The Tory Party machine is rotten to the core
» Dad of ‘bullied’ activist calls for corruption probe » MPs avoid prosecution over battle bus spending
THE father of a political activist who killed himself amid claims of Tory bullying reacted with outrage as more than two dozen MPs were told they would not face election fraud charges yesterday.
Ray Johnson claimed the Conservative Party machine was “rotten to the core” as campaigners demanded sweeping law changes.
The Daily Mirror sparked a probe by 14 police forces after finding Tory candidates in marginal seats at the 2015 election failed to declare the cost of battle buses that flooded their areas with campaigners.
In some cases the expense was declared nationally rather than locally, in breach of spending rules.
In March, the Electoral Commission fined the Conservative Party £70,000 for failing to correctly declare £200,000 of spending.
But yesterday, ahead of a snap election on June 8, prosecutors announced a string of politicians had no case to answer – despite filing “inaccurate” spending The battle bus campaign, ahead of David Cameron’s 2015 win, was led by ex-election aide Mark Clarke. He was accused of bullying activist Elliott Johnson, 21, who was found dead on railway tracks at Sandy, Beds, in September 2015.
Mr Clarke, known as the “Tatler Tory” was investigated by police but was never charged and an inquest found Elliott committed suicide.
Elliott’s dad Ray has already accused the Tories of a cover-up after it ignored police requests for an internal report into allegations of wrongdoing within the party.
Reacting to yesterday’s announcement, he told the Mirror: “It’s clear to me that it may not necessarily be the MPs that are corrupt, but the CCHQ [Conservative Campaign HQ] organisation appears to be rotten to the core.
“Their own MPs criticised them for lack of support and putting them at personal risk by telling them the battle bus expenses were a national expense. CCHQ should be investigated for corrupt practices. They must have been aware that they were breaking electoral law, but were prepared to take the risk with their MPs’ liberty.” Campaigners at Unlock Democracy also said there were “paltry repercussions for those who flagrantly disregarded the law”.
Director Alexandra Runswick said: “This case raises serious quesreturns. tions about whether electoral law can stand up to the influence of big money dominating our politics.”
And Prof Bob Watt, electoral law expert, said: “Everyone overspends to a small extent. What is unusual in this case is that the Conservative Party went hog wild. The whole business of election spending needs
radical reform to bring in proper penalties when things go wrong.”
It has emerged the cost of each battle bus was up to £4,000 a day. We found more than 20 MPs visited by the buses were within £2,000 of spending limits, meaning they are likely to have broken the bank. Explaining the decision for no action, the CPS’s Nick Vamos said: “It is an offence to knowingly make a false declaration. In order to bring a charge, it must be proved a suspect knew the return was inaccurate and acted dishonestly in signing the declaration.”
He added that a file relating to South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay “remains under consideration”. Mr Mackinlay denies any wrongdoing. Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday insisted her MPs had done “nothing wrong”. She added: “There was an error made in our national returns in the 2015 general election. The Electoral Commission fined us for that and we have paid that fine.”
Party chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin added: “These were politically motivated and unfounded complaints that have wasted police time.”
But Jeremy Corbyn said he was “surprised” by the CPS decision. He added: “There are strict spending laws for a reason so that money can’t buy power, only votes in the ballot box should be able to get power.”
Meanwhile, Mrs May refused to rule out more crushing cuts to disability benefits last night.
Grilled on the campaign trail, she would not give a direct answer, saying: “What we have done is looked at focusing disability benefit payments on those who are most in need and most vulnerable. In fact we are spending more on disability benefit payments than has been done by government in the past.”
SELF-APPOINTED judge and jury Theresa May is wrong to pretend Conservative candidates “did nothing wrong” over election spending when prosecutors found “evidence to suggest the returns may have been inaccurate” last time round.
The shameless Tory leader criminally overlooking the £70,000 fine imposed on her party after an Electoral Commission investigation was Mrs May creating her own warped reality.
The Crown Prosecution Service’s decision not to prosecute Tories, and making the politically sensitive call in the middle of an election campaign, is understandably raising eyebrows.
Nobody should be above the law, particularly law-making politicians. Even what are presented as minor infringements should be challenged legally, so our democracy is never for sale and seats cannot be bought.
Mrs May would be more convincing if she apologised for irregularities instead of exuding the arrogance of a politician who acts as if she’s already heading a one-party Tory state.