Brown alleges Mulroney bargained over daughter’s political future
A new book purporting to tell the truth about the fall of Patrick Brown offers a rare glimpse into the machinations inside the Ontario Progressive Conservative party following his abrupt resignation as leader amid sexual misconduct allegations he denies.
In his new tell-all biography — titled Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown — the former Tory leader portrays himself as a victim of a conspiracy led by senior party officials opposed to he calls a moderate brand of conservatism with help from his most trusted aides.
However, the book also pulls back the curtain on what went on during the leadership race following Brown’s resignation in January, including allegations of bargaining with former prime minister Brian Mulroney about the political career of his daughter — now Ontario Attorney
General Caroline Mulroney.
Brown, who is now the mayor of Brampton, Ont., alleges that Brian Mulroney promised him a place at the “centre” of his daughter’s government if the ousted Tory leader pledged his support to help her become party leader, and eventually
premier.
The alleged negotiations took place during a late-night meeting in a downtown Toronto hotel’s presidential suite where the then-resigned Brown met with Brian Mulroney and his daughter Caroline’s husband Andrew Lapham.
The group met to discuss Brown potentially swinging his political support and organizational power to Caroline Mulroney, who at the time was a Tory leadership candidate but did not attend the meeting.
“...you’ll be at the centre of her government,” Brown alleges the former prime minister promised him, calling it a “handshake deal.”
Brown also alleges that months earlier, he offered Caroline Mulroney to run for Tory nomination in Toronto, but she turned it down. She also turned down an offer to run in the Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding, he writes, and her father was opposed to her running in Burlington, Ont., because he felt “it was a swing seat.”
Caroline Mulroney ended up winning the nomination — and a seat in the legislature — in the York-Simcoe riding northeast of Toronto.
Neither Caroline Mulroney nor her father responded to a request for comment.