Tory bullying scandal: Mark Clarke 'used connections with Guido Fawkes blog to threaten opponents'

[Denzil_DC]

The stink around the Tory bullying scandal that's yet to attain full -gate status continues to spread, the Independent reports:

The “Tatler Tory” at the centre of allegations of bullying in the youth wing of the Conservative Party allegedly used his personal connections to the scurrilous Guido Fawkes political blog to threaten people who challenged him, according to claims being examined by lawyers hired by the party.

The Independent has been told by several people with knowledge of the alleged bullying and blackmail scandal engulfing the party that Mark Clarke used his friendships with individuals in the media to intimidate his opponents, and those who threatened to expose him.

There is no evidence that the Guido Fawkes gossip blog – required reading for Westminster followers – ever ran untrue smear stories pushed by Mr Clarke, the Conservative campaign director who has been banned from the party for life following the suicide of young activist Elliott Johnson. However, sources close to Clifford Chance, the law firm appointed by Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ) to investigate the scandal, confirmed that they would explore Mr Clarke’s media connections as part of the probe.

That last paragraph has a whiff of the Indie's lawyers about it.

Mr Clarke, 38, a consultant at Unilever, denies all the allegations and is not commenting until the conclusion of an inquest into Mr Johnson’s death. However, Mr Clarke is close friends with Harry Cole, who was previously employed by the Guido Fawkes blog (alongside its founder Paul Staines) and now works at The Sun newspaper. Both men previously belonged to the Young Britons Foundation (YBF), the so-called “Conservative Madrasa” founded by Donal Blaney, who is currently the chairman of the right-wing pressure group Conservative Way Forward (CWF).

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-bullying-scandal-mark-clarke-used-connections-with-guido-fawkes-blog-to-threaten-opponents-a6761166.html

The Guido Fawkes blog has been avidly covering the furore surrounding Clarke. The lucky boy even has his own tag there - http://order-order.com/people/mark-clarke/ - which includes a video of Cole commenting on Grant Shapps's resignation and aiming pointed questions at Lord Feldman on 28 November, so it'll be interesting to see whether Paul Staines lets his blog cover or respond to this latest development. So far, all the Order-Order.com-associated Twitter feeds have been silent about it.

Nor does it stop there, as the Indie's on a roll tonight:

Tory bullying scandal: Pressure grows on Lord Feldman as memo warned Mark Clarke was 'sociopathic' and 'dangerous'

Pressure on Conservative party chairman Lord Feldman to quit has risen after it emerged that senior party officials were sent a memo in August warning that the campaigner at the heart of the Tory bullying scandal was "dangerous" and "sociopathic".

The document, produced by a then-party official, alleged that Mark Clarke's "bullying tactics are well-known... it would literally be impossible to list all his crimes here".

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-bullying-scandal-pressure-grows-on-lord-feldman-as-memo-warned-mark-clarke-was-sociopathic-and-a6760111.html

ETA: Anyone who wants to follow the Harry Cole angle further down the rabbit hole might do worse than check out this Byline article:

EXCLUSIVE-“Worse than Militant”- The Gang of Four caught in Tory Bullying Allegations, with Freemasonry links

https://www.byline.com/project/30/article/645

ETA FURTHER DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: Zelo Street has been covering the role of Staines et al. and Cole in posing as covering the affair while instead serving up distractions, not just from their own relationships with Clarke, but the implications for a wide range of Tory Party figures. See Zelo's Policing tag - http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Policing - as well as some posts under Politics - http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Politics

[Denzil_DC]

1. Guido squawks:

Guido Fawkes
‏@GuidoFawkes

Not a good sign that the CCHQ/Clifford Chance investigation is leaking already.

https://twitter.com/GuidoFawkes/status/673110000357744640

[non sociopath skin]

2. Would love to see the asshole get his come-uppance.

He's hidden his poison behind the cover of the Net for too long!



The Skin

[Denzil_DC]

3. This thing just gets more and more bizarre

Apols for the Daily Mail link:

It was like a scene from The Sopranos': Tatler Tory's sick taunting of suicide victim in terrifying ambush of tragic activists friends while aided by two henchmen

Disgraced 'Tatler Tory' Mark Clarke mocked suicide victim Elliott Johnson in a terrifying ambush of one of the tragic activist's friends last week.

In an intimidating encounter likened to a scene from TV mafia show The Sopranos, Clarke, aided by two burly henchmen and his mistress, cornered their victim, another Conservative campaigner, in a Chelsea restaurant.

