27/11/2015 Newsnight

Tonight on Newsnight another conservative activist beak out about

the alleged bullying he faced at the hands of Mark Clark, is it credible

to believe those at the top of the party knew nothing? We hear from the

father of a young man who took his own life having complained of his

experiences with Mark Clarke. I think Mark Clarke was allowed to

carry on the way he was because he was being protected by people within

CCHQ and people were pulling his strings. Jeremy Corbyn reaches past

his MPs and asks Labour members what to do, is this new politics or is

the party now a pressure group? By undercutting his Shadow Cabinet want

senior leader MP told me this was the beginning of the Corbyn cool. --

Labour MP. The Labour's wells in Westminster be felt in Oldham? The

voters of Oldham go to the polls next Thursday, the question is, will

Jeremy Corbyn be getting an early Christmas present or will he find a

lump of coal in his sock? A Conservative MP and historian

looks at the artistic legacy of Empire. By looking at the British

Empire through the prism of cultural one can feel what it was like to be

part of the largest empire the world has ever known.

How much did those at the top of the Conservative Party

know of the behaviour of an alleged serial bully in their midst?

The party has insisted it wasn't aware of serious accusations against

Mark Clarke until weeks before a young activist Elliott Johnson took

his own life - having previously complained he was bullied by Clarke.

Tonight the party's position looks increasingly under pressure.

The former party Chair, Sayeeda Warsi, has revealed she wrote to her

successor, Grant Shapps, eight months ago - complaining

about Clarke and demanding action be taken against him.

Tonight, we hear from another man who says he

complained about Clarke's bullying back in 2014 - to no effect.

We'll be talking to Ray Johnson about his son's suicide in a moment.

First, the latest from James Clayton.

The Conservative bullying scandal is now planted firmly on the doorstep

of this building, Conservative Party headquarters. Allegations of

bullying, sexual harassment and blackmail by the former Conservative

activist Mark Clarke have been splashed across the nation's front

pages. Last week the Newsnight investigation heard from Ben Howlett

MP, he said he'd raised bullying allegations with Grant Shapps and

Lord Feldman as early as 2010. Five years before the suicide of Elliot

Johnson catapulted the murder accusations into the public domain.

That Newsnight report prompted the response from CCHQ that the current

chairman, Lord Feldman had been wholly unaware of Clarke's William

for a tranche of formal complaint had been received in August of this

year. A spokesman told us, we've been checking and checking again,

but we haven't found any records of complaints that were made that

weren't dealt with, but we are determined to get to the bottom of

what has happened. How exhaustive have these checks been? Newsnight

has had a look at how CCHQ has dealt with some of the complaints made

over the last five years. They show, at best, incompetence by

Conservative Central office, and at worst, an attempt to conceal how

much senior Conservatives knew about Clarke. Over the last week it has

emerged that warnings about Clarke stretched back as far as 2010.

Newsnight disclosed the official candidate report on Clarke included

detail of aggressive behaviour bordering on violence. Tonight

Newsnight has learned the then Tory chair, as well as Lord Feldman, were

handed a written account of an incident in which Clarke allegedly

threatened to destroy the career of Ben Howlett, the then chair of the

Tory youth wing Conservative future. Now MP for Bath, Ben Howlett

wouldn't comment on the account, an activist who saw it said it was one

of the series of allegations of bullying. Lord Feldman allegedly

said at the time the matter would be taken seriously. Clarke denies all

allegations of bullying. Today it emerged another complaint had been

made about Mark Clarke to CCHQ, before the official internal inquiry

in August. Baroness Warsi was the complaint tick complainant. She

handed a letter she had sent to Grant Shapps to the Guardian

newspaper. It cites a tweet by Mark Clarke that implies Aaron Swazi had

offended a Jewish member of a local Conservative Party. She claims

unfairly. Baroness Warsi said she received allegations of

anti-Semitism as a result. She asks Grant Shapps what action she intends

to take against Mr Clarke, she plans the matter wasn't properly handled.

