‘Ghosted’ LibDem Campanale launches human rights appeal – Inside Croydon

Our Sutton politics editor ROSE HILL on the selection row that threatens to destroy LibDem hopes of regaining a key parliamentary seat.

Thrown: David Campanale claims an orchestrated bullying campaign was waged against him

The Liberal Democrats are tonight holding a selection meeting to choose a new candidate to stand for their party at the next general election in the winning constituency of Sutton and Cheam, with the member elected two years ago contesting his de-selection with a formal complaint to the Commission for Equality and Human Rights.

David Campanale claims he was sidelined as a candidate because of his Christian religion and accuses the party of having a “hostile environment” for people of faith, which has “encouraged those who believe Christians should be banished from public life”.

Campanale complained that there had been a two-year campaign against him by members of his local party and a number of LGBT+ activists, who saw him “ghosted” by local party officials.

Campanale’s EHRC appeal is understood to have come after he had considered and abandoned other legal courses of action.

Campanale’s complaint centers on what he characterized as an “ambush” meeting organized by LibDem peers Lord Tope, the former MP for Sutton and Cheam. Campanale is understood to have secretly recorded the meeting.

Peer review: Lord Tope organized the meeting with Campanale and Sutton LibDems

Campanale claims that during a two-hour “barbecuing” he was branded a “crazy Christian” for saying he would “vote with my conscience” to extend the abortion deadline. He said he was told, “You’re not a liberal.”

The local party association said it would refuse to campaign for Campanale, over objections to his involvement in the Christian Peoples Alliance a decade ago. The CPA is a fringe right-wing group that opposes abortion and whose leadership has in the past compared gay rights activists to the Nazis.

Campanale left the CPA in 2012 and now says he disagreed with its tone or priorities.

Campanale’s letter to the EHRC said: “This evidence depicts a supposedly liberal organization that allows outright religious discrimination and hostility to thrive within its ranks.

“It suggests that Mr Campanale was ousted from his democratically elected position not because of objective failings or wrongdoing, but because a vocal group within the SBLD (Sutton Borough Liberal Democrats) refused to tolerate his vision Christian over the world.

“Although Mr. Campanale presented evidence of religious discrimination, harassment and victimization committed against him to party authorities at all levels over a period of two years, no appropriate action was taken.

“We believe that only an external investigation by the EHRC can now guarantee justice.”

Hustings are being held tonight to replace Campanale as the parliamentary candidate for a seat held since 2015 by the Conservatives through Paul Scully.

Earlier this year, Scully announced she would stand down as an MP at the general election. Councilor Tom Drummond, leader of the opposition Conservative group on Sutton Council, was chosen by his party to replace Scully.

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