Tory Youth Wing Nastiness Goes On

Regular visitors to Zelo Street may remember the less than savoury events of last July, when the Deputy Chairman (Membership) of Tory Party youth wing Conservative Future (CF), Sarah-Jane Sewell, was forced out of the party by a particularly vicious smear campaign, to which she made reference in her resignation letter. It now seems that some associated with CF still cannot let this one drop.

There was a suggestion of dirty tricks: “I am left concerned that a widely suggested candidate for national chairman has apparently been promoted using the Conservative Party’s Team2015 mailing lists and the Conservative Party social media accounts. I do not believe such conduct is in the spirit of democracy that our party has always stood for and I am not prepared to appear to condone this by remaining in office”, she told.

Moreover, “Furthermore, I worry for anyone else who wishes to run in what should be a fair democratic process. I myself have been besmirched in the most abhorrent fashion, and I have little doubt that other opponents would be subject to similar treatment from those who seemingly act with impunity. I can only hold my head high knowing that they are untrue”. What a way to encourage younger voters to join the Tories, eh?

At the time, it was all too clear that much of the unpleasantness directed at Ms Sewell - who had run for office at her own expense, and devoted significant amounts of time to her duties - could be traced back to one Mark Clarke, who hosted a gathering at the Two Chairmen pub after Ms Sewell resigned, “Celebrating departure from high Tory office of a former Royal Holloway CF chair”. He appears to be the one not letting it drop.

Consider the screen shot made available to this blog recently. The site, rightofcentre.co.uk, is off air at present, but the image is believed to be genuine. The article being promoted, “Failed CF Chair candidate takes down embarrassing Thatcher award video” is about Ms Sewell. And look who appears to be egging on the author by “liking” it - Mark Clarke. It seems he was first one out of the blocks to do so.

One observer of this unsavoury business, who has spoken to Zelo Street on condition of anonymity, has put it directly: “Sarah-Jane Sewell is a 21 year old girl at University and many will wonder why on earth a man approaching 40 like Mark is spending so much time on such a nasty campaign. It’s not her fault that he lost a winnable seat like Tooting. His behaviour should remind CCHQ why they kicked him off the list in the first place”. Quite.

There are still some possible berths for aspiring Tory prospective candidates for the upcoming General Election. My information is that Mark Clarke desperately wants to be one of them. I also understand that Grant “Spiv” Shapps, whatever his other failings, is equally determined not to let him through. From what I’ve already seen, it’s not difficult to understand why.  CCHQ should not need to revisit their earlier decision.

Mark Clarke wants to become an MP. Sadly for him, he is in a very small minority on this.