Party leaders knew all about the Tatler Tory bullying claims
A BOMBSHELL letter last night contradicted claims by Conservative Party chiefs that they had not been told of bullying by the Tatler Tory.
It emerged that the party’s own former chairman, Baroness Warsi, sent a written complaint about Mark Clarke directly to her successor Grant Shapps in January this year.
This was eight months before party officials claim to have been told about the election aide’s behaviour.
The crisis was sparked by Mr Clarke’s alleged bullying of young Tory activists – one of whom, 21-year-old Elliott Johnson, killed himself.
Last night, Mr Johnson’s father called for the resignations of Mr Shapps, who is now international development minister, and Lord Feldman, the current party chairman. He said his son would still be alive if they had ‘behaved responsibly’.
Earlier this month, the party insisted it had not received any written complaints about Mr Clarke until August, a month before the suicide of Mr Johnson in September.
‘We have been checking and rechecking, but have not been able to find any records of written complaints that were made but not dealt with,’ officials said. But yesterday Bar- oness Warsi published a letter she wrote on January 20 to Mr Shapps, who was then joint Tory chairman, demanding action against Mr Clarke.
She accused him of publicly abusing her on Twitter and wrote: ‘I look forward to hearing from you as to what action you intend to take against … Mr Clarke.’ She said she never received a ‘ satisfactory response’ to her complaint.
Mr Clarke, 38, who was dubbed the Tatler Tory after the magazine once tipped him as a future minister, has been thrown out of the party.
He ran the Road Trip youth campaign during this year’s election but it was beset with allegations he harassed and sexually abused young female activists, took drugs and blackmailed MPs – all of which he strenuously denies.
He was said to have taken issue with Mr Johnson, an activist with the campaign group Conservative Way Forward. During one alleged confrontation in a Westminster bar on August 12, Mr Clarke was said to have ‘pinned’ Mr Johnson to a chair, grabbed his face and ordered him not to betray him.
A senior minister has claimed that Lord Feldman must have known about the scandal.
Mr Johnson’s father, Ray, told The Guardian that Mr Shapps and Lord Feldman should resign. ‘Feldman, Shapps, and whoever else is involved in this; clearly these senior members of the party have been telling lies,’ he said. ‘You wonder about the people running the country – whether they’re fit to govern.
‘If they had behaved responsibly, like any other organisation, none of these events would have happened; my son would still be alive and many activists wouldn’t have been intimidated and harassed.’
Last night, Mr Shapps asked the Conservatives to respond on his behalf.
A party spokesman said: ‘An investigation is currently under way and it is not appropriate to comment until we can establish the facts.’