Theresa and the Tatler Tory
EXPOSED: Video of PM telling activist at centre of sex, blackmail and bullying scandal: You’re tremendous She leads cheers for Mark Clarke and gives No 10 job to his pal ...who is the son of the party chairman who let Clarke off the hook for misconduct
THERESA May was dragged into the Tatler Tory scandal last night after a video emerged of her endorsing the activist at the centre of sex, blackmail and bullying claims.
The Prime Minister can be seen slapping smiling Mark Clarke on the back and praising his work for the Conservatives at a boozy rally – with one of Clarke’s mistresses in the audience.
An uncharacteristically excited Mrs May tells Clarke: ‘What you are doing is absolutely tremendous. Road Trip 2015 is great. Thank you Mark for all you are doing.’
She leads a round of applause for him and even acts as Clarke’s cheerleader, stirring up activists in a series of chants as he basks in reflected glory.
The embarrassing disclosure comes days after the party was accused of a ‘whitewash’ over an inquiry into Clarke, set up after the suicide last year of Tory activist Elliott Johnson, 21, who claimed he was bullied by Clarke.
An inquiry by lawyers Clifford Chance said the party had been repeatedly warned that Clarke, 39, was a menace – but exonerated senior Tories, including former chairman Lord Feldman. However, The Mail on Sunday can reveal:
Mrs May has given a top No10 job to one of Clarke’s Tory associates, Jimmy McLoughlin, son of Tory chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin. McLoughlin Jnr took part in a Clarke campaign to try to save ex-Tory MP Aidan Burley who took part in a Nazi-themed stag party;
Sir Patrick grilled Clarke over allegations of misconduct as long ago as 2010 – but Clarke talked his way out of trouble;
Tory Minister Robert Halfon, who faced an alleged blackmail threat by Clarke over an illicit love affair, asked Feldman to give a job to Clarke around the time he was sleeping with Clarke’s former mistress.
The revelations are a setback to Mrs May’s hopes that she would avoid being caught up in the Tatler Tory scandal. She believed last week’s inquiry, together with the post-Brexit resignation of David Cameron’s friend Lord Feldman – blamed by Elliott Johnson’s parents for not taking tougher action against Clarke – would avoid her Government being tainted.
Instead, Mrs May is likely to face further questions about her Rochester double act with Clarke; her decision to appoint his associate Jimmy McLoughlin as her Downing Street business adviser; and the role of new party chairman, McLoughlin’s father Sir Patrick, who let Clarke off the hook six years ago.
In a further twist, the May-Clarke video was taken when Mrs May joined one of Clarke’s Road Trip campaign trips during the 2014 Rochester byelection – which is at the centre of a major Tory election expenses row.
The video of Mrs May’s vote of confidence in Clarke was made in November 2014 when they joined forces at the by-election, won by Tory Ukip defector Mark Reckless.
It was four years after Clarke had been kicked off the Tory candidates list after claims of misconduct when he was a parliamentary candidate in the 2010 election.
And it was just five months after ex-party chairman Grant Shapps made Clarke a Tory ‘director’ with a campaigning role in June 2014 – despite reviewing his Tory HQ file, which reported his alleged ‘aggressive and bullying behaviour’ in 2010. Clarke’s reputation was an open secret in senior Tory circles for years. Yet senior figures, including Mrs May, queued up to fete him on campaign trips. The timing of the May-Clarke Rochester rally in November 2014 is significant.
The 13 complaints against Clarke, including six of a sexual nature, highlighted in the Clifford Chance report, relate to precisely that period, the 18 months before Elliott Johnson’s death – March 2014 to September 2015. Some Tories say Clarke’s endorsements by Shapps, May, Halfon and other Ministers were a key factor in the scandal.
‘He was already an arrogant, predatory bully, but the support from the party hierarchy in the 2015 Election went to his head,’ said one. ‘It gave him even more power over young activists who looked on him with awe. They were terrified to complain.’ Clarke flaunted longtime mistress India Brummitt on Road Trips – she appears in the audience at the Rochester event, joining the applause.
Another key figure in the Tatler Tory scandal, Paul Abbott, ex-chief of staff to Grant Shapps, is clearly visible in the video, drink in hand, close to Clarke and Mrs May.
