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Tory Party Bullying

(106 Posts)
JessM Mon 30-Nov-15 10:30:26

I was interested that this sad news story eventually hit the press this weekend. It has been discussed on Twitter for a while but little mainstream coverage.
In a nutshell - a young man who was part of an elite Young Conservative team is alleged to have committed suicide as a result of bullying when he was employed to work on the election campaign team or soon thereafter.
I am getting a sense of deja-vu.
Not so long ago the libdems were having serious problems with allegations of sexual harrassment by senior officials.
Many commented at the time that political parties, unlike companies, schools, hospitals etc, do not have proper procedures for dealing with allegations and possible disciplinary matters arising from them. (or indeed anti-bullying policies) Such procedures are there to protect both people involved.
We are now at the interesting stage with this one. There is a coroner's enquiry going on and an internal enquiry in the Tory party. However there is no clear separation between the enquiry and some of those who might be implicated. Grant Shapps has resigned over the weekend but there is talk that there may be more heads rolling in the near future, including one of Cameron's oldest and closest friend, who is party chairman.
My personal theory is that because career politicians have never worked as managers in a non-political organisation they have no experience of working within guidelines and procedures.
A less charitable interpretation is that the political parties are more concerned for their party's reputation than protecting vulnerable volunteers, staff members and junior party members.
For anyone who wants to catch up on this sad story in some detail : www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/27/elliott-johnson-young-tory-destroyed-by-party-he-loved-mark-clarke

phoenix Tue 01-Dec-15 23:56:04

PS

And before anyone says it, yes, I probably will stick to posting about cats, husbands, domestic mishaps and other (hopefully) non controversial stuff in future.

phoenix Tue 01-Dec-15 23:52:54

O.F.F.S.!

I read (some) of the political threads, but think I will probably not bother in future, because they all seem to end up like this ^!

durhamjen Tue 01-Dec-15 23:20:45

Roseq, in your post of 20.05 yesterday you said you are right POGS.
That is definitely agreeing with POGS, not probably.

rosequartz Tue 01-Dec-15 09:50:58

Have I ever disagreed with POGS? Probably.
Have I ever agreed with POGS? Probably.

Am I allowed to say so? Probably, unless it is against guidelines.

I did say it was not sub judice. It may well never be.
And yes, precedents have been set in regard to cases discussed on social media.

JessM Tue 01-Dec-15 07:45:49

It is not technically sub-judice, if i understand correctly, as nobody has been accused of a crime. This is a matter of great public interest though as party supporter on all sides would like to know that their political parties are run ethically and that they try to adhere to the high standards of behaviour that are enshrined in employment law here and across the EU. The way they deal with people needs to be enshrined in guidelines that are no less clear and helpful.
When i was a chair of governors in a secondary school I used to remind the head that the policies and procedures were there to protect the staff and cover his backside.
Mine too - if anyone had ever accused him of something bad, there was a clear policy that said that I would have to suspend him on full pay. (a scary thought for a volunteer...)
But it is a good example because governors and school leaders have to work together within these guidelines.
There is a more difficult grey area in politics because the protagonists are volunteers of many kinds - party workers, unpaid interns and senior officials who are not paid.
All the more reason why they should have such structures.
I am pleased to hear that the Tories have at least done something sensible and handed over their internal enquiry to a law firm.

durhamjen Mon 30-Nov-15 22:54:29

What's going to a meetup got to do with anything, bags?

durhamjen Mon 30-Nov-15 22:24:58

Have you read the link, POGS?

Ana Mon 30-Nov-15 21:21:41

x posts thatbags, of course.

Ana Mon 30-Nov-15 21:20:35

Oh, the sarcasm! It does seem to be a rather prevalent trait among certain left-wing posters...hmm

thatbags Mon 30-Nov-15 21:19:25

Have you ever been to a Gransnet meetup, dj?

POGS Mon 30-Nov-15 21:15:23

Sigh

durhamjen Mon 30-Nov-15 21:03:59

Have you read the link in the OP, POGS, or are you just trying to be superior?
The Guardian link is an interview with the boy's parents. They are the ones who want more Tory grandees to be kicked out for this.

