This evening I appeared on Channel Four News to talk about the resignation of Grant Shapps and the bullying scandal that has beset the Conservative Party. It was a close run thing as the Sat truck was late arriving and the camerawoman arrived four minutes before I was due to go on air. They set up outside Simmonsdale Towers and were ready with only 20 seconds to spare. I tried to take it in my stride. On top of that just as I started speaking the wind got up and the rain started. Hopefully I made some sense.
On a personal level I am very sorry for Grant Shapps, but he decided someone needed to take responsibility and as party chairman the buck stopped with him. Up to a point. We need to remember that he had a co-chairman at the time, Lord Feldman. He is now the sole chairman of the Conservative Party. All these allegations have been made (and seemingly ignored) on his watch. Indeed, it was on his watch that young Elliot Johnson took his own life. Had that not happened we wouldn’t be where we are. I’m not calling on Lord Feldman to fall on his sword too. Yet. But I don’t recall ever seeing him do an interview. Any interview. Surely he needs to come out and reassure his party about what steps he is taking, not just to ensure that the truth will out, but that something like this can never happen again.
The thought that he was insulated from RoadTrip2015 is risible. I am told that his sister Deborah was the link woman between Mark Clarke and RoadTrip2015. Even if we ignore the outrageous nepotism in CCHQ employing a relative of the co-chairman, are we really expect to believe that she had no clue what was being said about Mark Clarke? Are we really supposed to believe that she didn’t talk to her brother about it? We’re being taken for fools.
Bullying and sexual harrassment take place in all political parties. Indeed they take place in all sectors of society, including the media. Everyone has a responsibility to stand up to bullies and eliminate all aspects of sexual harrassment wherever they occur. The Liberal Democrats were forced to face up to this issue. Now it’s the Conservative Party’s turn. What a pity it took a young man taking his own life to force them to confront it.
