Two of the most senior figures in the People’s Vote have been asked to leave with immediate effect amid a power struggle inside the campaign for a second referendum on leaving the EU.
James McGrory, director of the campaign, and Tom Baldwin, head of communications, were ordered to quit their jobs on Sunday evening.
Patrick Heneghan, former head of campaigns for the Labour party, was meanwhile appointed as the new acting chief executive of the People’s Vote while its board sought a permanent successor.
The moves were revealed in an email seen by the Financial Times from public relations guru Roland Rudd, who as chair of Open Europe — one of five organisations inside the People’s Vote — wields huge power within the campaign.
Mr Rudd has been engaged in a long power struggle with Peter Mandelson, the former Labour deputy prime minister, over the direction of the campaign.
One ally of Mr McGrory and Mr Baldwin questioned whether Mr Rudd had the power to sack them, given his lack of a formal position within the PV campaign. “He is no more the chair of People’s Vote than Idi Amin was the Last King of Scotland,” he said.
“This is essentially a coup against the staff and the campaign by a multi-millionaire who has been to the offices only a handful of times.”
Alistair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin-doctor, said that the move had taken place without any consultation with the other member groups inside the campaign. “He does not have the right to do so,” he said.
“The timing is his latest move underlines an approach which has had other groups pressing for him to make way for someone else . . . he had agreed to make way after accepting that his role in the previous referendum, and his status as a multimillionaire businessman were not the best look for the campaign. This suggests this was just one of many lies told en route.”
But an ally of Mr Rudd said that he called the shots in the organisation, and was de facto chair, because Open Britain owned the data and was by far the largest organisation in the campaign. He said it was a “complete lie” to suggest that the businessman had rarely visited the offices: “Roland has been there so many times, so many times.”
Mr Rudd is set to address the group’s 60-odd staff inside the campaign at 9am on Monday at its headquarters in Millbank Tower to update them on the changes.
In the email to colleagues, Mr Rudd, the founder of public relations powerhouse Finsbury, said he wanted to thank both Mr McGrory and Mr Baldwin for their hard work in difficult circumstances. However, he also alluded to the battle for power within the People’s Vote campaign.
“But as you will all understand 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,” he wrote.
Mr Rudd said the appointment of Mr Heneghan would “take the organisation to the next level”. He added that the group would also start electing members from its grassroots supporters directly to the board. “We are building a new campaign; more professional and more in touch.”
Mr Rudd’s move is the culmination of months of boardroom wrangling inside the People’s Vote campaign, which was set up a year ago to campaign for a second referendum.
Much of the dissent has been centred on concern that Mr Rudd appears to want to switch towards an openly pro-Remain position. When some staff backed March for Change, a pro-Remain rally in July, it prompted a letter from colleagues criticising the “splinter group” for damaging morale and confusing supporters. But one ally of Mr Rudd said it would be “absurd” to pretend that many of the PV backers wanted to “reverse this madness” and stop Brexit altogether.
The battle for control of the campaign comes amid signs that there are not sufficient supporters in the House of Commons to back a rerun of 2016. Although the Labour leadership is now backing a second referendum there are dozens of Labour MPs who would vote against any such plan.
One senior figure in the campaign admitted there were not enough MPs supporting it but said “we might be only 10 names away from sealing it” in the coming weeks.
Private emails leaked to the Mail on Sunday a week ago suggested that Lord Mandelson and Mr Campbell had been plotting against Mr Rudd earlier this year.
In one email, Mr Campbell wrote: “I do not see how this gets done without a public battle and it should happen soon and be fast and brutal.”
