Tory MP in bully row as she calls aide pathetic for going off sick
A TORY MP showered a junior staffer with abuse because she went sick.
Lucy Allan left messages on Arianne Plumbly’s phone saying she was ‘pathetic’ for being off work and telling her she ‘p***** around on my life’.
She even suggested the 26year-old had an alcohol problem and threatened to sack her if she took the four weeks of that a doctor had prescribed.
The dispute comes in the wake of the scandal over ‘Tatler Tory’ Mark Clarke. The 38-year- old election aide is accused of bullying Elliott Johnson, a young activist who killed himself in September. Mr Clarke denies the allegations.
In one call the Telford MP, a married mother of one, rages at Miss Plumbly, telling her repeatedly to ‘shut up’ after she is told about the doctor’s note. She also calls her a ‘silly girl’.
Mocking her, she says: ‘Nausea – you don’t not turn up for nausea. What planet are you on?
‘By the way, if you think you can go to some sort of tribunal you’ve got to think about your benefits here Arianne.’
She then screams: ‘Who do you think you are? You are on a temporary contract. You are not protected by the law.’ In another message the 51-year-old politician implies Miss Plumbly has stolen a computer from her office.
Miss Plumbly told the Evening Standard that Mrs Allan tried to ‘beat me down’, adding: ‘It was a nasty environment to work in.’
Another former staffer claims Mrs Allan abused her staff after they had to deal with complaints from constituents whose appointments were moved so the MP could go to Royal Ascot.
In a statement Mrs Allan’s office said: ‘ Arianne Plumbly was dismissed from her employment after four months for gross misconduct following misuse of the parliamentary email system, persistent unauthorised absenteeism, refusal to follow a reasonable instruction and rudeness to residents.’
Miss Plumbly claims her complaints about Mrs Allan were ignored by the Conservative Party and parliamentary authorities. But a Tory spokesman said: ‘As soon as these complaints were made they were dealt with appropriately and sympathetically.’
Mrs Allan sparked controversy earlier this month over a Facebook post in which she claimed she was sent a death threat by a constituent.
She published a genuine email from a voter who branded her ‘an empty shell of a human being’ and ‘detached from reality’.
But at the end she added the words ‘unless you die’. Mrs Allan has since deleted the Facebook post, claiming the three extra words were from another email and the post was an ‘illustration’ of the messages she received.
She also said she went to the police who are investigating harassment by Labour activists.
Miss Plumbly says she notified Mrs Allan of sick days via text, as agreed. She strongly denies any allegation of theft and says she does not drink.
Mrs Allan, who was a councillor in the London borough of Wandsworth from 2006 to 2012, won her seat at this year’s election.