Grant Shapps was given an £8,000 'golden goodbye' payoff during Tory bullying scandal

The former Tory Chairman resigned amid allegations exposed by the death of activist Elliott Johnson

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

A senior Tory who took an £8,000 payoff when he was forced to quit at the height of the 'Tatler Tory' bullying scandal, today faced calls to hand the money back.

Former Conservative Chairman Grant Shapps was given the 'golden goodbye' payment despite saying during the scandal, "the buck should stop with me".

The payment has only emerged now after accounts were published for the Department for International Development, to where he was demoted following the row.

Labour MP John Mann called for Mr Shapps to return the money to taxpayers this morning, saying "nobody should get it".

It comes after a Tory-commissined report into the bullying scandal found that Mr Shapps was responsible for giving activist Mark Clarke a key election campaign role.

Mr Clarke, once tipped for greatness by Tatler magazine, later became subject to allegations of bullying and sexually inappropriate behaviour, all of which he denies.

Among the claims made against him were those by 21-year-old Elliott Johnson in August last year, shortly before he went on to commit suicide.

However, the report said there was no evidence that Mr Shapps had knowledge of the allegations until August 2015.

When he stepped down from his ministerial post under pressure over the scandal, he said: “Whatever the rights and wrongs of a serious case like this, responsibility should rest somewhere.

"Over the past few weeks – as individual allegations have come to light – I have come to the conclusion that the buck should stop with me.”