The Conservatives are under scrutiny about whether they properly investigated verbal complaints about the Conservative election aide Mark Clarke, who is at the centre of allegations of attempted blackmail, bullying and sexual harassment.
Questions have arisen after the party released a statement to the BBC last week saying it had been “checking and rechecking, but have not been able to find any records of complaints that were made but not dealt with” before it launched an investigation into Clarke in August.
However, a subsequent statement released a day later inserted the word “written”, with the party saying it was “unable to find any written complaints of bullying, harassment or any other inappropriate behaviour during this period that were not dealt with”.
A third statement, released on behalf of former Tory chairman Grant Shapps, also makes reference to written complaints, saying: “Grant Shapps was completely unaware of any uninvestigated written complaints about Mark Clarke while he was chairman. Any such complaints would always be formally investigated – there would have been no logical reason not to.”
Asked about the differing statements, a Conservative spokeswoman said they were “not inconsistent” as the party could not find any “record of any verbal complaints” either.
The party has been investigating Clarke since just before the death in September of activist Elliott Johnson, who is believed to have killed himself and had formally accused Clarke of bullying.
Since Johnson’s death, a number of whistleblowers have come forward to allege that Clarke, who ran the RoadTrip2015 campaign that bussed young activists around the country, was engaged in inappropriate behaviour.
The Mail on Sunday reported that Robert Halfon, deputy chairman of the party, alleged that he was warned before the election that Clarke could try to blackmail him about an affair with a Tory activist.
Ben Howlett, a Conservative MP, has also spoken out about warning the party leadership about Clarke’s behaviour and says he felt personally bullied in a way that affected his health.
In a scandal that has engulfed the Conservative party over the last few weeks, Tory chiefs have been seeking to distance themselves from Clarke, who strongly denies all allegations against him.
It emerged on Monday that Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) chiefs were sent a critical dossier about Clarke as a candidate written after he stood in Tooting, south London, in 2010, raising concerns about his alleged aggression and hostility.
The Conservatives have said Shapps took the decision to bring Clarke into the 2015 election campaign.
But BBC Newsnight reported on Monday that Shapps, his co-chairman Lord Feldman, election chief Lynton Crosby and deputy chairman Stephen Gilbert, all discussed in mid-2014 whether the party should work with RoadTrip, and decided in its favour.
In an article for ConservativeHome in August 2014, Clarke wrote: “Grant, who always believed in what we were trying to do, ensured that we had the full support of Team2015 and CCHQ.”
Clarke, who ran unsuccessfully in the 2010 election against Labour’s Sadiq Khan in Tooting, was praised for his work for the RoadTrip2015 campaign by David Cameron during this year’s election, but he was expelled from the party last week and banned for life.
Clarke has said all allegations against him are lies and previously released a statement saying: “I believe that these false allegations and this media firestorm are related to the events surrounding Elliott’s sad death. As such I will be cooperating with the coroner and providing him with the fullest information. This is the proper process. After the inquest I will look to take legal action for defamation in respect of these allegations.”
Johnson, a Nottingham University graduate who worked for the campaign group Conservative Way Forward, was found dead on railway tracks at Sandy station in Bedfordshire on 15 September.