They had tricked Patrick Sullivan into the showdown, and spent an intense 90 minutes trying to strongarm him into withdrawing claims that he, too, had been bullied by Clarke.

At one point the shamed aide appeared to mock Mr Johnson, who was found dead on railway tracks in Bedfordshire in September after Clarke had subjected him to a campaign of intimidation. Trying to portray himself as a 'victim' after being banned from the Tories following allegations of blackmail, sexual assault and revenge pornography, Clarke said: 'If I laid across a railway track I'd be a hero.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3347743/It-like-scene-Sopranos-Tatler-Tory-s-sick-taunting-suicide-victim-terrifying-ambush-tragic-activists-friends-aided-two-henchmen.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

If only 10 per cent of what I've been reading about this stands up - collusion at the highest levels of the Tory Party, menacing behaviour, honeytraps, blackmail, revenge porn, forced sex, interfering with witnesses, something for everyone, including the Sun - I think it's not going to be long before the inquiry gets handed over to the police, never mind law firm Clifford Chance.

Related (Mail again ...): Tatler Tory's Freemason cronies: Mark Clarke goes to the same lodge as councillor who formerly worked for law firm chosen to conduct inquiry into bullying scandal

[T_i_B]

4. More allegations, this time concerning Lucy Allan MP

Lucy Allan appears to be a strong contender for the title of "worst MP in Parliament"

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/new-tory-bullying-scandal-breaks-out-as-conservative-mp-lucy-allan-threatens-to-sack-staff-member-a6776836.html

The Tory MP who "faked" a death threat has been accused of threatening to sack a member of staff if she took four weeks off work sick – as advised by her doctor.

In a fresh bullying scandal to hit the Conservative party, Telford MP Lucy Allan was accused of launching a "vicious" verbal attack on a female staff member who phoned in sick.

In a recording of the telephone call handed to the Evening Standard, Ms Allan is heard telling the alleged bullying target Arianne Plumbly: “I’m not paying you for that then; it’s ridiculous” and told her she had “pissed around on my life”.

It was not the first instance of aggressive behaviour from Ms Allan, according to ex staffers who told the Evening Standard that at least two complaints about her conduct had been made to Conservative HQ. But neither of the two complaints were properly acted upon by the party, they said.

[Denzil_DC]

5. She sounds like an absolute charmer.

She's somehow managed to evade a parliamentary inquiry for her forgery of a Twitter "death threat" which could have gotten the guy she tried to frame in serious trouble (I think he should sue for defamation), but more amusingly, the Guido Fawkes blog captured a bizarre late-night Facebook rant from her before she (presumably, not to mention allegedly) sobered up deleted it:





http://order-order.com/2015/12/15/lucy-allan-deletes-late-night-facebook-rant/

Sound like a very happy crew, the Telford Tories!

[Denzil_DC]

6. Just a quick update on all this, since the thread's been bumped anyway

The gathering of evidence for the coroner's inquiry continues (sorry, Mail again), amid suspicions among witnesses that tame Tory law firm Clifford Chance, which has been conducting an "independent" inquiry for the Conservative Party, may not be trustworthy and have their best interests at heart:

Police quiz 22 in Tatler Tory bullying probe: Father of activist who committed suicide says officers are learning of more victims all the time

The police inquiry into the Tatler Tory scandal is expanding, according to the family of the activist who took his own life.

At least 22 witnesses have given statements and police are learning more names all the time, said Ray Johnson, whose son Elliott, 21, committed suicide after complaining of bullying by Conservative election aide Mark Clarke, dubbed the Tatler Tory.

Mr Johnson said police had been encouraging potential victims of Clarke – who denies bullying, sexually harassing and blackmailing young Tory activists – to make criminal allegations.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3343616/Police-quiz-22-Tatler-Tory-bullying-probe.html

Vice gives a taste of some of the allegations being made through interviews with some Tory activists:

There's a young Tory who believes Clarke was behind a blackmail plot in which he was duped into performing a sex act online . When he refused to pay a ransom, the video was leaked online. An unnamed 22-year-old woman who claims she woke up in an MP's bed with no memory of getting undressed. There are also allegations of assault and sexual harassment, and a blackmail plot including Tory minister Robert Halfon. And of course, the circumstances that led up to Johnson's death.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/young-conservatives-bullying-scandal-734

Clarke was last (not) seen hiding out - sorry, I mean on holiday - with family in the Caribbean.