Tatler Tory's Freemason cronies

From the Daily Mail...

The ‘Tatler Tory’ scandal took a new turn last night after it emerged that Mark Clarke and his cronies are Freemasons.

They are members of the Phoenix Lodge, based in Wandsworth, South London, where Clarke lives – and meet there to hatch political plots.

One of Clarke’s fellow Phoenix Freemasons is lawyer and Conservative councillor Andy Peterkin. Mr Peterkin formerly worked for Clifford Chance, the London law firm chosen by Tory chairman Lord Feldman to conduct an independent inquiry into the Clarke scandal, and now works for Farrar and Co, the Queen’s lawyers.

One of Clarke’s fellow Phoenix Freemasons is lawyer and Conservative councillor Andy Peterkin (left)

When the bullying claims against Clarke surfaced, Mr Peterkin leapt to his defence on Facebook saying: ‘Mark Clarke is one of my best mates. Feel free to unfriend me if that offends you.’ He has since deleted it.

Mr Peterkin told The Mail on Sunday. ‘I have given Mark a shoulder to cry on but I am not giving him legal or any other advice. I am sick and tired of seeing him kicked to death in public.’

Other Phoenix Freemasons include Clarke’s henchman Andre Walker. Walker helped Clarke bully Elliott Johnson, before the activist took his own life. He also tried to trap one of Clarke’s female Tory foes into being caught on camera snorting cocaine.

Ukip general secretary Matthew Richardson, another close friend of Clarke’s, is a former Worshipful Master of Phoenix Lodge.

Mark Clarke ( left ) pictured with Grant Shapps. Mr Shapps recently resigned following the emergence of the scandal

Tory party activist Elliott Johnson (centre) was bullied by Mark Clarke. He took his own life, aged 21

As an Oxford student, Mr Richardson set up an online forum where people could post gossip anonymously– until it was shut down amid legal threats.

Clarke ally Greg Smith, an aide to Cabinet Minister Greg Hands, is also a former Phoenix Worshipful Master. It was at Smith’s summer wedding that Clarke caused outrage by holding hands with Ms Brummitt in church. A guest bawled out Clarke, saying he should be at home with his wife and children.

Fellow Phoenix Freemason Donal Blaney runs the Thatcherite Conservative Way Forward, where Mr Johnson worked. He was one of Clarke’s closest friends – until he disowned him as a ‘narcissistic sociopath’ after a recent fall-out.

Renowned for its secret handshakes and bizarre rituals, Freemasonry has long been suspected of having members in high places in the judiciary and the police, although in recent years the organisation has tried to shrug off its reputation for conspiracies and the dark arts. Freemasons are traditionally obliged to swear an oath, blindfolded, bare-chested, with a noose around their neck and a dagger placed to their heart, and to never reveal the hidden mysteries of the organisation.

Masonic rules say members – of which there are around 250,000 in England and Wales – must keep each others’ lawful secrets, which has led to fears that it fosters corrupt cliques.

But Freemasons’ leaders say alleged historic links with political and criminal conspiracies are a myth and in 2012 launched an exercise promising greater openness. Prince Edward is Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England.

COMMENT: At last, a Tory stands up to bully

By Simon Walters

If he were alive today, Elliott Johnson would be proud of his friend and fellow passionate Conservative Patrick Sullivan.

As with Elliott, Mark Clarke bullied and abused him in a bar out of spite.

As with Elliott, when Mr Sullivan stood up for himself, Clarke bullied him again in another bar.

As with Elliott, cowardly Clarke used a thug who had befriended Mr Sullivan, only for the friend to betray him when he needed him.

But that is where Elliott’s story and Mr Sullivan’s story part.

If he were alive today, Elliott Johnson would be proud of his friend and fellow passionate Conservative Patrick Sullivan (pictured)

Mark Clarke is pictured sat next to former deputy Conservative party chairman Emma Pidding (left)

Elliott, 21, fresh out of university and new to London, was too frightened to speak out. Convinced he had been abandoned by everyone, he killed himself on a railway track in Bedfordshire.

