Elliott Johnson: Bullied To Death?

The young Conservative activist whose suicide sparked the Tatler Tory bullying scandal had battled with depression for years, an official police report has concluded.

Elliott Johnson, 21, tried to kill himself three times in his teens, and had found it difficult that his parents struggled to accept his homosexuality, detectives found.

He killed himself on a railway line in September, leaving a suicide note accusing senior election aide Mark Clarke, 38, of bullying him...

Daily Mail.

No prizes for guessing the only journalist to wonder if Johnson was a gayer, and if that might be the backstory here.

PS His secret gay lover! (Alleged).

And from The Guardian March 3rd...

Last week, the police report to the coroner was leaked to the Daily Mail which then reported that Johnson had made three previous attempts to kill himself and had rowed with his parents about his sexuality.

The article alleged that in a note left, Johnson had said his parents had not come to terms with the fact that he was gay. The implications seemed obvious – that Elliott’s death was inevitable, and that the parents’ attitude had contributed. It has left them wretched.

“You yourself have seen the suicide note,” Ray says to me, “ and there is no mention of his sexuality. That really knocked us back. It upset us greatly. They obviously put it there to deflect responsibility for his death away from the people who are responsible and try to put the blame on us.”

Not my interpretation, but there you go.

Tory Sex Scandal: Who's Who?

The latest revelations in this morning’s Telegraph allege that a 22 year-old activist woke up in a Tory MP’s bed with no memory of the night before. One MP is threatening an injunction, and at least three others have been accused of inappropriately having sexual relations with young volunteers on Mark Clarke’s infamous RoadTrip campaigns. 

This is Guido’s handy flowchart of who has been bonking whom. It is by no means complete. If you woke up naked next to a Tory MP – or indeed are a Tory MP who woke up naked next to Mark Clarke – and can’t remember the night before, call Guido’s helpline on 0709 284 0531…

Guido Fawkes.

What larks!

Someone's said this could be like an advent calender, so I won't bore you with that one again.

PS With hindsight this early Telegraph profile of MC, Forget Tory Boy Conservatives Are Now Cool, is 'totes hilair'.

It also contains this gem; "When I told my mum I was joining the Conservatives 10 years ago, she said, 'Oh God, it would have been easier if you'd told me you were gay.' But that's not the case any more."

PPS Not much on Elliott Johnson's still live Twitter account to suggest he was gay, bar a light silly (gay-mocking?) joke last xmas...

Tory Scandal: Sex & Drugs & Blackmail

The Daily Mail are going big on this; The Sordid Scandal That's Engulfing The Tory Party.

Though it omits this nugget from yesterday's paper...

[The former party activist] said one of his [Mark Clarke's] most devious tricks during Road Trip events was to set MPs up in compromising situations so he could hold information against them to use as leverage in the future.

She wrote: ‘I variously observed a number of MPs being “provided with” young men and women. It became apparent that a certain select number of MPs were always in attendance at these events. It was also known that there was a construct known as “Mark’s girls” – women who flaunted themselves as his mistresses.

‘These women, along with any others that took his fancy, were often instructed to flirt with the heterosexual members. A group of young gay men received similar instructions.

‘I am told that they were instructed to go as far as possible, whilst Mark would arrange to film whatever encounters ensued.'

Blimey.

PS And Fagburn is still fascinated to know what Clarke had on Elliott Johnson that drove him to suicide.

Ian Greer: 1933-2015

Greer's homosexuality was an open secret in Westminster. He and his long-term partner, Clive Ferreira, were accepted as a couple years before civil partnerships were recognised. In retirement, he caused a stir by claiming on Radio 5 that there were 40 or 50 gay MPs in the Commons, though he never named names. He and Clive moved to South Africa after the collapse of his business with their dog, Sir Humphrey. There, Greer set up a soup kitchen for homeless children. He returned to London in 2013, to marry Ferreira, who survives him.

Independent. 

There's a lesson there: Never set up a business with your dog.

PS More on the strange warped LGBTory world here; Sex, drugs and blackmail claims rock the Tories: Party chiefs are accused of cover-up over allegations against bullying PM's aide who 'had sex dossiers on four MPs'.

Fagburn wonders what the odious Mark Clarke had on Elliott Johnson, the Tory party activist driven to suicide in September?