‘Tell them the party’s over’: Lib Dems pay to promote Tory Christmas party photo in last by-election push

Shock leaked picture shows former Conservative mayoral candidate posing with 23 party supporters at Westminster HQ festive bash

Former Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey (PA)

The Liberal Democrats are paying to promote a leaked Conservative Christmas party picture into the social media feeds of voters in the North Shropshire by-election.

The shock image shows 24 Tories posing with drinks during an apparent festive shindig in the party’s Westminster HQ last December – when coronavirus restrictions were in place. So brazen is the bash that a buffet can be seen and guests are wearing party hats.

Key within it are Shaun Bailey – the Conservative’s former London mayoral candidate – and billionaire party donor Nick Candy.

Now, after the picture was published by the Daily Mirror, the Lib Dems have splashed out to have it appear in the timelines of constituents preparing to go to the polls on Thursday.

They hope the push will persuade voters in the traditionally safe Tory seat to give the government a bloody nose.

“The Conservatives think the rules don’t apply to them,” the accompanying post states. “Tell them the party’s over.”

Bookies have already made yellow candidate Helen Morgan favourite to win the seat following a series of government missteps and scandals over the last four weeks - including ongoing revelations about another Christmas Party at 10 Downing Street itself.

Tory campaigners say they have had to spend significant amounts of time listening to disquiet about the government – and about Boris Johnson himself – before they can begin presenting a positive case for their own candidate Neil Shastri-Hurst.

“I would say, if we do lose this, he [Mr Johnson] would have to reflect on his position,” Roy Aldcroft, the Conservative Mayor of Market Drayton previously told The Independent. “I would like to see the whole issue of who leads us through future elections looked at if we lose. I think that applies even if we win but it’s with a largely reduced majority.”

By rights, the by-election – called after previous Tory MP Owen Paterson resigned amid a lobbying scandal – should have been a blue stroll. The party has a 23,000 majority and has held the area for almost 200 years.

Yet, while local activists remain confident of seeing off the strong Lib Dem challenge, they say the job has been made intractably more difficult by events in London.

Mr Bailey apologised “unreservedly” for the festive bash in a series of tweets on Wednesday. The Tory said he “gave a speech to my team” at the 14 December party “before leaving shortly afterwards”.

The assembly member added: “It was a serious error of judgement at a time when Londoners were making immense sacrifices to keep us all safe and I regret it wholeheartedly.”