Afzal Amin gone, but he hopes not forgotten

Afzal Amin was persuaded to stand down ahead of a disciplinary hearing today, sparing the Tories another day of headlines about this bizarre candidate.

Mr Amin, who is still in Dubai and planning to return home overnight, was told by phone that if he didn’t stand down the disciplinary process could see him thrown out of the party altogether.

Mr Amin, who I’ve heard variously described by senior Tories this afternoon as ” arrogant,” “pushy,” “a Walter Mitty” and “very full of himself,” may, one senior Tory claimed, be deluded enough to think that his career is not over within the party if he is still a member of it. That, the source, suggested, would be a big misjudgement.

Mr Amin was told there could be no doubt about the outcome of the disciplinary hearing originally timetabled for midday tomorrow because the facts of the case were enough to have him thrown out: he had engaged in talks with an extremist rival party without any authorisation. After that, all other detail would be additional.

There was enough to find him guilty of breaching rules and so the carrot and the stick combined got rid of him before yet another morning of headlines.

One senior Tory suggested Sayeeda Warsi, not flavour of the month in the Cameron inner circle, had promoted Mr Amin. To be fair to her, the source said (not sounding inclined to be fair to Baroness Warsi) she may have assumed that a former army officer had been through pretty aggressive vetting and was sure to be a solid bet.

Tories are comforting themselves that the fall-out will be limited because this was not a case of a white Tory candidate getting involved in dealings with the EDL and revealing some sort of secret racist seam within Toryism.

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