So Saj Karim MEP is off

I see the breaking news that the Liberal Democrat MEP Saj Karim has defected to the Tories. He has been one of the two Lib Dem MEPs in the North-West since 2004. I haven’t had a great deal to do with him in the European Parliament, but he came to my attention because of the excellent work he did on behalf of Mirza Tahir Hussian’s family. (You will remember that Leeds man Mirza Tahir Hussian was facing execution in Pakistan, despite a clearly ‘unfair’ trial). But two questions about Saj’s defection occur. Would he have defected if he won the reselection contest in the North-West (he was of course well beaten into second place by Chris Davies)? And I assume the Tories are now going to force him to stand down as an MEP. After all when Bill Newton Dunn defected to the Liberal Democrats from the Tories in 2000 the Tories demanded he step down. So will the Tories make the same demands of their new man?