Will Karim be a Tory banana skin

The defection today of Sajjad Karim the North West Euro MP for the Lib/Dems to the Conservatives has highlighted where Mr Cameron is taking the Conservative Party.

Mr Karim has made a few interesting comments in his time, infamously attacking the Tory Party as homophobes,

Tory apathy in the face of rising homophobia should come as no surprise as, today, the Conservative camp is rife with contradiction. Whilst Cameron attempts to paint a glossy image of a gay-friendly party in the UK, he is also desperately trying to get into bed, at European level, with Poland's openly homophobic 'Law and Justice' party. I just hope the British public see Chameleon Cameron for who he really is!!!

He is also opposed to the independent British nuclear deterrent.

He is a devotee of climate change and is public in his support for the idea of ,"100 per cent carbon free, non-nuclear electricity by 2050".

Then again he could satirised as the member for the sub-continent as almost all his interventions in the Parliament's chamber, on his blog and in the press are focused there. Including scarcely veiled attacks on Tories such as Nirj Deva.

Of course he was firmly on the side of free speech during the danish Cartoon affair, saying, "The European media should take on the view of the ... Muslim community on this issue," and has spoken sympathetically about Hamas in an EP debate, "Hamas has rebranded itself as a change and reform movement and has maintained a state of calm in the run-up to these elections". Being fair to him in this debate he also called for Hamas to drop "its charter calling for the destruction of Israel and recognises the Jewish State’s right to exist".

Elsewhere he has voted time and time again in favour of such things as the European Constitution. All of which no doubt recommends him to the boy Dave.

Or could it be that the Lib/Dem claims are right and the fact that he came 2nd in the Lib/Dem NW Euro selection last week, at a time when there will be 7 not 8 seats available there (he came last of 8 last time) and that it is likely that up to 3 Tories from the region will be retiring has something to do with it?

Given the Tories recent propensity for thought control of their membership, I wonder how long it will be before Mr Karim finds himself on hot water.

Update
Tory Diary poses an interesting question in the light of this statement by Tim Nohope the leader of the Tory MEP delegation,

The discussions themselves which I have carried on with Sajjad have, by necessity, been confidential and obviously sensitive but I am certain that the outcome will be of great mutual benefit to both him and us.

So will he be fastracked onto the list?