A Lamborghini-driving lawyer who is fighting to become Birmingham’s new MP once joked about ‘sparking out’ men who enter female toilets during an exchange over gay and transgender rights.
Akhmed Yakoob, 36, who loves fast cars and expensive jewellery, also told how he pulled his children out of secular state schools to avoid them being exposed to positive LGBT messages.
Mr Yakoob, a criminal defence lawyer, is standing as an Independent in the Birmingham Ladywood constituency and has close links to George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain.
In a video interview broadcast nine months ago, Mr Yakoob was introduced as ‘the most famous solicitor in the world right now’ by Mikey Melin, the host of YouTube documentary channel The Blue Tick Show.
In the interview, Mr Yakoob said: ‘What if a man goes into the ladies’ bathroom and says, ”I’m not a man, I’m a woman”.
‘Well if my wife’s in there I’m sparking him out. And there ain’t no defence for that offence.’ Laughter followed before Mr Melin added: ‘I would accept the time, f*** it, put me inside.’
Akhmed Yakoob, 36, (pictured) who loves fast cars, is fighting to become Birmingham’s new MP
Mr Yakoob, a criminal defence lawyer, is standing as an Independent in the Birmingham Ladywood constituency
Mr Yakoob claimed he and any Muslim cannot ‘promote’ positive LGBT issues because doing so is prohibited in their faith
Today, Mr Yakoob insisted the comment in the video was not aimed at trans women, instead claiming: ‘I was saying what if a big grown man who can clearly be seen is a man. That’s the fear isn’t it?
‘Men who are not trans, who are normal men, will start taking advantage. It will give normal men who are predators the idea that they could get away with it.’
Ladywood is home to the city’s celebrated Gay Village. Liberal Democrat candidate Lee Dargue said it would be dreadful for the city and the LGBT community if the next MP for the area held such views.
Mr Yakoob is hoping to unseat Labour‘s shadow justice minister Shabana Mahmood and has built up a following among disaffected Muslims and people who support his pro-Palestine campaign messages.
Recent polling shows him making inroads into Labour’s significant majority of 28,582.
In the interview, Mr Yakoob also claimed that he and any Muslim cannot ‘promote’ positive LGBT issues because doing so is prohibited in their faith – a claim that was condemned by some faith leaders, academics and gay Muslims.
He also stated that he ‘hates’ LGBT equality messages being shared in schools, so much so that his own children were moved out of secular state schools to faith secondary schools.
Speaking to Mr Melin, Mr Yakoob said: ‘I’ve got no issue with this LGBTQ. I don’t promote it. I can’t promote it. You [Mr Melin] can’t promote it, we can’t promote it because we are Muslim.
‘We can’t promote it because it’s been told, we’ve been told, God has sent down a message…people should be able to do what they like, yeah, but not try to enforce their views and opinions on other people’s kids. I don’t like this being taught in schools – I hate it.’
Mr Yakoob added: ‘I have now pulled my kids out of school. Now they are in Islamic schools because I can’t have that around me. Regardless of what religion you are, a young girl or a young boy should not be taught about different genders that you can change your gender.
He also stated that he ‘hates’ LGBT equality messages being shared in schools, so much so that his own children were moved out of secular state schools to faith secondary schools
Mr Yakoob’s videos have become popular on Instagram and TikTok
‘If we say something bad about these (LGBTQ) guys, people go mad, but people are burning the Holy Quran – have you heard anyone say anything about that, condemn that? Nobody cares about that.
‘That’s our religious book […] why are people just ignoring that? And somebody says bad about LGBTQ and the whole world goes mad – they are so annoyed about it and get frustrated so easily.’
Mr Yakoob later clarified that his children had attended state primary schools but he moved them to faith schools when they went into the secondary sector, one attending an Islamic school and the other at a Catholic school.
Ahead of his election campaigns, Mr Yakoob’s videos have become popular on Instagram and TikTok using his catchphrase ‘There’s a defence for every offence’. He has 195,000 followers on TikTok and around five million likes. He polled nearly 70,000 votes in the recent West Midlands mayoral election.
Earlier this year, Mr Yakoob was criticised when a misleading video he promoted, alleging a young teacher supporting a Labour candidate had used a racial slur, went viral.
