The knives were out last night for Tory chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin over the conference security fiasco
The knives were out last night for Tory chairman Sir Patrick McLoughlin over the conference security fiasco.
MPs said he must resign after a security shambles that let a notorious prankster disrupt the Prime Minister’s conference speech.
In farcical scenes, letters also started to fall off the slogan behind her about three quarters of the way through her address.
But sources close to Sir Patrick yesterday remained adamant he would not quit, insisting it was not his fault.
They instead shifted the blame on the police and security teams responsible for protecting Theresa May.
Former party chairman Lord Tebbit said Sir Patrick had ‘failed’ in his job as party chairman and must take responsibility.
He said: ‘It was not necessarily a failure of security that let the comedian into the hall because apparently he was there as a legitimate delegate.
‘It does raise some questions but the thing that disturbed me most was that nobody did anything when he leapt up and approached the Prime Minister.
‘Nobody knew what his intent was and nobody did what they should have done, which is smack him in the teeth.
‘As for the sign, there was incompetence in every direction.’
He added: ‘The party conference is organised and run by the party chairman, there is a direct line of responsibility.
‘It goes back to Patrick McLoughlin. He is a very nice man and quite a brave man… but he failed in his job as party chairman.
Theresa May’s make-or-break Tory conference speech was interrupted by prankster Simon Brodkin, who tried to give her a P45 and said: ‘Boris Johnson made me do it’
‘I hesitate talking about everyone resigning because someone made a cock up…but…as party chairman he should have had a key role in running the general election campaign so probably there’s a case for Mrs May appointing an new chairman.’
One MP told the Evening Standard: ‘Patrick is a Filofax chairman. We need a Facebook chairman. He should have resigned the day after the disastrous election night. He should now be sacked.’
Sir Patrick had been widely expected to be sacked after presiding over the disastrous general election campaign which resulted in the Tories throwing away their parliamentary majority.
He is understood to have been planning to step down by the end of the year ahead of a fundamental overhaul of the party machine.
The conference scenes increase the prospect of Sir Patrick, who was appointed chairman by Mrs May 15 months ago, leaving the job within days
But the conference scenes increase the prospect of Sir Patrick, who was appointed chairman by Mrs May 15 months ago, leaving the job within days.
Sources last night insisted he would not step down because he had no control over what went wrong.
They said the chairman had to adhere to what the police and security teams told him.
But one Tory MP said there was growing consensus in the party that he must go. He said: ‘He chairs the conference organising committee and so it was down to him. MPs think he must go.’
Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said: ‘This was an absolute shambles and key figures like the party chairman should consider their position.
‘It raises questions over how the Conservatives can be trusted with the security of the country when they cannot even guarantee it at their own conference.’
It is understood the management of the conference was overseen by the party after its arrangements were brought in-house two years ago.