A young political activist tweeted a series of sexual assault allegations against Conservative politicians prior to her death by suicide.
On Sunday, September 29, the body of 21-year-old Jade Smith was discovered near her home in Saltburn on Teesside. Cleveland Police have said the circumstances of her death were not suspicious.
Before her death, Jade accused members of the Conservative party of bullying, abuse, harassment and sexual assault in a series of tweets scheduled for when she knew she would already be dead.
The accusations were tweeted on Wednesday, October 2, and appeared to deliberately coincide with Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s address to the Conservative party conference. Jade’s Twitter account has since been deleted.
Jade wrote:
There’s one last topic I want to talk about before I go and say my goodbyes. And it’s about the Conservative Party. This is the last time I’ll ever have a platform to ask them to change, to beg them for young people’s sake to change.
Back in 2015/2016 I tried to kill myself several times because of the Tory party. I was institutionalised due to bullying and harassment I received. I was stalked by the press, the press stood outside my college with cameras.
I was an 17/18 year old female who had been bullied. I’ve always received abuse for being a Tory. But the abuse we receive from each other and the older people in our associations is what takes it too far.
She continued:
We shouldn’t have to put up with the bullying from each other. We shouldn’t have to be worried that our friends are going to be raped at conference or at the very least sexually assaulted.
We shouldn’t have to put up with creepy weird old men maturating over us or grabbing us to go and chat to their friends and try to take us home at the end of the night. There’s a reason we don’t feel safe at conference.
As reported by The Guardian, a Conservative party spokesperson has since made the following statement in regards to the allegations:
Our thoughts and condolences are with the friends and family of Jade Smith at this extremely difficult time.
We take all allegations of bullying or harassment incredibly seriously and are looking into the circumstances surrounding this deeply tragic incident.
Jade was a well-known young Tory activist who once had the words ‘I [heart] Boris Johnson’ tattooed on her leg. Last year, she appeared in The Mighty Redcar, a BBC documentary about her beloved hometown of Redcar.
According to the Independent, Jade quit the Conservative party in 2016 after she alleged she’d been ‘victimised and bullied’.
The claims were denied at the time, and Jade later rejoined the Conservative party.
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Jade Smith at this difficult time.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123
Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.