Lucy Allan - 3 Strikes, You’re Out

While the Tory Bullying scandal rumbles on, a sideshow event has been, shall we say, developing for a few days now, as Lucy Allan, who won Telford from Labour in May, has exhibited signs not merely of disintegrating credibility, but equally, disintegrating trust with her local party and those who work for her. The question now has to be asked whether she is really cut out for this sort of role.

The manner of the disintegration is straightforward enough: last week, Ms Allan “revealed” that she had received a death threat, submitting as evidence a message left by another Facebook user which ended with the phrase “unless you die”. But there was, as Captain Blackadder might have observed, only one thing wrong with this idea - it was bollocks. That other user produced his original message. There was no death threat.

So Ms Allan had added those three words to invent a threat that had not been made, which was bad enough. But it soon got worse, as she appeared before the inquisition of the media to tell that yes, she had added the words, but that these came from another message, which did make a real death threat. That message has so far proved elusive.

That was embarrassing enough, but what came next was far worse. Last Sunday, she posted a video to her Facebook page in which she blamed others - activists in her own constituentcy - for her problems. “Weird week: tiny handful of people making disproportionate noise on social media. They are not part of any constructive political process, where we disagree, but always put people first” she told.

Alas, such was her confidence in this missive that it was soon deleted. But sadly for Ms Allan, it was not deleted soon enough, and as the excellent Pride’s Purge blog has pointed out, it can still be viewed in all its toe-curling nastiness. In the video, she tells that those who object to her stance “do not represent Telford. They are not Telford”. Zelo Street understands that Ms Allan lives in Wandsworth, so it seems neither is she.

Could it get any worse? You betcha, says Sarah: the Evening Standard has obtained a number of voicemail messages, which, for Tory Party supporters, do not make for easy listening. “A new bullying row hit the Conservative Party today after one of its MPs was accused of ‘vicious’ verbal abuse against members of her own staff”, they tell.

It gets worse: “In phone calls heard by the Standard, Lucy Allan rants at a female staffer on sick leave - describing her absence as ‘pathetic’, telling her she ‘pissed around on my life’ and accusing her of having an ‘alcohol problem’”. The staffer says she does not drink. And it gets yet worse: “The MP for Telford threatens to sack the young woman if she takes four weeks off, as advised by her doctor”. Oh dear!

Were I one of Ms Allan’s constituents, the thought of her being in post for another four and a half years would impress me not one bit. Her continued presence will only damage the Tories and make it more and more certain that she will be rejected by her electorate at the next General Election. So how about it, Dave? Show some backbone and bin her.

And someone in the Tory Party might explain why so many of these problem characters come out of just two areas in London - Wandsworth and Hammersmith & Fulham.