People’s Vote chaos: Members of staff vote no confidence in new leadership
New People’s Vote chief executive Patrick Heneghan has threatened to sack 40 members of staff, after they voted no confidence in him and his millionaire backer Roland Rudd at a crisis meeting.
Campaign staffers went to the Hilton hotel to meet with the pair this morning to discuss the sacking of campaign director James McGrory and head of communications Tom Baldwin on Sunday night.
They were replaced by Heneghan, a former Labour election strategist, in a move that was described as a “board room coup” by People’s Vote staff.
Read more: People’s Vote staff walk out over boardroom coup
Rudd – a City PR man and chairman of key People’s Vote backer Open Britain – was initially supposed to meet the group at the People’s Vote Millbank headquarters this morning, but instead asked staff to come to the Hilton where he was accompanied by security guards.
Security guards were seen blocking Baldwin and McGrory from entering the meeting in footage taken by Guido Fawkes.
A People’s Vote staffer told CityAM that the meeting ended after staff voted no confidence in Rudd and Heneghan by 40 votes to three.
CityAM understands that Heneghan reacted by threatening to sack all 40 people at the meeting, causing them all to walk out and leave the hotel.
Members of the campaign repeatedly asked the pair to re-instate fired pair Baldwin and McGrory to their positions at the meeting, but were told this would not happen.
The staffer said people were in tears, while Heneghan was reportedly heard to have said the meeting was “a car crash”.
“People were getting more and more upset because they thought they were being lied to,” they said.
“What you’ve got is someone, Rudd, who is a very experienced PR professional who when asked difficult questions goes straight into your PR 101 techniques.
“People were continually questioning [Rudd and Heneghan] why staff had been treated this way.”
The meeting came a day after after internal power struggles at People’s Vote spilled out into the open yesterday.
Baldwin and McGrory ignored their dismissal and showed up to work, after Baldwin said that Rudd had no right to fire the pair.
He also claimed that the Open Britain chairman was trying to re-position the group as Liberal Democrat vehicle – a charge Rudd denies.
He told the BBC yesterday morning that Rudd did not have the power to force him out, because the group “belongs to the people, not one businessman who has hardly been seen”.
Yesterday’s row sparked furious comment from other prominent People’s Vote campaigners, such as former Labour communications chief Alastair Campbell.
Read more: PR Tycoon Roland Rudd hides away in Hilton hotel as People’s Vote power struggle continues
Campbell said Rudd had “no right” to force out senior members of stuff.
He said: “Rudd has been engaged close to full time in boardroom politics, a board which with few exceptions has done little for the campaign.”