Mark Clarke contradicts this description of events, claiming

Baroness Warsi has a personal vendetta against him. Six months

before the letter in summer 2014, a Young Conservative activist who had

been on a number of road trips was threatened with political ruin by

Clarke. Clarke told him he would never work at CCHQ and if he tried

to ever get a job with an MBE, Clarke would personally intervened

to prevent such promotion. -- with an MP. He wrote that Clarke had

threatened to ruin him, attending to damage my reputation, trying to

remove me from politics, he said. The Conservative employee sent a

response, saying, height, are you content if I shared your e-mail with

other colleagues? I was hoping to hear somebody

telling me how to move forward, how to get past it, what options I had

in terms of making a complaint, speaking to someone about to

overcome the and problems I had had. But there was nothing and it was

just very disappointing, I think, and upsetting. Newsnight knows of

other complaints made to CCHQ in 2014. In a statement given to us to

night, a Conservative spokesman said that an investigation is currently

underway... Ray Johnson, the father of Elliot

Johnson who took his own life, I began by asking him if, after

fighting for nine weeks to get his son's story heard he felt like

things were starting to change. Things have been changing day

by day, week by week, I think, from when we first heard of

Elliott's unfortunate tragic death. We couldn't get to grips

with what had happened. But within a few days evidence

started to appear that suggested something was

untoward, very untoward. And we picked up the story and

decided we had to dig deeper because we weren't getting any answers out

of Conservative Central office. And we needed to find out what

the truth was behind Elliott's death As events unfolded over the days

and weeks, it became sort of like a quagmire, almost like dry rot,

affecting the Conservative Party in many ways with many people being

affected adversely and other people who were doing the bullying and

intimidation. It became very clear By what Mike Clark and people

were doing in the Conservative Those at the top

of the Tory party say they were wholly unaware, they said they had

checked and checked again Why do you think that was? I think

Mark Clarke was allowed to carry on the way he was because he was being

protected by people within CCHQ. He was getting the results they

wanted leading up to the general Because of that they were quite

happy to overlook what he was doing. In some respects it's too late

for some of the young activists who have been

badly treated by the Conservative But what needs to be done now, CCHQ,

and I think it's endemic in other political parties too,

they really need to look at their practices and processes and make

sure that when young activists... Because they are young people,

we're talking about some of these activists may be 16,

17 years old, they are youngsters. They've been managed and manipulated

by people in their 30s. We have to make sure that

when these young people make By sweeping their issues under

the carpet and ignoring their complaints doesn't solve problems

for them, it makes things worse. Grant Shapps was the one who brought

Mark Clark back into the fold in 2014, what do you think should

happen to Grant Shapps now? Grant Shapps has to look to

his position. It's undoubtedly true that he

knew was going on, I think. They are conducting an inquiry at

the moment, do you have the confidence that will get to the

bottom of this quiz, absolutely not, I can't see how the inquiry will

have any voracity at all. I wrote to Lord Feldman I heard they were

conducting their own internal enquiry. Headed by another

Conservative insider. And inquiry won by themselves... Without

independent oversight can't possibly be considered to be valid. -- run by

themselves. I put it to Lord Feldman this would be another cover-up. Are

you surprised this was allowed to happen in a mainstream political

party? I'm shocked, you know, these people are effectively the lawmakers

in this country, they pass laws to ensure people are protected from

bullying and harassment in the workplace, yet they seem to feel

they are above the law and they can continue in a way that must be

endemic within the political party process in this country. You were

worried about Elliott going into politics? I was concerned, I thought

getting involved in politics is one thing, it might not be a long-term

career. I did say on many occasions to Elliott, quite often the bottom

line would always be, get a proper job. I was keen for him to get a

career outside of politics. As he developed and matured, as his skill

sets grew, he could come back into politics. And take it from there.

But I must also say when he came back to us in early June of this

year, and told us, announced to us, I suppose, he'd been offered a job

as a political editor, I was very proud. How does it feel for you now

to be thrown into the spotlight? You've turned detective in a way,

trying to figure out what happened. It's changed our lives, it will do

for ever, we lost our son, he was a wonderful chap. Lots of potential,

lots of friends. It all seems it is all to zero, in some respects. I'm

not the sort of person who would put it to one side and forget about it,

I want to get to the bottom of what happened to my son and I will fight

for his cause, fight for justice for him and the other activist. As the

days and weeks pass, I've realised many more youngsters were coming out

of the woodwork and saying they had also complained and nothing had been

done. This fight is for Elliott and his friends, many were his friends,

who have been intimidated, harassed, blackmailed, subjugated to sexual

abuse for a long time. Ray Johnson, thank you very much. Thank you.

