A former Tory chief whip has lifted the lid on chaos, debauchery and incompetence at the top of the Government in an explosive tell-all diary.
Simon Hart, who was responsible for party discipline in the dying days of the Conservative regime, recounted a chilling phone call from a brothel, an advisor allegedly defecating on someone at an orgy, and scathing comments by Rishi Sunak.
The string of revelations also include insight about a “ghastly” rant by Suella Braverman when she was sacked as Home Secretary in 2023. And the book, titled Ungovernable, also claimed shamed Boris Johnson pleaded for help to “kill off” a damning Partygate report.
Here are some of the revelations we know so far from the diary, which is being serialised in the Times.
Panicked phone call from MP in a brothel
Mr Hart revealed he got a panicked 2.45am phone call from a Tory MP saying he was in a brothel after being entrapped by a KGB spy.
The unnamed man said he was in a room with 12 naked women – and was being recorded on CCTV. The MP rang Mr Hart saying he had “run out of money”, an astonishing diary entry states.
Mr Hart said he got the call in the early hours from an unnamed ‘2019’er’ – an MP who entered Parliament when Boris Johnson was PM. The distraught Tory allegedly told him: “I’m stuck in a brothel in Bayswater and I’ve run out of money.”
And it got worse. He continued: “I met a woman as I left the Carlton Club who offered me a drink, but I now think she is a KGB agent. She wants £500 and has left me in a room with 12 naked women and a CCTV.”
Mr Hart recalled ringing a female special advisor who offered to rush round to the brothel on an “extraction mission”. The chief whip decided against that, instead ordering a taxi to “extract our man” and “return him to the safety of his own hotel”.
But Mr Hart said he got another call at 4.10am from the same MP. He said he “slipped out of the room” and saw the taxi – only to claim it was “being driven by an Afghan agent called Ahmed”.
He said this man demanded £3,000 to perform a sex act, so the MP “legged it back to the hotel and locked the door”. When he told Mr Sunak about the incident, Mr Hart recalled, “poor Rishi” could barely believe “such things happen”.
Defectating at orgy and doll sex while dressed as Jimmy Saville
A Conservative advisor working in a government department was reported to the whips office after reportedly attending an orgy where they defecated on someone’s head. Mr Hart’s diary entry from October 31, frankly described the incident as well as another shocking case.
The Halloween shame unfolded in 2023, the diary states. Mr Hart wrote: “October 31: Among today’s HR joys is the report that a departmental spad went to an orgy over the weekend and ended up taking a crap on another person’s head.
“To make matters worse, in a separate incident a House employee went to a party dressed as Jimmy Savile and ended up having sex with a blow-up doll, for which he has been subsequently dismissed. Just another day at the office, I guess.”
Rishi Sunak promotes minister despite being ‘f***ing useless
Mr Hart candidly admits that Mr Sunak promoted a Cabinet member despite having a scathing verdict on her ability.
The then-PM is claimed to have said: “Let’s all agree about one thing. She is f***ing useless but we can’t get rid of her.” Mr Hart went on to describe her “entitled” and hit out at her lack of gratitude.
A diary entry states: ““[She] is less grateful than her promotion deserves and more entitled than professionals should be when selected by the PM for high office.”
It was written in February 2023, after a reshuffle that saw three women promoted – Kemi Badenoch to Business Secretary, Michelle Donelan to Science Secretary and Lucy Frazer was made Culture Secretary.
Boris Johnson’s plea to ‘kill off’ damning report
Mr Hart revealed an anxious conversation he had with shamed former PM Boris Johnson ahead of a report into Partygate.
Johnson was investigated by the Privileges Committee over whether he had misled Parliament – he had. The former chief whip said Johnson asked if there was any way to “kill off the report or at least vote it down”.
The report recommended a 20-day suspension, which would likely have triggered a by-election and could have seen the ex-PM kicked out of the Commons. Johnson chose instead to resign.
Reflecting on the inappropriate plea, Mr Hart wrote: “In any normal circumstances, a former PM asking for special treatment would be a big deal, but this being Boris, it doesn’t surprise me at all.”
And he went on: “Worryingly, it doesn’t even annoy me that much either.” Mr Hart reminded Johnson that he had set up the process and approved Labour MP Harriet Harman as the chair.
He responded, Mr Hart wrote: “But I was in India and I wasn’t concentrating. I left it all to the whips.”
Married MP’s sexual remark to journalist
In February 2023, Mr Hart said he was contacted about a vile sexual remark by a married Tory MP.
The chief whip said the unnamed politician had got a “bit fruity” with a journalist at a dinner at a private members’ club in London. The MP is claimed to have told the journalist her dress “would look better discarded on my bedroom floor”.
It happened at the upmarket Hurlingham Club, Mr Hart wrote.
Suella Braverman’s ‘ghastly’ 10 minute rant when she was sacked
Mr Hart alleges that sacked former Home Secretary Suella Braverman unleashed a “ghastly 10-minute diatribe of vindictive and personal bile” while on loudspeaker.
Ms Braverman was eventually sacked in November 2023 after attacking police, who she claimed treated pro-Palestinian protesters favourably. Mr Hart said he was shocked by what he heard.
The chief whip wrote: “It’s hard to know how to react at moments like this, or where to look. Part of me feels that this is a private call and that we are all eavesdropping, but the other part realises that for the protection of the PM and the government there needs to be a note taken and a record saved,” he writes.
“So, we sit in astonished silence, doing our best not to grimace, smile or give any indication of what we feel.”