Minister’s aide quits over ‘sex on pub pool table’ with bully Clarke
A FEMALE Tory aide to David Cameron’s ‘anti porn’ adviser was forced to quit last night after claims she had sex with ‘Tory Tatler’ Mark Clarke on a pub pool table.
India Brummitt, Clarke’s mistress, is also said to have suffered a dislocated jaw when he slapped her during consensual sex. When Ms Brummitt, 25, attended hospital for treatment in the early hours of the morning, she reportedly told medics it was a ‘netball injury’.
Ms Brummitt was a Commons aide to Rail Minister Claire Perry who is also the Prime Minister’s adviser on ‘the sexualisation of children’.
But she was forced to resign yesterday after The Mail on Sunday learned of her and Mr Clarke’s behaviour.
A former girlfriend of Clarke said he enjoys ‘rough sex’ and that they had bought a leather whip from Soho sex shop, Harmony, which they used in the bedroom.
He is said have had sex with Ms Brummitt on the pool table while he was Parliamentary candidate for Tooting in South London. A source said: ‘We were all absolutely horrified.
‘Mark was known for his outrageous behaviour but this was beyond the pale even by his appalling standards.’
The allegations follow a series of claims that Clarke abused his position as a Tory ‘director’ and head of the Party’s Road Trip 2015 Election campaign to prey on young female activists and bully male colleagues.
Clarke declined to comment on the allegations concerning Ms Brummitt, who also did not respond to calls.
Activists who went on Mr Clarke’s Road Trip visits to key constituencies said they were shocked by the way Clarke and Ms Brummitt openly shared hotel rooms. On some occasions, Clarke’s wife Sarah, a senior NHS administrator, was also on the trips with their young child.
Clarke, 38, a consultant with consumer giant Unilever, is said to have first met Ms Brummitt when she was a schoolgirl. There is no suggestion he started a relationship with her then. They became boyfriend and girlfriend before Mr Clarke’s marriage three years ago, but friends say they have remained lovers to this day.
In a separate development, the mother of Elliott Johnson, the Tory activist who killed himself after allegedly being bullied by Mr Clarke, was taken to hospital by ambulance on Friday with severe chest pains.
Medics at Kettering Hospital diagnosed an irregular heartbeat and said Alison Johnson was suffering from stress. Mrs Johnson and her husband Ray gave permission for The Mail on Sunday to publish details of her illness.
Mr Johnson, from Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, said: ‘The loss of Elliott has made a huge hole in our lives, but the Tory leaders who seem unwilling to accept their responsibility is making the situation worse. We are determined to get answers as to why our beloved son died.’
Their comments were echoed by former Tory chairman David Davis who said the Party must not cover up the scandal – and called for Edward Legard, the Torysupporting Old Etonian judge appointed to lead the Party’s internal inquiry, to be replaced.
‘These allegations are serious and quite possibly criminal,’ said Mr Davis. ‘The inquiry should be carried out by someone external to the Party, not someone who might be seen to be too close to the leadership.’
Meanwhile, a blame game erupted between rival Tory camps over who was responsible for the Clarke scandal: former chairman Grant Shapps who made Clarke a Tory ‘director’, current chairman Lord Feldman who put him in charge of the road trip, or David Cameron ‘who praised him to the hilt’.
Lord Feldman said: ‘I was wholly unaware of allegations of bullying and inappropriate sexual conduct by Mr Clarke prior to August 2015. Now this abhorrent behaviour has been brought to my attention, I will ensure that every step is taken to investigate these allegations and ascertain who is responsible.’