremist links” attacks made by the Goldsmith campaign and Tory-leaning news outlets on Khan, who is Tooting’s MP. These include Goldsmith saying that Khan has “given platforms, oxygen and even cover” to extremists bent on hurting the British capital.

On Tuesday evening, Goldsmith insisted that he does not believe Khan himself holds extremist views but has shared platforms with people who do, giving grounds for questioning his judgment. Clearly, Goldsmith believes – or has been told – that any association with Gani is dubious.

Unfortunately for Goldsmith, it has emerged that he too has rubbed shoulders with Gani. The imam blew the whistle personally by posting a photograph on Twitter of himself and a smiling Goldsmith together. You’ll gather that he isn’t much impressed by Goldsmith calling him “repellent”.

Suliman Gani (@sulimangani) Oh no, I just read that Zac apparently calls me 'one of the most repellent figures in this country'

Dirty politics pic.twitter.com/WWYfIcdU5h

Later, apparently to clarify, Gani tweeted that the photograph had been taken at an event both he and (presumably) Goldsmith had been invited to attend:

Suliman Gani (@sulimangani) I was no stranger to Zac. I attended the 'Be a Councillor' event by invitation, & introduced myself to Zac before the photo was taken.

This is all rather unfortunate for Goldsmith and not the first time this week his “judgment” assault on Khan has come unstuck.

Also on Tuesday evening, he denied he had supported the fight of Tooting resident Babar Ahmad against extradition to the US to face terrorism charges relating to a website he ran. He accused Khan of poor judgment by campaigning on Ahmad’s behalf and said he had “never heard of Ahmad until quite recently.” But within hours, video footage from 2012 emerged of Goldsmith telling anti-extradition campaigners that Ahmad’s case had “caught people’s imagination” and that he’d “been bombarded with letters” about it.

And it seems that a number of other Conservative politicians have been on cooperative terms with the “repellent” Gani. Khan’s neighbour MP, Battersea’s Jane Ellison, appears to have shared quite a small and intimate platform with him.

Suliman Gani (@sulimangani) Here is @JaneEllison and I and I wonder err who else @zacgoldsmith #ToryHypocrisy pic.twitter.com/eD3yKe2R0k

Then there’s Tania Mathias MP who, according to Gani, has sought his help making contact with another London mosque.

Suliman Gani (@sulimangani) See @tania_mathias. She wanted my help to contact Hounslow mosque.Is that repellent? @zacgoldsmith #ToryHypocrisy pic.twitter.com/VaVc5SNk7G

Gani even says he actually supported Dan Watkins, the Conservative candidate who unsuccessfully challenged Khan in Tooting at last year’s general election. Here they are in yet another happy snap (Gani has linked to the wrong “Dan” in this tweet, by the way).

Suliman Gani (@sulimangani) I supported @Dan in 2015 general elections, If repellant why @Conservatives wanted my support then @zacgoldsmith pic.twitter.com/uOxdQMXnP7

There’s more. Ellison’s “links” with Gani arise from the support both of them gave to the campaign to have Guantanamo prisoner Shaker Aamer released. That same campaign was backed in parliament by Ellison’s fellow Tory MPs David Davis, Andrew Mitchell and John Randall, who has since been succeeded as representative of Uxbridge and South Ruislip by none other than Boris Johnson.

All of this would be rather funny, were it not for the fact that the now embarrassing attempts by Goldsmith and his Lynton Crosbyite campaign to tarnish Khan by association with Gani, Ahmad and others has been so disingenuous, cheap and, well, extreme. Does Goldsmith consider Ellison, Watkins, Mathias, Davis, Mitchell and Randall to have “given cover” to an extremist? Does he consider himself to have done so?