Of course POGS is right, roseq, as far as you are concerned.
Have you ever disagreed with her?
Do you think the Tory lawyer is going to read gransnet, to try and get his clients off, because comments might be prejudicial?
Wow, we are important.

rosequartz Mon 30-Nov-15 20:05:34

You are right POGS

It always worries me when cases are sub judice (not this one as I understand it as yet) and there are comments here on GN which could be prejudicial to a successful prosecution (or defence).

POGS Mon 30-Nov-15 19:59:19

Yes Durhamjen I meant what I said.

I prefer to not be part of a kangaroo court and a lot of people are very keen to comment without knowing the whole story, 'if indeed there is or is not one' because I agree Clark is without doubt a nasty piece of work.

You may well be proved correct and this is an open and shut case , I am not suggesting it isn't I merely elect to wait and let the justice system provide me with the full facts.

I am always minded of cases where the media / public have made a judgement before waiting to listen to the full answer, as with the likes of Christopher Jeffries . You and I approach things in a different manner I guess.

durhamjen Mon 30-Nov-15 19:20:53

I said on another link, Jess, that he sounded like a young William Hague.
We obviously think alike on this.

durhamjen Mon 30-Nov-15 19:19:38

Full facts of his death? He lay down on a railway line until a train ran over him. He left three letters, one to his parents, one to his friends and one to the Tory party telling them why he had done it.
The bullies were not young Tories, they were old Tories. When he wouldn't give in to their bullying they sacked him.
More in the Guardian link from Jess.

JessM Mon 30-Nov-15 17:21:58

no idea why jings. Sounds a bit like a young william hague and he was always one of the more human and normal top tories.

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 30-Nov-15 16:25:48

Spelt aspergers wrong. Never mind.

jinglbellsfrocks Mon 30-Nov-15 16:24:26

Why does reading about that young man bring asbergers to mind? I think he was probably a lot more vulnerable than many young people. Sounds as if he might have had very strong opinions and didn't understand when it was best to say nothing.

No reason to bully him. Quite the opposite. There are bullies out there. Sadly. I hope it is dealt with thoroughly.

JessM Mon 30-Nov-15 15:28:16

The history of the young man, according to the long article in the Guardian, does not make him sound any more vulnerable than anyone else in their early 20s. He sounds like a live wire who was brimming with confidence and interest in politics from an early age. A bit of a rising star who hoped for a career in Tory politics - from an ordinary family. He had poured his all into the election campaign.

Lets hope for the parents' sake that this reaches some kind of conclusion that they can accept without undue delay.

rosequartz Mon 30-Nov-15 15:23:25

Yes, it has been in the public domain for quite a while, not just on the net.

Unfortunately, there are bullies like this in all walks of life and, if young people hope to get on in their careers, there is often some nasty person with a little power and using some type of blackmail to take advantage of the situation.
Sadly, the younger person is often so keen that they will put up with bullying because they think their future prospects could be in jeopardy if they don't comply.

This case was very tragic and I don't think that anyone should try to score political points about it.

I hope that Clarke gets his comeuppance but somehow I doubt it.

POGS Mon 30-Nov-15 13:58:04

The story has by the way been in the public domain for 'at least' a couple of weeks or longer so it evolves constantly.

POGS Mon 30-Nov-15 13:53:26

Clark sounds a right piece of work , very nasty and Grant Schnapps has taken responsibility. Others may follow but I will accept an Independent overview before judging.

All parties have their share of bullying harrassement, lying issues, Falkirk, Lord Rennard for example so I won't join in on any political gloating to score points as there are other comments that can be made about other parties. However the 'facts' do clearly show Clark is a very unsavoury character and allegations of bullying, blackmail are no laughing matter.

As for the poor lad who committed suicide I would rather wait to hear from the Coroner as to the full facts of his death as all too often the media/public desire for heads to roll are proven to have been slightly misjudged. I am not in any way shape or form excusing Clark's behaviour nor am I not fully aware of the despair the parents are living with but I am judging things as the facts become clear and precise that's all.

soontobe Mon 30-Nov-15 11:52:53

It sounds like a very sad story indeed.
I hope justice is done, and seen to be done.

Elegran Mon 30-Nov-15 11:06:22

Don't assume that someone giving possible reasons why is finding excuses. You can trace the contributory factors to why and how anything at all was done, without in any way excusing, praising or blaming the doing of it.

There is a lot of confusion between the reason something happened as it did and the excuse (or lack of excuse) for it happening.