Tonight, inevitably perhaps, came the first calls for

Jeremy Corbyn to quit as Labour Leader after some of his MPs

felt he was unable to contain the splits emerging in his party.

Mr Corbyn had given the parliamentary party until Monday

evening to decide whether to back air strikes in Syria - but two hours

ago he sent out an email to party members which appeared to bypass his

own MPS and speak - almost in the manner of a plebiscite

He's asking them if they back airtstrikes in Syria

and has asked them for their reply by early next week.

Here's our political editor Allegra Stratton.

It has been an extraordinary day in the history of the party. Hmm, mad.

Two Labour MPs called on Jeremy Corbyn to go. Quite mild mannered

characters. The reason for their deep upset, they feel activities

yesterday. So you had the meeting of the Shadow Cabinet, people felt it

was a mature process and you had an e-mail from the leader saying that

this was his view and he believed the air strikes should be opposed.

The Shadow Cabinet felt it was disrespectful to the meeting and

they hadn't reached a conclusion. Now, what has happened tonight is

another ploy, this direct e-mail trying to find out from members what

their opinion is and Jeremy Corbyn would like to hear back by next

week, ahead of the Parliamentary vote. This is in the view of many

people that I have spoken to another way of undercutting the view of the

Shadow Cabinet. My view, speaking to people today, is they will end up

having to have a free vote. That is where they will get to. The two

extreme positions are mental and cannot happen and they would lead to

chaos. One thought on the particular thing about the free vote is David

Cameron has said he won't bring it to Parliament unless he is certain

he will win it. If Labour has a free vote, it is unclear which way the

numbers fall. This is not just about Syria, now it is about the Syria

vote, but it is about leadership. In the last few months I have talked to

people about what happens when you have a leader who thinks one thing

on a variety of issue, his party disagrees, but the wider membership

agree. They have said what will happen is we will have a series of

direct polls. We seeing what one described as the Jeremy Corbyn coup

and you ignore the cabinet and keep asking these things. One more thing

is the front of The Times that we have been told about, Labour

opponents of Jeremy Corbyn have consulted lawyers about the

following, which is for a long time people have felt they can't mount a

challenge to Jeremy Corbyn because he would be allowed to stand in any

contest and roll over. So there would be no point in mounting a

challenge and he come back with a bigger mandate. Labour's lawyers

have told Labour opponents of Jeremy Corbyn that is not the case, that he

would not automatically get another xhans and that emboldens the people

who think this can't go on. The secret bid to joust Jeremy Corbyn.

My sources had been saying that the earliest anybody could move against

Jeremy Corbyn was after May's election. Now, I'm hearing from

people who say it could be as early as after the result of next

Thursday's Oldham by-election. That takes us Toon interesting point.

Of course, it's the parliamentary Labour Party

that gets to vote on the issue of whether and how to go to war.

But if Jeremy Corbyn is right, then much of the party - away from

Westminster - would actually support HIS reluctance in this call to arms.

He will face his first electoral test in the shape of a

John Sweeney went there to test the political water and see what

the people of Oldham feel about Labour's fortunes right now.

The nation is on the edge of going to war. The security of the Middle

East and Europe is at issue. In the making of an MP, all politics is

local. Welcome to not so sunny Oldham. There is a by-election next

week and it is interesting, it is Jeremy Corbyn's first test as leader

of the Labour Party. It is also whether Westminster bubble collides

with ordinary British life. Oldham west was one of the safest Labour

seats in the country. Not any more. This time you will vote Ukip why?

Because of the... Just the country on a whole. I think they're letting

too many refugees in. Around the corner from Ukip's campaign HQ,

support seems strong. Are you concerned about Jeremy Corbyn's line

on Isis and suicide bombers and shoot-to-kill? Yes. I think the only

way to deal with people like that is like with like. You know, no

apeacement. Ukip's contender is John Bickley. Will you win? Why not? We

shouldn't be at the races here, neither should anyone else it has

been a Labour heart lapd for 70 years. Jeremy Corbyn is toxic here.

