Now People’s Vote hit by Boris ‘gay rape’ furore
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE . . .
LEAKED texts seen by The Mail on Sunday reveal today the full extent of toxic infighting among campaigners for a second referendum – including rows over ‘gay rape’ jokes about Boris Johnson.
The meltdown at the top of the People’s Vote organisation was exposed last month when the MoS published emails from Labour veterans Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson that revealed they were plotting a ‘Blairite coup’ against chairman Roland Rudd.
Multi- millionaire PR guru Mr Rudd responded last weekend by sacking two Blairite executives –campaign director James McGrory and communications chief Tom Baldwin. This triggered a walkout by staff.
Last night, a People’s Vote source said 43 staff were writing a collective letter alleging that Mr Rudd ‘created an unsafe working environment for female members of the campaign team’.
Meanwhile, Mr Rudd’s allies claim the Blairites changed passwords for People’s Vote bank accounts and voter databases so Mr Rudd could not access his own money and electoral information.
Friends of Mr Rudd, who say former Business Secretary Lord Mandelson and ex-No 10 spin doctor Campbell have been plotting to remove him for months, claim ‘dirty tricks’ by Blairites include contacting a relative of one of Mr Rudd’s allies to ask them for sexually compromising information.
The turmoil threatens to derail the campaign for a new vote on EU membership, which would roll into action if Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP hold the balance of power after the Election and form a Remain alliance.
Texts from Mr Rudd and Mr Baldwin reveal the bitterness between Mr Rudd and the Blairites first boiled over at the end of the summer when Mr Baldwin used a People’s Vote WhatsApp group to comment on a prison visit by Mr Johnson. After a colleague wrote
‘Let’s hope the residents give him a warm welcome’, Mr Baldwin responded ‘ He sl i pped in t he shower’ – interpreted as an allusion to sexual assault. That message was forwarded to Mr Rudd by a member of staff who complained it was a ‘joke about gay rape’ that campaign workers were ‘too frightened to speak out about’.
Mr Rudd, brother of former Cabinet Minister Amber Rudd, texted: ‘That’s appalling. Can we talk in confidence later… I am so sorry about what’s happening and I am determined to make things better soon.’ The campaign worker replied: ‘Thanks. As a young, gay member of staff the joke about being gay raped in prison really upset me.’ Mr Rudd responded: ‘I quite understand that and it shocked and appalled me. It’s not acceptable. The atmosphere is too toxic. I am working on sorting this out.’
Last week, Lord Mandelson said: ‘ Rudd is like the captain of the Titanic demanding the passengers show him more respect as the iceberg carves open the hull and water gushes into the bowels of the ship.’
Lord Mandelson, Mr McGrory and two other senior members of staff are expected to be removed as directors within days.
At a heated meeting last week, Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, questioned why he was the only director among those supporting Lord Mandelson to survive the cull, saying: ‘ Is it because I is black?’
Mr Rudd’s allies said Blairites had changed the passwords on the operation’s bank accounts and data banks so that Mr Rudd could not access them. They said lawyers had been called in.
A senior member of staff opposed to Mr Rudd said the ‘ selective’ leaked texts were ‘ designed to show disunity and justify… Roland Rudd’s boardroom coup against the campaign last week.
‘ However, t hi s narrat i ve is undermined by the way almost every member of staff walked out in support of James McGrory and Tom Baldwin.
‘On the private WhatsApp message, Tom Baldwin was referring to how inmates are sometimes beaten up in prisons – something he would condemn. There was no intention on his part to imply anything else or cause offence and he is not aware that it did.
‘But, of course, he apologies if any such implication was taken or offence caused. There is no truth to the suggestion that compromising information was sought. It was one old friend reaching out to an old friend at a difficult time.
‘We are not aware of any security codes being changed. These are complex systems and i t sometimes takes a while to learn how to use them.’
Mr Rudd declined to comment.