Grant Shapps resigns: International development minister steps down amid Tory bullying scandal

[Denzil_DC]

Grant Shapps, the Minister of State at the Department for International Development, has resigned after claims emerged he failed to act over allegations of bullying by a Tory campaigner when he was party chairman.

The father of Elliott Johnson, the Tory activist who is believed to have killed himself, said his son would still be alive if the party had acted on complains about Mark Clarke's behaviour.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/grant-shapps-resigns-international-development-minister-steps-down-amid-tory-bullying-and-sex-a6752621.html

This had been signposted by Cameron refusing to give Schapps his full backing. This is unusual, as such resignations are usually preceded by the prime minister expressing full confidence in a minister.

This is at least the second major humiliation for Schapps, who was sacked as Conservative Party chairman in May and demoted to the junior ministerial post from which he's just resigned:

Just before the election campaign he was accused of editing the Wikipedia pages of his Conservative rivals and allegedly changed his own page to delete embarrassing references to his past.

Mr Shapps categorically denied he had any involvement in editing the pages and said he was writing to Wikipedia over the fact that one anonymous editor was being reported as "speaking as if it's Wikipedia itself" and "being somebody who is with authority".

Schapps's Wikipedia page has already been updated to reflect this latest development in a career best characterized as "controversial". One of his claims to fame is to have hired Lynton Crosby as Tory campaign strategist.

[Ironing Man]

1. ...

oh dear, how tragic.

he's widely condsidered a complete embarassment within the tory party, he's a crap minister and a woeful election campaigner - why on earth Cameron kept him on, or promoted him in the first place, is a mystery...

[Denzil_DC]

2. Well, if Wikipedia is to be believed ...

Shapps publicly backed David Cameron's bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party, seconding Cameron's nomination papers. Upon Cameron's election as party leader Shapps was appointed vice chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for campaigning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Shapps

The Talk page on his entry has been ... lively: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Grant_Shapps

[non sociopath skin]

3. TORIES??? BULLYING????

Whatever next?



The Skin

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. As Private Eye said in their 'Cameron Free School newsletter' ...

... "if anyone is going to do any of the Flashman stuff round here, it will be the Headmaster, thank you very much." And, of Shapps (written at the start of the week, of course), "he is now hiding abroad in his capacity as Junior Assistant to the International School Development Officer. On his return, he will be given a new role, as Head of Can-Carrying."

[T_i_B]

4. Good riddance

Grant Schapps / Michael Brown was the minister who introduced the bedroom tax. The worst Tory minister and one of the worst MP's in Parliament.

[Denzil_DC]

5. Oh dear oh dear oh dear

OP:

This had been signposted by Cameron refusing to give Schapps his full backing. This is unusual, as such resignations are usually preceded by the prime minister expressing full confidence in a minister.

Guardian:

Grant Shapps resigns over bullying scandal: 'the buck should stop with me'

Grant Shapps, a former Tory chairman, has resigned from the government in disgrace in the wake of revelations that he had been warned about bullying in the party before the death of one of its young activists.

He was forced to quit as a minister for international development after the father of 21-year-old Elliott Johnson claimed his son would still be alive if Shapps and Andrew Feldman, the current Tory chair, had behaved responsibly when made aware of the behaviour of one its senior organisers.

...

A spokesman for the prime minister said he had full confidence in Feldman, a longstanding friend of Cameron’s.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/nov/28/grant-shapps-resigns-over-bullying-scandal

Tick tock?

[LeftishBrit]

6. Good riddance to bad rubbish

That bullying of this level was condoned is shocking, but in a way not surprising.

Shapps is a pathetic excuse for a human being. Much as I disagree with Tory policies, some Tory politicians are doubtless well-meaning but IMO wrong. But Shapps seems to think that it's a good thing to trample on individuals in a weaker position (i.e. to be a bully). He was one of the main introducers of the bedroom tax.