RESPONSBILITY for the death of a young Tory activist “rests on the shoulders” of party chairman Lord Feldman, his father said yesterday. 

Ray Johnson said his son Elliott, who was found dead on railway tracks in September, complained directly to Andrew Feldman about bullying and blackmail in the party’s youth movement. 

Grant Shapps resigned from the government over the scandal last weekend but the bereaved dad believes Mr Feldman must also take responsibility. 

He said: “I’m sure they thought they could sweep us under the carpet the levels of denials or obstruction proved to me that they had no real intention of changing their ways so we just had to keep on pushing and pushing and pushing and eventually the dam broke.

“I’m sure Lord Feldman was aware what was going on because my son made his complaint directly to him and in my mind the tragedy rests on his shoulders.

“Grant Shapps has gone, I’m sure others will go but the man at the top has to take responsibility for his actions or, in this case, inaction.”

Top Tories, including Chancellor George Osborne, have taken part in an orchestrated campaign to save Mr Feldman’s political future.

The peer is the party’s head of fundraising, as well as a long-term friend and tennis partner of Prime Minister David Cameron. 

He claimed he did not know about bullying claims until allegations against senior Tory aide Mark Clarke burst into the open last month. 

Mr Clarke, who bussed young activists around Britain during the general election campaign, was named in a suicide note left by Mr Johnson. 

Since his son’s death, Mr Johnson said he had been contacted by many more young activists about the “endemic” bullying in the party.

“Too many young lives have been damaged by this excessive amount of bullying, harassment and intimidation,” he said. 

He also raised concerns that an investigation would lead to a cover-up of the worst allegations, saying: “Political parties have a habit of doing things like that.”

The BBC has seen a memo that shows Tory bosses knew in August that Mr Clarke was a “sociopath,” who’s bullying tactics are “well known.”