Akhmed Yakoob is a sharp suited, super-rich lawyer who owns a yellow Lamborghini and has a magnificent Rolls Royce on order. The son of a milkman, he is aiming to become an MP in one of the most deprived parts of our bankrupt second city, Birmingham.

Mr Yakoob, 35, who boasts he has ‘made millions’ as a social-media-savvy criminal lawyer, is standing as an independent candidate in the inner-city constituency of Ladywood where he is appealing to fellow Muslims to vote for him.

His star is rising. He has a huge following on TikTok where he complains about poor local bus services, unemployment, rubbish-strewn streets, lethally low NHS response times – and above all, the conflict in Gaza.

And yet this is the man who stands accused of misogyny following some deeply disturbing comments he has made on social media about women.

In a now deleted podcast whose contents have been reported by the Guardian and in local papers, Yakoob urged men in the community to ‘control their women’ and oversee how they dress and behave.

Self-proclaimed millionaire Akhmed Yakoob is a rising star among Birmingham’s muslim voters

The Parliamentary candidate has made Gaza the key issue in his election campaign

Labour’s sitting Ladywell MP Shabana Mahmood faces an onslaught at the ballot box

He has apologised for claiming that ‘70 percent of hell is going to be women’ and saying he would give his wife a ‘backhander’ if she made money dancing on TikTok.

But it is not just his views on women. Equally concerning is his anti-Semitic rhetoric about the ‘enemies of Allah’ who, in a podcast, he claimed are indiscriminately bombing ‘over one million’ Palestinians.

Yakoob has declared: ‘I would never get into a debate with a Zionist…it’s just not worth it. Bees don’t waste their time explaining to flies that honey is better than sh**.’

His extraordinary views have been condemned by Muslim women’s rights’ groups and the Community Security Trust, which protects British Jews.

But there is no doubting his popularity in Ladywood.

Yakoob aims to oust the sitting Labour MP and shadow justice secretary Shabana Mahmood who won the seat in 2019 with a whopping 28,582 majority.

The seat was presumed safe by Labour until the Gaza-Israeli conflict and the emergence of Yakoob in Ms Mahood’s backyard.

Last year, she abstained from a House of Commons vote on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to the anger of many of her Muslim constituents. Yakoob inflamed the situation, claiming – irresponsibly – that it was no longer safe for her to campaign in some streets of Ladywood because of the hatred felt towards her over this hot-button issue.

Yakoob’s name appears on a controversial list of candidates published by an organisation calling itself The Muslim Vote, which wants to ensure people choose pro-Palestine candidates at the ballot box tomorrow [Thursday].

The list includes candidates standing as independents, for the Greens, Left-wing firebrand George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain, as well as a small smattering of Labour members who – against the wishes of the Party leadership – have publicly backed a Gaza ceasefire despite the October 7 atrocities by Hamas terrorists against Israel that sparked the conflict.

The Muslim Vote, which is headquartered in Birmingham, is clear on its aims. ‘The election signals a shift for Muslims – no more political apathy. We will no longer tolerate being taken for granted. We are a powerful, united force of four million acting in unison’, says its website.

The lawyer stands accused of misogyny following disturbing comments on social media 

Yakoob, who has 175,000 followers on TikTok, has been using it to get his message across

‘We are focused on areas where the Muslim vote can influence the outcome.’ It adds: ‘We are here for the long term. In 2024 we lay the foundations for our community’s future.’

It promises an army of 20 million ‘campaign supporters’ – many thought to be using TikTok and other social media sites – to help would-be MPs on its list get their message out before the election.

And the tactic appears to be working.

At the eleventh hour, Keir Starmer was this week parachuting activists into areas of Britain with large Muslim populations to shore up Labour votes. It may be too little, too late.

Although the Labour machine is playing down the idea it will lose seats over the Gaza conflict, independent, Green and Workers’ Party candidates are hoping to capture enough votes to apply pressure on Sir Keir over his position on the Middle East in the future.

The last-minute activists are concentrating on 31 Labour-held seats, Ladywood among them, according to the Financial Times.

In 23 of those seats, Muslims make up more than 10 per cent of the local population (in Ladywood it is 49 per cent). Meanwhile, the party is deploying activists into two seats that it won in 2019 — one of which is Oldham East and Saddleworth, which also has a high number of Muslim residents.

This week, in a residential street in one of Oldham’s most Islamic areas, graphic posters hung from awnings and shop windows depicting scenes of desolation in Gaza. Palestinian flags fluttered from lamp posts and cars.

In the May local elections, Labour lost control of Oldham council, which it had held for over 13 years, after ceding seats to three independent councillors who ran on a pro-Palestine platform.

Neighbouring Rochdale, where one in three residents are Muslim, saw George Galloway win a by-election earlier this year after running on a trenchant pro-Palestine ticket. He is campaigning again on the Gaza issue.

Wealthy father-of-four Yakoob apologised for saying he would give his wife a ‘backhander’

The Labour Party has explicitly said it is committed to recognising Palestine as a state, but this may not be enough. Workers’ Party candidate Shanaz Siddique (Oldham East and Saddleworth) was a life-long Labour member until 2021. She has a credible chance of seizing the constituency from Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, and said that losing control of the council in May was a ‘huge slap in the face’ for Labour.

‘This community has historically blindly followed Labour as a working-class socialist party. Now it feels the party doesn’t represent them,’ she added.

As for Mr Yakoob, he was on social media yesterday boasting that he was going to end the reign of Ms Mahmood. ‘I will dethrone her,’ he promised with what looked suspiciously like a grin.

This despite recent revelations by the Guardian that he has a close allegiance to another independent Muslim candidate, standing in nearby Hall Green constituency, who once led angry protests over teaching about same-sex relationships in Birmingham primary schools.

That link has not gone unnoticed by the city’s thriving LGBT community. But, in our changing times, it may garner him support from the Muslim community as Labour tries belatedly to stem the tide.