Grant Shapps 'resigns': Timeline of the 'bullying and blackmail' scandal engulfing the Conservative Party

Mr Shapps hired now-disgraced party activist Mark Clarke to run organisation busing campaigners during the last election

Grant Shapps, left, and Mark Clarke, bottom right, during the 2014 Tory conference (PA)

Grant Shapps has reportedly resigned following claims he failed to act over allegations of bullying within the Conservative Party.

This is the timeline of events leading to his resignation:

15 September: Conservative activist Elliott Johnson, 21, is found dead on the railway tracks at Sandy station, Bedfordshire. Mr Johnson worked for campaign group Conservative Way Forward (CWF) and the youth wing Conservative Future

22 September: Reports emerge that British Transport Police (BTP) are investigating claims Mr Johnson was being bullied by Tory members and campaigners.

23 September: Focus shifts to Mark Clarke, dubbed one of the ‘Tatler Tories’ following a feature in the British society magazine, and a former chairman of Conservative Youth.

Mr Clarke was appointed by Grant Shapps, then Chairman of the Conservative Party, as director of RoadTrip in 2014. The organisation bussed Conservative activists to and from party events during the last election.

24 September: Mr Clarke is suspended from the Conservative Party over the allegations.

4 October: The Mail on Sunday obtains a tape recording – allegedly made by Mr Johnson before he died – in which Mr Clarke can be heard interrogating the young Conservative over a police caution he received.

An alleged suicide note from Mr Johnson also emerges, in which he reportedly claims he was bullied by party activists.

16 November: Robert Halfon, deputy chairman of the Conservative party, admits to cheating on his partner. He alleges Mr Clarke was the Tory activist scheming to blackmail him, following a Mail on Sunday report.

18 November: Mr Clarke is banned from the Conservative party for life.

22 November: The Sun reports senior Conservative Party members were aware of complaints from the youth wing of party, despite previous denials.

23 November: David Cameron revealed by The Independent to have invited Mr Clarke to Chequers to toast the success of the activists general election campaign project.

27 November: The Guardian reports that it obtained a letter dated 20 January 2015 written by former party chairman Sayeeda Warsi and sent to Mr Shapps, demanding action be taken acainst Mr Clarke. Baroness Warsi said she never received a "satisfactoory response" to her compaint and that his alleged behaviour was "common knowledge".

28 November: Mr Johnson's family demand Mr Shapps' resignation.

28 November: Grant Shapps quits. Hours before Mr Cameron had promised a "proper" inquiry into claims of bullying.