Grant Shapps handed £8,000 ‘golden goodbye’ after he quit as minister at height of Tatler Tory scandal
He was the only senior Conservative to fall on their sword following a slew of bullying allegations within the party
A FORMER minister was handed a four-figure “golden goodbye” after he quit at the height of the Tatler Tory scandal, it emerged today.
Grant Shapps was the only senior Conservative to fall on their sword following a slew of bullying allegations within the party and the death of a young activist last year.
But he walked away with a £7,920 pay off when he stepped down as International Development Minister in November 2015.
Official government documents show he received a “termination payment” equivalent to three months' salary.
Labour’s John Mann hit out at the revelation, saying: “He should not have accepted it and he should give it back - it's not going to help his reputation.”
Mr Shapps was Conservative co-chairman when Mark Clarke was hired to run the ‘Road Trip 2015’ battlebus campaign for the General Election.
But Mr Clarke, dubbed the ‘Tatler Tory’, was accused of bullying in the wake of 21-year-old activist Elliot Clarke’s apparent suicide.
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An inquiry was set up by the party conducted by lawyers Clifford Chance, but Mr Shapps stood down amid claims he failed to act on the allegations.
At the time he said: “Whatever the rights and wrongs of a serious case like this, responsibility should rest somewhere.
“Over the past few weeks – as individual allegations have come to light – I have come to the conclusion that the buck should stop with me."
The report into bullying came out yesterday, but was branded a “whitewash” by Mr Johnson’s father Ray.
It cleared Mr Shapps of any wrongdoing, and reported that accounts from the Department for International Development showed he was handed £7,920 when he stepped down.
John O’Connell, director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: "MPs know that any job in government is not a job for life.
“So when a minister stands down of their own volition there can be no justification for awarding them a large chunk of taxpayers' cash.
“When further savings need to be found across the public sector, these golden goodbyes are ripe for being cut."