EXCLUSIVE TikTok lawyer's mayoral hopes knocked by misogynist podcast

_{Alternative episode title: 'Why we must stop talking.'}

A solicitor’s bid to become West Midlands Mayor risks being knocked off course by a very dodgy chat about women.

Criminal defence solicitor Ahkmed Yakoob, who is standing for election on 2 May, is the director of Birmingham law firm Maurice Andrews Solicitors.

His website profile forgoes false modesty and declares that he is “A pillar of unwavering dedication” and “unparalleled legal acumen” who has “cemented his position as one of the UK's leading legal minds”.

“A visionary”, Yakoob’s social media presence “propelled Maurice Andrews Solicitors into the spotlight…turning it into a household name”.

According to his profile, “He's become a social media sensation” and is “arguably the most renowned lawyer on digital media”.

Yakoob has around 177,000 followers on TikTok and has boasted that his car collection - including two Lamborghinis, a Mercedes Benz G-Class and a Ferrari F8 - is worth more than £1m.

No less than George Galloway has backed Yakoob’s political ambitions, stating that he “is the only choice for West Midlands Mayor”.

But some voters are nervous that a Yakoob victory would spell bad news for women. “If by any chance he gets elected I will feel very scared to go to him if I have a problem”, one voter told RollOnFriday.

Their concern was triggered by an episode of the ‘Minted Minds’ podcast, hosted by Abdhul Zaman, in which Yakoob appeared alongside activist Shakeel Afsar, former The Apprentice contestant 'Dr. Asif', and restaurant entrepreneurs Vic and Sunny.

Inbetween discussing the Israel-Gaza crisis, the six men spent half an hour of their "Emergency Meeting" tackling “the essence of true manhood” and addressing the appropriate conduct of women. But the thirty minute segment proved too controversial and was edited out post-release.

However, ROF located the original audio (from the 57 minute mark) and obtained some video 'highlights' posted to Instagram which were deleted.

Some of the surviving video can be matched up with the recording, although elsewhere it is unclear which contributions were Yakoob’s. ROF has only attributed quotes to the solicitor where footage matching the audio was available.

The group's conversation about the rightful roles of men and women kicked off with a defence of alleged sex-trafficker and misogynist Andrew Tate, about whom one of the men says, “He’s not wrong” and that "the problem” was that “loads of girls” had “all turned into feminists, they’re all trying to be strong empowered females”.

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“There are men in the household who are letting the women take control... and act like a little bitch”, he continues.

Another participant chimes in that “We know the majority of [Satan's] followers are women. If you empower women so much, when they start following [Satan], society will as well”, to which one of the others replies, “70% of hell is women”.

The podcast host, apparently anticipating pushback from some listeners, interrupts, “People look at us and think, 'oh, you’re a bunch of oppressors'. No we’re not, we’re people who understand our position and understand what we’re here for”.

Turning to clothing and the dangers of women dancing on TikTok, one of the group states that “The mothers need to worry about their daughters, because if she’s dressing like a slut, yeah, your daughter's gonna dress like a slut”.

To resounding agreement from the group, he continues, “the husband in the house needs to understand that his daughter is going to be the reproduction of his wife, so if he doesn’t control his wife how’s he going to make sure his daughter's safe?”

The group cheers in agreement when one of them, discussing how modestly a Muslim woman should dress in public, states that “If you walk past a woman, you shouldn’t even hear her heels”.

Agreeing that a Muslim woman’s father, brother, husband and son all have a “responsibility…over” her, one of the group posits that if a woman is about to leave the house, one of those men “should say, where are you going like this, cover yourself up”.

Yakoob agrees, commenting that a husband is “given that authority by Allah”.

“If he doesn’t use it…” adds the solicitor, shrugging his shoulders in one the clips posted, to, and then deleted from, Instagram.

Elsewhere in the segment, one of the men delivers a message to women who object to being told what to do by men. “Pathologising masculine authority as abusive is the fastest way to let everyone know you’re unmarriageable. I’m sorry your father failed you, but nobody with any sense of [honour] is going to endure you”, he says. Yakoob can be seen in the surviving video footage banging the table in agreement.

_{Mansplaining women.}

The men conclude that the UK used to be a “very religious... Christian, Catholic country”, with a church on every corner, but that sadly “the Zionists, the establishment, have watered down people’s religious values”.

Mourning the loss of Britain's observant past, the men note that “Back in Margaret Thatcher's day, all the women used to wear scarves”, and that 'If you watch Peaky Blinders they used to wear Victorian headscarves”.

Several people criticised the group before they yanked as much evidence of their chat off the internet as they could. In a surviving Youtube comment, one suggested, “for your next podcast you should have the same crew [plus] one housewife and one working wife and let them discuss this podcast”.

Another commented “Brother yaqoob got election 😂😂 women going against him 😂😂😂“.

"I understand the intentions behind saying this may have been good”, said a self-declared fan of the podcast, “but the delivery was poor and harsh & anything that comes off harsh will never help the ummah [community] but only push people away from changing”.

One woman said the intentions were not good, and that the podcast “basically refers to men being superior over their wives and being allowed to [take action] if they do not 'obey' their men”.

She said that Yakoob's contributions, "coming from a criminal solicitor" were "very, very damaging”.

Yakoob did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

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Comments

According to his profile he’s “arguably the most renowned lawyer on digital media”.

Replace ‘renowned’ with ‘disillusioned’ and “lawyer” with “drip”, that should do it.

Yakoob is clearly a great chap!

