NEWSNIGHT: Former UKIP Commonwealth spokesman was convicted blackmailer
4,934 views · Published 3 February 2014 · 4:47 · Indexed 23 September 2026
Channel: BBC Politics · 2014 · News & Politics
A man who served as UKIP's Commonwealth spokesman for a year is the former leader of a kidnapping gang in Pakistan, BBC Newsnight can reveal. Mujeeb ur Rehman Bhutto's gang were behind a high-profile kidnapping in Karachi in 2004 and he then took a £56,000 ransom payment in Manchester. In 2005, Bhutto, of Leeds, admitted being the gang's "boss" and was jailed for seven years by a UK court. UKIP said Bhutto, 35, had "recently" resigned his party membership. A party spokesman said: "When we recently became aware of possible issues relating to his past and raised the matter with him, he resigned his membership."
More from this channel
-
9:00
NEWSNIGHT: Has Obama failed on Syria?
-
6:08
NEWSNIGHT: WW2 torpedoman Danny Rackman and Yuichiro Nakajima, son of a kamikaze pilot debate
-
4:13
NEWSNIGHT: UN's Valerie Amos says West needs more courage on Syria
-
4:12
Bernard Henri-Levy explains why there might be another uprising in Libya- Newsnight
-
14:17
Congo's landmark rape trial of army soldiers - Newsnight
-
7:26
Syrian Government on IS and Obama - Newsnight
-
4:20
Is there a future for free delivery? - Newsnight
-
0:53
Does Ed Miliband believe in an "undeserving poor?" - Newsnight