Abbott was involved in the fateful decision in June 2014 to make Clarke a Tory director – despite telling Shapps of Tory HQ reports that he was ‘dangerous’ – but later fell out with him and encouraged Clarke’s victims, including Elliott Johnson, to complain about him.
‘The support from the party hierarchy went to his head’
Like many of Clarke’s rallies, the Rochester event took place in a bar. Drinks at such events were often free – paid for with Tory HQ money put behind the bar by Shapps.
They often ended in wild parties with Clarke as ringmaster. Mrs May also faces questions over the Tatler Tory links of Sir Patrick and his son Jimmy. On her first day as PM, she sought to distance herself from David Cameron’s ‘chumocracy’ by promising that ‘when it comes to opportunity, we won’t entrench the advantages of the privileged few’.
But in a little-noticed announcement last week, Jimmy McLoughlin was appointed as Mrs May’s special adviser on business on an estimated £60,000 salary. McLoughlin, 30, has known Clarke for years after meeting through the party’s youth wing.
McLoughlin was on a Clarke campaign trip in January 2014 when he led an audacious bid to save his friend, Right-wing Conservative MP Aidan Burley. The Cannock Chase MP faced the axe after The Mail on Sunday revealed his role in a Nazi-themed stag party.
Clarke, whose mistress Brummitt worked for Burley as a Commons aide, timed the Cannock Chase trip to coincide with the publication of the Tory Party investigation into Burley.
McLoughlin was among young activists on the Cannock Chase visit. Clarke emailed Tory pals: ‘I’ve organised a whopping campaign day for Aidan. Was asked to help by
CCHQ [Tory HQ] as I’m friends with Aidan. I’ve got transport, beer and curry and p*** up all paid for.’
The bid to save Burley failed – he announced he was quitting as an MP two weeks later. McLoughlin took part in another political stunt with Clarke, Brummitt and Clarke crony Andre Walker in 2013 when they were reportedly part of an attempted ‘Right-wing coup’ of the City of London Corporation.
The pair stood for election in the City, along with other members of the Right-wing Young Britons Foundation, where Clarke was also accused of preying on women. None of the YBF candidates was elected.
McLoughlin worked for Tory lobbyists Bell Pottinger and the Institute of Directors before joining Downing Street last week. His father knows all about Clarke’s record. In 2010, Sir Patrick, then Tory Chief Whip, summoned him to his Commons office after complaints about Clarke’s conduct as the party’s Parliamentary candidate in Tooting, South London.
McLoughlin and Eric Pickles, then party chairman, were made fools of by Clarke who exploited a mix-up over the date of one alleged fracas, letting him off the hook.
Hapless McLoughlin told him: ‘We have heard very negative reports about you.’ Clarke: ‘What reports?’ Pickles: ‘They say you are rude, drink too much and you have a poisonous relationship with your local association.’ Clarke said it was all lies. Sir Patrick also supported YBF events, where Clarke was a powerful figure.
The report also revealed details of Clarke’s links to Education Minister Robert Halfon. This newspaper revealed last year how Halfon faced an alleged blackmail plot involving Clarke after the Election.
Halfon confessed to an illicit affair after informing No 10 he had been told Tory activist Sam Armstrong, acting on Clarke’s behalf, intended to film him and his lover, a female Conservative activist – who was also a former lover of Clarke – leaving the East India Club in London, where they met for trysts.
Halfon said he first learned of the alleged plot to gain political favours in a text message from his lover. The Clifford Chance report reveals that on May 12, 2015 – the day after Halfon was promoted to deputy party chairman in the post-election reshuffle – he asked Feldman to give Clarke a job at Tory HQ. No job offer was made. It is believed Halfon’s affair ended in May 2015.
Clarke’s Road Trip had played a key role in Halfon’s re-election campaign in his Harlow constituency. Halfon was later furious to discover Armstrong works as an aide to Tory MP Craig Mackinlay. Halfon asked Feldman to sack Armstrong. Feldman declined – Armstrong still holds the post.
Clarke, Armstrong and Walker were banned from last year’s Tory conference after Johnson’s death. All three have denied wrongdoing. A spokesman for Halfon said there was ‘no question of him being under any duress’ when he tried to get Clarke a job because he was ‘not then aware of any [blackmail] threats’.
No10 refused to comment about Mrs May’s backing for Clarke. A Government source said Jimmy McLoughlin was appointed ‘on merit’. Sir Patrick and his son refused to comment.
‘They say you are rude and drink too much’