by RICHARD OSLEY

 

MAAJID Nawaz – the writer who turned his back on the agitating Islamist organisation Hitb ut-Tahrir – has tonight (Thursday) won the Liberal Democrat candidacy for the Hampstead and Kilburn parliamentary constituency.

 

He won an internal vote at a private meeting in West Hampstead, and will now take on Labour's Tulip Siddiq and Simon Marcus for the Conservatives at the 2015 General Election.

 

His back story is laid out in his memoir, Radical, in which he explains how he joined Hitb ut-Tahrir and shared its aggressive views in a leadership role.

 

Arrested in Cairo in 2001, he spent five years in an Egyptian prison. Amnesty International described him at that time as a “prisoner of conscience”. He later resigned from Hitb ul-Tahrir and renounced its position after what he has described as a “democratic awakening”.

 

Alongside writer Ed Husain, Mr Nawaz went on to co-found the Quilliam Foundation, which aims to deal with extremism in Britain.

 

A lively speaker who supporters believe could sparkle at hustings events, he has become a regular booking on current affairs television programmes such as Newsnight, Question Time and This Week.

 

His CV also includes giving an address to the Senate in the US, and he has advised heads of state on radicalism.

 

Mr Nawaz held off competition for the role from former Camden councillor James King, former council candidate David Bouchier, David Buxton and Catherine Royce.