May’s aide in toxic sex row over pro-Brexit cash plot
No10 adviser accused of outing lover in Vote Leave clash
THERESA MAY was dragged into an extraordinary sex smear row last night over claims her longestserving No10 aide was involved in a corrupt Brexit plot.
The Prime Minister’s political secretary Stephen Parkinson was under pressure to resign after explosive claims that he risked the lives of a former lover’s Pakistani family by ‘outing’ him as gay in a vicious feud over the EU referendum.
Mr Parkinson was accused by whistleblower Shahmir Sanni of ‘cheating’ to help the official Vote Leave campaign – led by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – get around campaign spending laws.
Astonishingly, Mr Parkinson hit back by declaring he had dated Mr Sanni during the referendum campaign and appeared to suggest he had gone public because of their break-up.
Furious Mr Sanni responded by accusing Mr Parkinson – and by extension his boss Mrs May – of outing him. He said friends and family in Pakistan did not know he was gay and Mr Parkinson had deliberately put them at risk.
And yesterday, Dominic Cummings, the former campaign director of Vote Leave and Mr Gove’s close personal and political ally, launched an onslaught against Mr Sanni, branding him a ‘liar’.
Mr Cummings said Mr Sanni had left Mr Parkinson with no choice but to tell Mrs May and the public of their affair.
Meanwhile, Mr Parkinson blasted Mr Sanni’s ‘factually incorrect’ claims about referendum campaign spending.
The sensational developments came amid growing evidence linking the Cambridge Analytica scandal to the Brexit campaign.
Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham is seeking details from both major pro-Brexit groups on where they got social media data for their campaigns. There was also new evidence linking Cambridge Analytica to another data firm, AggregateIQ, which was paid almost £4million to run a social media campaign by Vote Leave.
Remain supporters have long claimed that Leave campaigners used illicit methods to win the referendum in 2016 – claims denied by the Brexit camp, who accuse Remainers of sour grapes.
The gay smear clash flared when Mr Cummings used his website to publish a pre-emptive rebuttal of Mr Sanni’s allegations. Mr Sanni claims Vote Leave had illegally paid £625,000 to relatively obscure social media campaign group BeLeave to evade spending caps.
Mr Sanni was also a volunteer with BeLeave, run by Darren Grimes, a 23-year-old fashion student from County Durham. Mr Sanni told Channel 4 News last night: ‘I know that Vote Leave cheated. I know that people have been lied to and that the referendum wasn’t legitimate.’
He added that he had not changed his stance in favour of leaving the EU, but said: ‘I don’t agree with losing what it means to be British in that process; losing what it means to follow the rules.’
Along with two other whistleblowers, Mr Sanni has handed 46 pages of evidence to the Electoral Commission, which he says back his claim that Vote Leave broke the law by exceeding spending limits.
It includes the allegation that, despite working for a supposedly separate organisation, he always reported to Mr Parkinson at Vote Leave. ‘Everything went through Stephen,’ he told Channel 4.
Mr Sanni also said he was told that the ‘only way’ BeLeave could secure the £625,000 would be if they gave it straight to AggregateIQ – which he said struck him as ‘a bit odd’.
Mr Cummings’ defiant rebuttal of the claims included a personal statement from Mr Parkinson, who has worked closely with Mrs May for six years.
He is the sole surviving aide from her days as Home Secretary, after former chiefs of staff Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were forced to quit after the botched General Election.
In the statement, Mr Parkinson said he and Mr Sanni had dated after meeting while campaigning for Vote Leave, but later split up. He vehemently denied Mr Sanni’s claim that the campaign ‘cheated’ by covertly funnelling Vote Leave cash to BeLeave.
His statement, effectively ‘outing’ Mr Sanni, was done without informing Mrs May or No10 and stunned fellow Downing Street staff. Some felt he was suggesting Mr Sanni had turned whistleblower because of a lovers’ tiff.
Mr Parkinson said he had no responsibility for digital campaigning or donations during the referendum, and that he and Vote Leave ‘obeyed the law and spending rules at all times’.
Mr Sanni criticised No10 for ‘disclosing my sexuality publicly’. His lawyer said: ‘This is the first time a Downing Street official statement has been used to out someone.’
Mr Sanni said: ‘It’s sad Stephen feels he cannot tell the truth about the referendum. I never imagined he, with the help of No10, would tell the world I am gay in a last desperate attempt to scare me.’
‘I know that Vote Leave cheated’ ‘It’s sad he feels he cannot tell the truth’