The parents of a Conservative activist who killed himself after complaining that he was bullied by a party aide have called for a minister and the party chairman to resign over the scandal.
Advertisement
Government minister Grant Shapps has resigned from his role amid allegations he failed to act on claims of bullying in the Conservative youth wing, Downing Street has confirmed.
He has also called for an external inquiry into allegations of bullying in the organisations youth wing.
Mr Clarke has since been expelled from the party for life amid claims he tried to blackmail and smear rivals.
Shapps has faced continued criticism over his appointment of the disgraced Clarke to run the party’s “road trip” campaign bus, which Johnson joined as an activist and blogger, ahead of May’s election.
Resigned… Grant Shapps has resigned accused of failing to act amid allegations of bullying within the governing Conservative Party sparked by the death of a young activist. The current Party Chairman Lord Feldman has serious questions to answer about when exactly he was made aware of concerns about Mark Clarke and what action was taken as a result.
The Conservative Party has said that it received no written complaints until this summer about Mr Clarke’s behaviour.
Mr Johnson withdrew his complaint against Mr Clarke but others have claimed Mr Clarke threatened to ruin his career if he did not drop his claim.
The final straw for Mr Shapps came on Friday afternoon when his predecessor as Tory chairman Sayeeda Warsi revealed she wrote to him nearly a year ago warning him about Clarke. “What the Conservative Party must do and is doing is ensure that there is a proper investigation into this issue, into the allegations that were made and who they were made to and all the rest of it”.
In his letter accepting the resignation, Mr Cameron said: “I know that this will have been a very hard decision for you to make, and something you will have given a great deal of thought to over recent days”.
Mr Cameron said an independent lawyer would oversee the inquiry process.
Advertisement
“It is not something that any parent should have to go through and I feel for them deeply”.
