Chris Philp, using his status as the local MP, to promote 10% off curry takeaways

See, that’s the problem when, as the constituency MP, you “show your support for local business” by posing for a picture outside the local curry house owned by a Tory Party donor.

Before long, you’re appearing plastered all over a 10 per cent off special offer for weekend vindaloo takeaways.

That’s the pickle (chutney, obviously), that Chris Philp, Croydon South’s entrepreneurial representative at Westminster, has landed himself in after doing a favour for Badsha Quadir, the owner of the Royal Tandoori in Selsdon.

It seems Quadir is as entrepreneurial as Philp, having seized upon the MP’s endorsement with added relish (and maybe some raita), using the picture on some garish leaflets promoting a cheap offer. That’s Quadir to Philp’s left in the image above.

Quadir’s eye for the main chance is familiar to Inside Croydon‘s loyal reader.

Currying favour: Chris Philp

We revealed that the curry house-owner donated nearly £12,000 to the local Conservative Party between 2006 and 2010. By an astonishing coincidence, Quadir was selected to stand at the 2010 local elections as the Tory candidate in the true-blue ward of Purley.

Despite having been on the council for just a couple of years, Quadir was later put forward by the Tories for the honour of being the borough’s deputy mayor.

Quadir’s generosity to his local Conservative party, of course, had nothing whatsoever to do with the then Tory administration lavishing a £15,000 grant to the Bangladesh Welfare Association in 2010, at a time when Tory austerity cuts were already beginning to bite into the local authority’s finances. The Bangladesh Welfare Association was the only group to be given a financial reprieve when every other local voluntary and charity group that sought to maintain their funding had their pleas ignored.

The Royal Tandoori’s tacky leaflet

At the time of that £15,000 grant, the president of Croydon’s Bangladesh Welfare Association was none other than Badsha Quadir, the Conservative councillor for Purley.

Quadir is clearly very proud of his restaurant and the business he has built up. It is apparently very successful.

In 2015, Quadir’s restaurant was even nominated for a “prestigious” national award, the Tiffin Cup. This annual publicity stunt takes place at the Palace of Westminster, with one curry house nominated from each constituency.

And the Royal Tandoori was nominated by none other than… Chris Philp.

What a curry on, eh?

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