Tory Racism Suspension ISN’T ENOUGH

As the BBC reported yesterday, “A Conservative activist has been suspended after tweeting a British Muslim MP should ‘go back to Pakistan’ … The party said they were investigating the comments made by Theodora Dickinson on Twitter about Labour's Naz Shah … Responding to a GIF of the MP talking about her experience of poverty while growing up in Yorkshire, she wrote if Ms Shah ‘hates this country so much why doesn't she go back to Pakistan’”. Theodora Dickinson. That’s an interesting name.

Theodora Dickinson - nasty piece of work

Ms Dickinson has serious past form when it comes to racism. The Beeb tells us that “On her Twitter handle, Ms Dickinson describes herself as a political communications and social media consultant. She is understood to have worked for the Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 Brexit referendum”. But this hardly scratches the surface.

She has previously peddled Islamophobic conspiracy theories, including last year’s “In response to the New Zealand mosque attacks, Islamists have burned down a Christian church in Pakistan … Why is this not being shown on @BBCNews?!” The use of Arabic in the video should have given the game away, but perhaps these foreign languages all sound the same to her. The footage was from Egypt. And it was from 2013, not 2019.

Naz Shah. 'Appen she's from Bradford

But the nastiest part of Ms Dickinson’s CV is reserved for her circle of friends, which includes one very close friend who is not only well known to Zelo Street regulars, but has also been thrown out of the Tory Party, and given a lifetime ban. Step forward the infamous Mark Clarke of Tory bullying infamy. And it gets worse.

She’s also close to the likes of Sam Armstrong, who along with Clarke tried to blackmail then minister Rob Halfon. And look, here they are together - with Clarke, Ellie Vesey-Thompson (at left), and the deeply unpleasant Stephen Canning, who leaked the content of a supposedly confidential meeting involving then Foreign Secretary Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. Canning was later called out by Simon Walters of the Mail on Sunday.

Moreover, Ms Dickinson was allegedly close to Rob Halfon - and Mark Clarke. So it’s no surprise that a Conservative Party activist has been in touch to tell “Theodora Dickinson should have been expelled from the Conservative party alongside her mentor Mark Clarke back in 2015. CCHQ now have the perfect opportunity to cleanse the party of someone who revels in online bullying, tweets racist comments and spends her every minute of her day posting on social media, obsessively”. Popular with the membership - or not.

Friends like these, eh Ms Dickinson?

There is more. “She was up to her neck in the Tatler Tory scandal, hanging out with oddball Sam Armstrong at the time he was allegedly setting up a scheme to blackmail Cabinet Minister Rob Halfon. She also stood by Mark Clarke when his horrific catalogue of bullying was exposed. Everyone in the party considers her a very dangerous woman with an unhealthy lust for bullying, just like her chum Mark Clarke”. Well, well.

Her racism was not just confined to one isolated Tweet. And her unpleasantness is not confined to one circle of friends. Theodora Dickinson is a seriously malign presence and it is high time the Tory Party stopped giving her cover for her activities.

Never mind suspension - this time it needs to be expulsion. No ifs, no buts.

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