Can scandal-hit plumbing boss plug Tory leak?

One of the most pressing tasks that new tory chairman Brandon Lewis faces will be to halt the catastrophic decline in Party membership.

Lewis has admitted, in the absence of a centralised membership list, that he doesn’t know the true figure, which is reputed to have fallen as low as 70,000.

the Party is now talking, I hear, to businessman richard Harpin to try to stop the rot. Worth more than £300 million, Harpin wants to turn the tories into a mass membership party like Labour, who have more than 560,000 members.

But is he the right man for the job? Harpin is founder of the home repairs business Homeserve, which was the subject of a record fine of £30 million from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) four years ago.

the fine was for mis-selling and ‘duping’ its customers into buying home insurance for burst pipes, broken boilers and blocked drains. At the time, Harpin said: ‘We sincerely regret that some customers have been affected by these issues.

‘ We have transformed the business, rebuilding and strengthening the management team, retraining staff and restructuring systems and controls.’

the fine came on top of millions of pounds in refunds to thousands of wronged customers, who took out the policies because of misleading information and hardsell tactics.

Let’s hope the same tactics won’t be used to persuade people to join the tories.