08 June 2024 , 18:28
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The Tory chair has been out election campaigning with a Conservative rising star filmed offering “fun flour” to a party guest on a signed David Cameron photo.
Richard Holden canvassed with Philip Stephenson-Oliver just months after our revelations led to the latter’s suspension. But he appears to have been welcomed back into the fold by the Tories as he was snapped with Holden and a minister on the campaign trail.
A grinning Holden posed alongside a group including Tory minister Felicity Buchan and Stephenson-Oliver – who he referred to as one of “the lads”. Holden has been at the centre of controversy this week after bagging a last-minute selection as the Tory candidate in a safe seat in Essex, sparking anger in the local party.
The Sunday Mirror revealed how Philip Stephenson-Oliver had been filmed offering 'fun flour' on the framed snap of Cameron
Framed photo of David CameronThe Tory chair posted the image on social media at the end of last month, writing: “Lunchtime campaign session with @FelicityBuchan and one of her teams out in #Bayswater ”
"Felicity is a cracking local MP - always getting stuck into the issues that affect her constituents
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“Really great to have @policylaila - who is a genuinely superb @Conservatives … councillor and the lads along too!”
Stephenson-Oliver, a reservist soldier, told us: “Following an investigation by the British army and a negative CDT “comprehensive drug test” conducted by the royal medical corps I was fully exonerated. Following this, the investigation by the Conservative Party was dismissed.”
In July, the Sunday Mirror revealed on its front page how Stephenson-Oliver – then chair of the Westminster North Conservative Association – had been filmed offering “fun flour” on the framed snap of Cameron. The Tory, who has rubbed shoulders with Rishi Sunak, then watched as a pal appeared to use a banknote to snort what was claimed to be cocaine in his bedroom at a houseparty that month. Moments later he was seen doing the same thing himself.
At the party, Stephenson-Oliver was said to have referred to the substance as “fun flour”. He was suspended by the Tories pending an investigation. Last year, Stephenson-Oliver said: “This was a private gathering in my home. A few seconds of video footage filmed illicitly by someone I thought was a friend is both disappointing and potentially an invasion of my privacy and the privacy of others. I certainly challenge the very questionable testimony and actions that night from the person that the newspaper relies on for this story. However, I do apologise for any embarrassment that these covert and out of context images might bring to others.”
Philip Stephenson-Oliver with Rishi SunakHe seems to have since had a rebirth in the party. He is now chairman of Queen’s Park and Maida Vale Conservatives, in London. On May 31, 30-year-old Stephenson-Oliver tweeted about canvassing for Timothy Barnes, the Tory candidate for Cities of London and Westminster. Days earlier, on May 28, he retweeted Holden’s post about campaigning for Felicity Buchan, a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. On May 26, he wrote in a post: “ Labour need a 12.5 point lead for a Majority of just 1. With the polls narrowing it’s all the play for.”
The Conservative Party and Ministry of Defence were contacted for comment.