Something is going on in Labour heartland they feel betrayed by the

Labour Party. You get elected, do we, o' do the British bomb Isil in

Syria? How would you vote? Well I would find out what my leadership is

considering to do. We have learned our lessons that in the Middle East

what looked to be the right idea has turned into something bad. Isil

arguably have been able to use the west's intervention in Iraq and

Afghanistan as a recruiting sergeant. This sounds a bit

wishy-washy to me. Where does Ukip stand? I said to be fair, it is

above my pay grade. Mr Cars Well and my leader will issue a formal

statement about our response. I will remember my position in the high

arky and defer to them. I'm the Conservative candidate. I won't be

voting Conservative. That is not a problem. Can I leave this? No Thank

you for opening the door. Goodbye. Am I trying to find somebody that is

in or just knocking on at doors. Blue anorak thing, canvas shoes. Is

this the look of a want to be Conservative MP? This I my look. For

good or for bad. The man is James Daley, the Tories came third last

time. Are you worried and Ukip. I want to help people and solve local

problems. If is that your motivation, what is what my mind is

concentrating on. Other parties will do what they want to do. I want to

say there is somebody here with a plan and who is representing those

issues and is concerned about those issues that mat tore you. If you

with are like me, I will act upon them. Labour's champ Jim McMahon

went to Labour college. A safe place for him to canvas you would think.

Hello you naughty smoker, who do you think will win? Ukip from what is

happening with Isis, what they're saying seems to be right. Ukip.

Possibly Ukip. I was lucky to get an apprenticeship as a technician

sl... . Have you a copy of chairman Mao's book. No but I have the Oldham

Tories guide. You supported Liz McKendal as leader. I haven't told

anybody I voted for. I voted for every candidate. Was Jeremy Corbyn

your No 1 choice. I like you a lot, but this is a new relationship. You

have to appreciate my point of view. Jeremy Corbyn is the leader and

providing a new sense of what politics should be and he is a man

of conviction. Would you vote in favour of bombing Isis? I'm clear

that the fundamental responsibility of government is to look after the

well being and safety of its sit zeps. I -- citizens. The bar has to

be high for the right reasons. The weight of military carries a massive

responsibility to make sure we use it in the right way. The Liberal

Democrats lost their deposit at the general election. We couldn't seek

to their candidate, but this MP who had just been out canvassing People

are saying they have been Labour, but don't like Jeremy Corbyn. Seeing

the chaos there is with his own Shadow Cabinet walking out when he

speaks in Parliament. Quite extraordinary stuff. But again

they're looking for an alternative and the people that are saying

they're coming forward in that role is the Liberal Democrat's candidate.