I mean

if there is one thing that screams "Successful Alpha Male" it is constantly whining about being bullied by girls

@8.58 - why do you think he is a grate?

Surely the SRA should be investigating this?

Good work Rof.

George Gallows-way's retraction of support for this candidate ...

Always unacceptable when when anti-modern, anti-women tropes are presented as justified by religious precepts.

Having said that, should RoF and other outlets enquire/note the background of anonymous sources providing these tip-offs, given that the informant is likely to be politically motivated themselves? "A Tory-supporting source said ..." or "A Momentum-backing source close to Labour said..." ? Might help the punters critically evaluate these types of stories.

It's ok though my fellow feminists will turn a blind eye and harangue anyone who points out the problem women in all positions and in particular in law, will face in the coming years.

@Mr Wise - on what basis?

@Await with bated breath ...

Is the word ‘anonymous’ causing you some difficulty?

Another podcast showing that almost everyone who thinks they have some great insight into culture, religion, society etc is an absolute tool.

At this point I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it to watch the none-tosser ones when you risk being associated with Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan, This guy etc.

"cemented his position as one of the UK's leading legal minds”.

🤣🥸

His company accounts are interesting; a company with 8 employees apparently spending a fair bit on company cars and loans to his other companies.

When will ROF also start exposing those known lawyers/partners, who open support the genocide in Gaza under the cloak of “Israel’s right to respond”? Hmmmm probably never right?

Why is it that when I see a bloke with loads of fancy cars they always end up being complete douchebags?

“Yakoob did not respond to multiple requests for comment.”

Typical self-described Alpha Male™️.

Cowardice and a failure to have the courage of your convictions (however unpleasant they may be) also aren’t brilliant qualities for prospective mayors.

Lmao what a bunch of small d*ck energy goons.

I believe in free speech but it can certainly be a way to fee someone's true colours (and decide whether to vote for him). I wonder if the comments are allowed by solicitors as I remember the SRA changing the professional conduct rules in a way I do not support as to what people say on social media.

Also is it allowed under advertising law eg the 2008 regulations to say you are renowned int he way he says when most of us have never heard of him? Or may be it a "mere puff".

I think RoF should dig deeper into his finances perhaps a more fruitful avenue than his expected terrible views on women.

Why is ROF editing womens comments that highlight that this man's backwards ways of treating women are driven by his religion. A religion that subjugates women and is increasingly not integrating nor capable of criticism?

Seems like a Poundland Andrew Tate.

Why is it always the little high street firms who produce some of the biggest morons? Oh wait, I have answered my own question…

little lawyer complex.

Diversity is our strength!

Seems like a Poundland version of me - you old pal, Mo Lester!

Hi Akhmed, nice of you to join us. 🍆

How does a criminal defence solicitor afford a £1m of cars?

I’m not sure these soundbites are going to harm his popularity among his core voting demographic as much as you think

Is this one of the legal aid fat cats we hear about?

Certainly a matter for the SRA

@13.08 - what does 'you old mate' mean??

Why is anyone shocked that a group of Muslim guys expressed some (fairly mainstream) Muslim beliefs? Anyway, let's just keep hitting our D&I targets and I'm sure the problem will get better

"I’m not sure these soundbites are going to harm his popularity among his core voting demographic as much as you think"

Yes, the chattering classes always manage to convince themselves that this stuff is the fringe rather than the overwhelming centre.

We know what happens when you survey these communities and ask them what they think about the role of women, the permissibility of homosexuality, and their desire to assimilate into wider UK society. But for some reason it's just not the done thing to suggest that geezers like this are anything but isolated and unrepresentative voices.

@Anonymous 26 April 24 13:18

Easy, he doesn’t.

As a male religious conservative myself I've always found that when religious leaders express "equal but different" type apologetics (which I partially subscribe to myself), though doubtless deeply offensive to wider social norms, they endeavour to do so without subordinating womens' innate dignity and worth.

I am Jewish, not Moslem, but I expect the dynamics in the Moslem community to be the same.

Women tend to be the enforcers of misogynistic stereotypes in conservative religious communities to other women.

I have never seen such deliberate contempt for women or blatant invocation of the virginal submissive / whore dichotomy from a man of any religious persuasion or none in real life other than from a YouTuber chasing clicks.

Yakoob, more like small d*ck energy boob lmao

@Anonymous 26 April 24 09:43

I suggest you acquaint yourself with the SRA Principles. I've no doubt the SRA will be acquainting Mr Yakoob with them.

Tell me someone has reported him to the SRA

@Human. Ah yes, the old "Women like it/are doing to to themselves" argument. Sure - women are of course the holders of all the real power in Islam and orthodox Judaism. Whenever I see footage of women being beaten up and stoned in Iran for daring to break away from their obviously self-inflicted oppression, I always marvel at how many beardy women there are there to enforce Sharia law and help them recognise the error of their ways or die (whichever comes first).

Try as I might, I couldn’t find anybody with the name Maurice or Andrews working at the firm.
I wonder what happened to them?

I can assure you that male Satmar chassidim don't shave their daughters hair off before she got married. It wasn't men who measured the length of my wife's skirt in her Beis Yaakov school. Most of the judgey comments on other womens' dress in the Daily Mail come from women.

There's an evolutionary biology to this. Males compete with males in ways which are well understood.

High status females compete for status with younger females. They feel threatened by, and enact sumptuory laws to preserve a pack hierarchy.

You see it in dogs and apes and lions: males fight with males, females fight with females. Of course there are exceptions, and that is why 'femicide' is seen as more transgressive than the 70 percent of crime which is male upon male.