People's Vote staff stage walkout as campaign descends into chaos over 'boardroom coup'
4 min read
Staff on the People's Vote campaign have staged a walkout after two top advisers were sacked in a "boardroom coup".
Dozens of staff left the second referendum campaign's Westminster HQ on Monday morning after chairman Roland Rudd cancelled a meeting aimed at explaining his decision to fire communications director Tom Baldwin and executive director James McGrory.
The pair's sacking by Mr Rudd has sparked open warfare in the campaign, with Mr Baldwin taking to airwaves to lambast the People's Vote chairman and make clear he would be defying the order.
"He technically controls my contract but he didn’t appoint me, he doesn’t pay me," the former Ed Miliband spokesperson told BBC Radio 4.
“Roland Rudd has told me not to go into work today but the thing is, I don’t work for Roland Rudd.
"I’m planning to go into work because we’ve got actually quite a busy week ahead."
And he added: "It doesn’t seem to be the best week to be putting a wrecking ball through the campaign, demoralising staff and demoralising all the thousands and thousands of activists paying for our campaign."
Former Labour strategist Patrick Heneghan has been named as the organisation's acting chief executive as part of the shake-up.
'BOARDROOM COUP AGAINST STAFF'
A source close to the People's Vote campaign confirmed that the walkout had gone ahead - as they branded Mr Rudd a "City PR executive who has rarely visited the HQ and has contributed nothing on fundraising or governance for several months".
The source told PoliticsHome: "Last night Roland Rudd, as the outgoing and non-executive chair of Open Britain - just one of several organisations represented by the People’s Vote campaign - sent an email to staff and local groups announcing a boardroom coup against staff.
"This morning, he failed to turn up at a meeting he had promised and where staff had many questions for him. Instead, he decided to go on to Sky TV. Staff have now left the building with the exception of Patrick Heneghan and some field staff who had been asked not to attend the meeting."
And they added: "Three days before the Brexit deadline and with so much to do to expose the false promises of Boris Johnson’s Brexit proposal, Roland Rudd has put a wrecking ball through our campaign. Responsibility for that rests with him and his allies in this extraordinary boardroom coup."
Key figures in the People's Vote campaign have been divided in recent months over whether to adopt an explicitly pro-Remain stance or aim to also target soft Leave voters and undecided MPs.
PoliticsHome understands that the staff meeting with Mr Rudd - who has been pushing for a pro-Remain position - was cancelled with just 20 minutes' notice.
In the email to supporters setting out his decision, Mr Rudd said it was time to "refocus" in advance of a possible snap election and "set our campaign on a more structured basis".
He added: "I want to put on record my thanks to James and Tom for all their work. In difficult circumstances they have done a tremendous job.
"But as you will all know the ongoing internal issues in the campaign have been allowed to carry on for too long. We now need a much clearer structure as we move forward."
And the campaign chief on Monday morning insisted there was "no row" about the People's Vote position.
Mr Rudd told the BBC: "Everyone knows perfectly well that we’re made up of people who want to Remain."
But prominent People's Vote campaigner Alastair Campbell took aim at Mr Rudd, saying he had been "engaged close to full time in boardroom politics".
Mr Campbell meanwhile insisted that the campaign's Joint Media Unit would "continue to pay" Tom Baldwin's salary and would be "happy" to pay for Mr McGrory's continued employment as well.
And he added: "Few have done as much as those two to get us where we are."
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