Tory bullying scandal: Responsibility for my son’s death 'lies squarely on the shoulders of Lord Feldman'

Pressure grows on David Cameron's close friend and Conservative party chairman Lord Feldman as the father of Elliott Johnson says he is ultimately responsibile

Matt Dathan
Online political reporter
Tuesday 01 December 2015 10:10 GMT
Lord Feldman is to be questioned by staff investigating the bullying scandal that has engulfed the party’s youth wing
Lord Feldman is to be questioned by staff investigating the bullying scandal that has engulfed the party’s youth wing

The father of Elliott Johnson, the 21-year-old man who allegedly killed himself after being bullied by Tory party officials, has called for Lord Feldman to resign from his position as Conservative party chairman.

Grant Shapps, who served as party chairman until the General Election, quit from his role as a minister at the weekend but Ray Johnson said it was Lord Feldman who bore ultimate responsibility because he was in charge when his son was found dead on a railway in September.

Asked whether Lord Feldman should lose his job, he told the Today programme: “I agree with that. I think Lord Feldman was in charge when my son was being bullied and when my son died Shapps had left CCHQ several months earlier so the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of Lord Feldman.”

The coroner revealed Mr Johnson had left a note complaining of being bullied, which named Mark Clarke, the former head of the party’s youth campaign who has since been expelled by the Tories and banned for life.

Mr Clarke has strongly denied the allegations.

The law firm Clifford Chance has been put in charge of investigating allegations of bullying, blackmail and other claims of bad behaviour that has engulfed the party's campaign headquarters.

Mr Johnson had sent a complaint to Conservative head office a month before his death but it has been alleged that it was ignored.

A letter Mr Cameron sent to Mr Johnson's parents on 12 November has also emerged:

Mr Shapps, who was Conservative co-chairman from 2010 until May this year, resigned from the Government this weekend, having accepted responsibility for allowing Mr Clarke to have a role at head office in the run-up to the election, despite persistent rumours about his behaviour.

Lord Feldman maintains that he was "wholly unaware" of the allegations of bullying until August, when he immediately set up an internal inquiry. But others are asking how he could have been Tory chairman since 2010, and known nothing, when Grant Shapps, who was his junior for two years, has admitted responsibility.

However Tory MP Ben Howlett, who was active in Conservative Future, told BBC’s Newsnight that “Lord Feldman has been well aware of this for a very long time”.

And The Times has alleged that Grant Shapps’s adviser Paul Abbott, sent Lord Feldman and Mr Shapps a memo last year complaining about Mr Clarke’s behaviour.

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