The father of Elliott Johnson has called for Tory chairman Andrew Feldman to follow Grant Shapps and stand down over the bullying row that has engulfed his party.
Ray Johnson, whose son died in an apparent suicide after leaving a note saying he was being bullied by Conservative activists, believes Lord Feldman is partly responsible for allowing bullying to go unchecked.
A Conservative board meeting is to be held on Monday, during which a full independent inquiry into the claims about the behaviour of activist Mark Clarke and others will be discussed. Clarke has denied allegations of bullying and any wrongdoing.
Downing Street is standing behind Feldman, saying that Cameron has full confidence in the party chairman. Feldman is facing a number of questions over the scandal, including:
1) When did you first become aware of complaints about Mark Clarke’s behaviour?
The Tory party says Feldman was not aware of any written complaints of Clarke’s conduct prior to August this year. Feldman has not directly commented on the events but a party spokeswoman said CCHQ had been “unable to find any written complaints of bullying, harassment or any other inappropriate behaviour during this period that were not dealt with”. However, allegations against Clarke go as far back as 2008. After he appeared in Tatler magazine, touted as future cabinet material, a national newspaper ran allegations by an ex-girlfriend about his conduct.
He denied all claims, but David Cameron, then opposition leader, was reported to be livid because of the press coverage. At the time, Feldman was chief executive of the Conservative campaign headquarters, a key role in preparing Cameron and the Tories for the 2010 general election.
2) You signed off the finances for Clarke’s campaign project RoadTrip 2015; why? Were you aware Clarke was behind the project? If not, why were you not aware?
Clarke devised the RoadTrip campaign, which involved battle buses touring the country rallying youth support for the party. Many of the allegations of inappropriate behaviour levelled at Clarke are said to have occurred during this campaign. Grant Shapps, who was appointed co-chair of the Tory party with Feldman after Sayeeda Warsi stepped down from the role, has admitted to appointing Clarke as director of the Road Trip campaign in July 2014. But Feldman signed off the budget, without which the project would never have got off the ground.
3) Were you aware of Warsi’s complaint about Clarke’s behaviour to your co-chairman in January this year?
The Guardian revealed on Friday that Warsi wrote to Shapps, accusing Clarke of trolling her on Twitter. This directly contradicted party claims that they had received no written complaints before August. Did Shapps discuss this complaint with his co-chair Feldman?
4) Elliott Johnson’s father, Tory MP Ben Howlett and victims of Clarke’s alleged behaviour have all claimed you were aware of complaints made about Clarke. How do you respond to this?
Howlett, MP for Bath, told Newsnight that he raised concerns about Clarke’s behaviour with the party in 2010 and had talked about Clarke with Feldman. Former Tory activist Ben Harris-Quinney, who alleges Clarke threatened him (a claim Clarke denies), told the Guardian there is no way Feldman could continue.
5) Should the inquiry into allegations against Clarke be conducted by a truly independent body?
As it stands, the inquiry into Clarke is being run within CCHQ (Conservative campaign headquarters) by staff, who all work under Feldman. Feldman is a witness to the inquiry and will effectively be interviewed by his own staff. Barrister and judge Edward Legard, who is overseeing the inquiry, is an old Etonian contemporary of Cameron’s, who once stood for parliament as a Tory candidate.
6) When will you apologise to the Johnson family for the distress caused by the party’s handling of this affair?
Ray Johnson said the way the Tories had handled the affair so far had prolonged the agony – and even contributed to a health scare suffered by his wife, Elliott’s mother, Alison. “It prolongs everything,” he previously told the Guardian. “It makes the agony worse. They’re not prepared to stand up and tell the truth. All they wish to do is cover up their own activities and the activities of their friends.” Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Cameron said he felt “deeply” for Johnson’s parents. He said: “It is a tragic loss of a talented young life. It is not something that any parent should have to go through and I feel for them deeply.”
