Conservative Party Association ordered to pay nearly £10,000 for a claim brought by Richard Nightingale

It is, what has been called, an extremely important ruling, a Court ordered that nearly £10,000 be paid in compensation, a claim brought by Richard Nightingale. Richard was suspended from the Conservative Party in 2020, which was widely reported by BBC Points West.

Richard Nightingale was suspended after uncovering a financial irregularity concerning a bank account, controlled by Mr John Penrose MP. Within 24 hours of this report, Richard was suspended from his position and he received an email warning him not to discuss the issue with anyone.

Richard Nightingale says, ‘this is an extremely important ruling and, in my view, shows that my suspension was completely wrong. Upon identifying, in 2020, that an additional sum of nearly £35,000 was found in a bank account on which John Penrose PM was a signatory, I thought I was doing exactly the right thing by reporting this financial irregularity.”

“Instead, I was treated appallingly, suspended from my supervisory and monitoring position and told I must not discuss the matter, although others were free to say exactly what they liked. I had absolutely no support from John Penrose MP and even worse, he has never given a public explanation about this money; also the fact that I was told not to discuss the matter with anyone, made me feel that my concerns were being covered up.”

“I am in no doubt that the report of financial irregularity was a whistle-blowing report and should have received protection under legislation, but this protection was dismissed by the Conservative Party. Quite frankly, it felt that they had declared outright hostilities on me and anyone else who repeated what I had said. It then felt that the matter was simply whitewashed over and no-one was held to account.”

“How people can behave in this way is absolutely appalling, but what this has shown me is that legislation to protect individuals who raise concerns, simply does not work! Even BBC Points West ignored the legislation and failed to report all the facts in 2020. This then made it difficult to hold the Conservative Party and John Penrose MP to account. In my view, the story was reported by the BBC in this way due to political bias by BBC Points West and the Reporter Dickon Hooper.”