PM ally signs off over jibes

THERESA May’s chief of staff has quit a Tory WhatsApp group because he is sick of the abuse the PM is receiving.

Gavin Barwell said he was ‘hurt’ to see so many attacks on the Croydon Conservatives’ group on the online messaging service.

Mr Barwell was Tory MP for Croydon Central before losing his seat in 2017. The Prime Minister then snapped him up as her chief of staff. The website Conserva-tiveHome revealed a screenshot of the WhatsApp group showing he had left.

He wrote: ‘What hurts is working 18 or 19-hour days and then coming on a WhatsApp group whose members are meant to be supporters of the party to find your boss being subjected to attacks of the kind I would expect from our worst opponents.

‘Frankly I’ve had enough of it and have better ways to spend my time. So you win. Hope you’re pleased with yourself.’