Tory bullying scandal: Conservative Party chairman Lord Feldman 'handed dossier naming Mark Clarke' in 2010
Patrick Sullivan, who runs a Conservative think-tank, claimed complaints were raised as far back as 2008
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The Conservative Party bullying scandal deepened tonight as allegations emerged that chairman Lord Feldman was handed a 20-page dossier making complaints about activists including Mark Clarke five years ago.
Patrick Sullivan, who runs a Tory think-tank called Parliament Street, told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme that hard copies of the report were also handed to Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, then the party’s co-chair.
Mr Sullivan claimed that he and by Ben Howlett, now the MP for Bath, helped compile the document to tackle a wider “culture of bullying”.
“The dossier is not the only thing,” he told Newsnight. “There were complaints about Mark Clarke in 2008. So complaints about Mark Clarke had been something that Conservative Central Office have known about for a very long time.”
Mr Sullivan, who was the campaigns director for youth group Conservative Future in 2008, 2009 and 2011, claimed he was “isolated like a pariah” after making a speech on bullying at CCHQ when Mr Clarke was present.
Lord Feldman, a close friend and former tennis partner to the Prime Minister, said in a statement to the programme that he was “wholly unaware” of the allegations about Mr Clarke before receiving a complaint in August this year.
“Such behaviour is abhorrent to me and had this been brought to my attention, I would have taken immediate action to investigate,” he added.
A series of revelations about behaviour among young Tory activists has plagued the party since the scandal emerged earlier this year following the death of Elliot Johnson.
The 21-year-old left a letter to his parents before killing himself that named Mr Clarke among alleged bullies.
Grant Shapps, the former co-chairman of the Conservative Party, resigned as development minister last month over the reports.
Mr Clarke strongly denies all allegations of bullying, assault, harassment and attempted blackmail.
The Independent has approached Baroness Warsi for a comment, which was not included in Newsnight’s programme.
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