Newsnight best guess is that local lad gym McMahon will squeak home for

Labour with a reduced majority. But it is possible that Labour could

lose here. The voters of Oldham go to the polls next week and the

question is will Jeremy Corbyn be getting an early Christmas present

or will he find a lump of coal in his sock? Five, four, three, two,

one! So will tonight be seen

as a key turning point for labour? The night

the party proved it wasn't scared of a new kind of politics in which

members, not members of Parliament Or is it now in danger of writing

itself off as a pressure group that looks in danger of falling apart -

under the first sign of pressure. Joining me now Shelley Asquith,

Corbyn supporter and campaigner, Phil Collins,

former Blair Speechwriter, Sorry Shelley Asquith is stuck in

traffic. First this e-mail. Gavin, is it good to be reaching not just

to his MPs, but to all those who have put him where he is now? Yes,

the only problem, of course we know what Jeremy Corbyn's position is and

the consultation won't change that. I think the concern will be that

consultation is trying to change the minds of people who on a matter of

principle can't see eye to eye. I would oppose military intervention,

but I think it is frankly untenable that we as a party can't express a

collective view on the issue. But an interesting perspective for somebody

who stay, yes, in this politic, I ask for Labour members not just the

MPs there is something in that? Jeremy Corbyn has two claims on the

Labour Party. First he is a man of principle and he has a clear view on

war. But that contradicts the other claim he has on the Labour Party

that we are going to have a big heated debate, because what happens

if that heated debate brings out something that contradicts your

principle. You can't hold both at the same time. He is finding this

contradiction, because he has entered politics for the first time,

is starting to tell on him and he has to come to a decision otherwise

the Labour Party will end up with no position on the question. There is a

possibility that the voices of Shadow Cabinet are overshadowing

other MPs like Gavin who doesn't support the air strikes. You don't

think you're one of ten, but 50%. Yes in politics you have to command

the support of the people your leading and my own view is that we

would be better to face up we have a fundamental disagreement in an area

where there is a history of people disagreeing and going when they have

to and facing up to people and being honest. That means whip it, say we

are not going to support the air strikes, and then what? Face the

resignations? Yes or abstentions of some of the front bench. This has

been coming for a long time. There are a number of disagreements and

Jeremy Corbyn needs to commands the support of the people around him or

we will be nowhere. I think they will end up with a free vote. The

only way to get through it is to have a free vote. The down side is

the Labour Party doesn't have a view on war. But that will fade. It

becomes a joke party on a major issue. But that is an improvement on

the current situation. The other option is that Jeremy Corbyn could

decide to lead and say this is my view, you know what it is, I have

held it for 30 years, and therefore you're going to have to walk

through. When you ends up it may be that the shadow cab net members vote

against it but don't resign. Shelley Asquith, it is unfair to pull you in

like this. You have jumped out of car. Where is Jeremy Corbyn now,

people are saying as soon as you're not listening to your MPs, you stop

behaving like a political party and look like a pressure group. Hundreds

of thousands of people voted for Jeremy Corbyn and I got an e-mail to

say what do you think as a Labour Party member we should be doing. It

is great that Jeremy Corbyn is opening up the party and picking up

what people think on this and showing leadership. If he wasn't,

people would be saying he is not showing leadership. You have got a

politician who has got principles and sticks to them and people say he

is not showing leadership. He is not sticking to anything yet. You know

he has stop the war and will be antiwar. We know exactly what he

this. But we don't know what he is going to do and he has to do things.

He has never had to do anything in his life and simply has to talk. Now

he has to act and make a decision. What is the position of the Labour

Party. It maybe that all the e-mails will come and say everybody agrees

with me, so we are going to whip it through the House of Commons. Fine.

He is the leader of the Labour Party and he has the right to do that. It

is unfair to say he hasn't had to do it. He has been an MP for many

years. In opposition to everything. Not everything but some Labour Party

MPs haven't learned from the mistakes that we made. Does it

matter when you see that Hilary Benn or Tom Watson or others in his

Shadow Cabinet don't support the leader. There is a a problem? If

they don't support him, should they resign? I'm not going to say they

should resign or be sacked. I don't know what will happen within the

Shadow Cabinet. But they need to listen to the will of their

supporters and not necessarily jshg coming down on them -- Jeremy Corbyn

coming down on them. Over 70% of Labour Party members don't agree we

should be bombing Syria and look what happened with Iraq and

Afghanistan. Seem seem to happily to have forgotten how much anger there

was about Iraq and it is becoming a judgment of whether Jeremy Corbyn

has leadership as opposed to whether it is about the war. I I don't think

they have forgotten. Iraq hangs over the whole thing. The reason it is

difficult to get a vote is about Iraq. I think Iraq is overall of

this. But it is still remains the case that the Labour Party is now in

a mess and Jeremy Corbyn has to finds a way out. How does it feel

from the inside, do you think it is overstated the idea of the chaos

within? Or do you think you're look fog leadership that isn't there. As

an MP I will make my judgment based on the evidence and the loneliest

place is making that decision to go to war or not. Which ever judgment

you make, you're going to make it on you own. Do you need a leadered who

tells you what you think. Or do you want to be left alone? I think there

is nothing wrong with walking away from a whipped position. Jeremy

Corbyn has done it for 30 years. But it is no tenable for us to be a

party of opposition, or a Parliamenty that wants to be in

government if we are not willing to express a collective view on

something as important as this. There will be resignations. I would

want to avoid it, but the only way to do it is count the number of MPs.

It would be remarkable if a shadow Foreign Secretary did not agree with

the whipped position of the party. It would be unprecedented. This

chaos is foreshortening Jeremy Corbyn's time as leader. You showed

the The Times that pointed out that there is already MPs looking for

legal challenges to see whether they can force him off the ballot.

Whether this a right or wrong, that is starting to surface. It is

starting to happen and he has to have a position that getses him

through Mondays with the Labour Party's cred ibiibility intact. We

will bring you back on mobds on Tuesday. - Mondays or Tuesday. Thank

you. And now for Artsnight - which this

week is presented by Conservative MP The author of the book Ghosts

of Empire, Kwasi explores how Britain's imperial expansion changed

the shape of art history. He talks to

the Booker Prize winning novelist Peter Carey about the Australian

colonial experience - while comedian Shazia Mirza explores the colourful

legacy of Indian fabric. London in the 21st century is

a metropolitan, multicultural city.