New Tatler Tory row as Feldman refuses to fire aide in ‘plot to blackmail Minister’
CONSERVATIVE chairman Lord Feldman has clashed with the Cabinet Minister who faced an alleged sex blackmail plot in the ‘Tatler Tory’ scandal, it was revealed last night.
Lord Feldman rejected Minister Robert Halfon’s plea to sack a Tory MP’s Commons aide who reportedly intended to film him leaving a London club with a lover so it could be used against him.
The plot involving Sam Armstrong, an ally of Mark Clarke, who was an aide to David Cameron during the 2015 Election, was revealed by The Mail on Sunday last year.
Mr Halfon was furious to discover Mr Armstrong is still employed at public expense as a Commons adviser by South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay.
The disclosure comes just before Tuesday’s inquest into the death of Tory activist Elliott Johnson, 21, who killed himself after alleged bullying by Mr Clarke, dubbed the ‘Tatler Tory’ after the society magazine tipped him for a Cabinet career. Mr Johnson’s body was found beside a railway track in Bedfordshire last September.
Lord Feldman has faced allegations that he failed to protect Mr Johnson and take action to curb Mr Clarke’s alleged wild antics.
Mr Armstrong was banned from last year’s Tory conference, along with Mr Clarke and another ally, Andre Walker, in the aftermath of Mr Johnson’s death. Mr Clarke was later banned for life by the party.
A friend of Mr Halfon said: ‘Feldman claims to have learned the lessons of the Clarke affair. Yet he refuses to do anything about a party aide who was allegedly involved in an attempt to blackmail a Minister and who was barred from our conference last year. It is ridiculous.’
Mr Halfon, 47, confessed to an affair after informing No10 he had been told that Mr Armstrong, acting on Mr Clarke’s behalf, intended to film him and his lover, a prominent female Tory activist, leaving
‘He claims to have learned lessons’
the East India Club, in London, where they met for trysts.
Mr Halfon kept quiet until Mr Johnson killed himself after alleged bullying by Mr Clarke. He also told his long-term female partner. He said at the time: ‘Mark Clarke is an appalling man. I wish I had never met him. I was stupid.’
He first learned of the alleged blackmail plot to gain political favours in a text message from his lover. ‘I was told Clarke and Sam Armstrong were planning to take photographs of us coming out of the East India Club,’ he said.
To complicate matters for Lord Feldman, the Kent constituency of Mr Mackinlay is also involved in an Election expenses controversy. The party is accused of failing to declare thousands of pounds spent in key seats, including South Thanet, where Mr Mac- kinlay defeated Ukip leader Nigel Farage.
Some of the claims relate to the way Tory HQ declared the cost of the party’s ‘Road Trip 2015’ battlebus campaign, which was led by Mr Clarke.
He is at the centre of separate allegations of sexual misconduct and bullying on the Road Trip, an operation aimed at winning votes in marginal seats. He has always denied any wrongdoing.
A source close to Mr Halfon said he was ‘disappointed’ by Lord Feldman’s response. A spokeswoman for Lord Feldman said: ‘Sam Armstrong is not employed by the Conservative Party.’
Mr Armstrong said: ‘I have denied these unsubstantiated, anonymous, and untrue allegations since their conception.’ Mr Mackinlay declined to comment.