She had not said anything offensive but was bombarded with hate messages over the video after Mr Yakoob and others put her name and school into the public domain.
He later apologised and is facing an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority over his behaviour.
In another video, Mr Yakoob also praised controversial influencer Andrew Tate as a ‘good hearted man’ who just wants ‘men to be men’. The video interview went online after Mr Tate was charged with human trafficking, rape and criminal gang enterprise offences in Romania. Mr Tate, his brother Tristan and others accused deny all allegations.
He has 195,000 followers on TikTok and around five million likes
Mr Yakoob said he would represent Mr Tate given the chance, adding: ‘I genuinely like that brother, I think he’s a good, kind hearted brother who works hard and I’d go out of my way to help him….all he was doing and them brothers were doing was promoting hard work and telling men to be men, nothing wrong with that.
‘People get offended too easily, people are soft these days.’
Mr Yakoob said today he did not believe he had said anything offensive in the video interview. Mr Yakoob said: ‘My view on LGBTQ people is this; I have no issue with any community. I love all communities and everyone has a right to co-exist and live in peace and harmony with each other.’
But he said he maintained it was wrong to ‘sexualise’ children from a young age, adding: ‘My view about children being taught it (about the existence and equality of LGBT people) is correct, children should be left to grow up by themselves, and their innocence should be protected, and they shouldn’t be taught about any sexualization.’
Challenged on what evidence there was of schools ‘sexualising’ children, he referenced story books available in some schools, saying they were confusing.
Books in some local primary schools include ones featuring a child with two mummies, two boy penguins who nurture an abandoned egg and raise the baby penguin together, and a boy who likes to wear a dress.
Mr Yakoob said: ‘Some boys or some girls don’t have that much intellect compared to others and that information (in story books) could be misinterpreted by a seven or eight year old boy.’
He claimed a worried Roman Catholic father had recently approached him to ask for his help over the same issue and was ‘really pleased’ to hear he could move his child to another school or home-school them.
On his admiration for Mr Tate, Mr Yakoob said: ‘I don’t agree with everything Andrew Tate says – I agree with what he says about working hard to make something of yourself.’ On the charges facing Mr Tate, he said only that ‘I believe that someone is innocent until proven guilty’.
He also spoke on a second recorded podcast interview in which he has come under fire for ‘joking’ about domestic violence against women. The commentary was part of an unedited version of the Minted Mind podcast, hosted by Birmingham-based entrepreneur Abdhul Zaman.
In it six male voices are heard exchanging views on the role of women and whether men should do more to ‘keep them in their place’. At one point Mr Yakoob joins in laughter and ‘jokes’ during a discussion about women dancing on TikTok as one of the podcasters states: ‘Getting back to masculinity, I personally would give her a backhander. I’m not joking.’
Mr Yakoob ‘jokes’ about the legal defence that could be framed in such a circumstance. The comments have been widely criticised. Councillor Nicky Brennan, equalities cabinet lead at Birmingham City Council, said: ‘One in four women are victims of domestic abuse in their lives, on average two women die a week at the hands of violent men. It’s nothing to joke about.’
Today, Mr Yakoob said of the response: ‘Everyone is on a learning curve and everyone makes mistakes. We learn things daily. I’m on a learning curve. And if I have upset anyone by taking part in that podcast, I apologize and if I have upset anyone, it’s unintentional.’
The podcast features Mr Yakoob saying that ’70 per cent of hell would be women’. Asked about this today, he claimed he was quoting a Muslim ‘hadith’ that states: ‘The majority of the dwellers of the fire are women.’ Mr Yakoob added: ‘It was a quote…it’s not something I made up, you can research it.’
He also said he stood by a belief expressed in the podcast about divided gender roles. Mr Yakoob said: ‘I do believe that at home I’m the king, I go out and get my hands dirty, do the work, and my wife is the queen, looking after the children and the household. I actually feel that, it’s true, my wife is my queen. Why should she go outside and get her hands dirty when I can do that?’
Asked if people of diverse backgrounds, women, and the LGBT community could trust him to represent them, Mr Yakoob said: ‘Every single constituent of Ladywood is equal in my eyes, and is allowed to co-exist with each other.
‘And if they have any issues, my doors are open to every single constituent, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, black, white, Chinese, whatever community they’re from, LGBT, I don’t want to cause division.’