Mr Sullivan nearly went the same way. But he didn’t.

Perhaps it was the added maturity that comes with being nearly ten years older than Elliott; perhaps it was the outrageous way that he was ambushed by Clarke on Monday. Perhaps it was his burning indignation at the wrongs done to his tormented friend.

Whatever it was, Mr Sullivan decided to stay silent no more.

Like Elliott – though unlike Clarke and his burly accomplices Andre Walker and Will Hanley – mild-mannered Mr Sullivan is some way short of six feet tall.

Which makes his action in revealing how Clarke and his Tory mobsters tried to browbeat him into retracting his claim that he had been bullied all the more courageous.

If the Tory party had shown the same bravery as Mr Sullivan in confronting bullies, perhaps Elliott would be alive today.

LADY ROAD TRIP: 'CRAZY CLARKE DESERVES A SAFE SEAT'

The Tory peer ennobled for backing Mark Clarke’s ‘Road Trip’ promised to help secure him a safe Parliamentary seat, it was claimed last night.

Baroness Emma Pidding told Tory activists they all ‘loved crazy’ Clarke, showering praise on his mistress and another lover at a post-Election event.

The revelation came as allies of Grant Shapps, who was forced to quit as a Government Minister for giving Clarke too much power at Tory HQ, attacked Pidding, Cabinet Minister Robert Halfon and Tory chairman Lord Feldman. ‘They are far more culpable than Grant who has been made a scapegoat,’ said one MP.

One MP said Feldman had survived because he was a friend of David Cameron’s, and Halfon had emerged unscathed as he was close to George Osborne. ‘It was Grant’s bad luck that he had no one in Downing Street who would lift a finger to defend him,’ said the MP.

Pressure mounted on Baroness Pidding last night after fresh disclosures about her close links to Clarke.

Baroness Emma Pidding (right) told Tory activists they all ‘loved crazy’ Clarke (left), showering praise on his mistress and another lover at a post-Election event

A confidante of the peeress told this newspaper: ‘Emma told me that she told Mark on Election night that he deserved to be given a safe seat at the next Election and she would do all she could to get it for him.’

The Mail on Sunday has obtained a tape recording of a ‘Road Trip’ rally in July in London on the Hispaniola, a floating restaurant on the Thames at Westminster, attended by Pidding, Clarke and Halfon.

There Pidding said: ‘I want to pay tribute to Mark Clarke. We all thought he was a bit crazy but we love him so much.’

And she praised married Clarke’s mistress, India Brummitt, whom he flaunted on the ‘Road Trip’ that visited marginal constituencies before he Election, and another of his activist lovers, Ellie Vesey-Thompson. Pidding said: ‘Mark only looks this good because of the work that they’ve put in.’

Both lovers worked for Tory MP Claire Perry, David Cameron’s adviser on combating ‘the sexualisation of children’.

This newspaper revealed last week how a former female employee of Mr Halfon had an affair with another Tory MP, sparking an alleged blackmail bid by Clarke because he wanted Mr Halfon to support his bid to become a candidate.

In his speech on the Hispaniola, Mr Halfon praised ‘incredible’ Clarke before adding light-heartedly: ‘I also want to talk about romance...’

He referred to a woman who worked in his office who had fallen in love with a male Tory campaigner on ‘Road Trip.’ At the time Mr Halfon had just ended an affair with another woman on the project – but it was not disclosed until last month by this newspaper.

Baroness Pidding said last night she had backed Clarke to go back on the candidates’ list – but at the time was unaware of allegations against him.

‘On no occasion did she promise or even hint she would ensure him a safe seat,’ added a spokesman.

Clarke, a consultant with Unilever, denies any wrongdoing.

Freemasonry - in the press and under the hammer.

Monday, 7 December 2015