The law firm investigating the Tories says it can't promise to protect whistleblowers

The law firm Clifford Chance, hired by the Conservative Party to investigate the circumstances surround the death of young party activist Elliott Johnson, has said it can't protect the identities of people who come forward with information.

Johnson,who took his own life in September, left behind notes and recordings that alleged he had been bullied and blackmailed by Mark Clarke, the head of Conservative youth organisation RoadTrip.

The politics blog Guido Fawkes has published a letter sent by Clifford Chance to potential witnesses, in which the law firm admits that they might not be able to protect the identities of whistleblowers who come forward.

While they do say that they will "try to present the evidence in a way which does not identify witnesses," they caveat that by saying that they "cannot guarantee this will be possible."

You can read the relevant extract from the letter in this tweet from Guido Fawkes Journalist Alex Wickham:

Farcical Clifford Chance letter to Tory bullying witnesses on (lack of) confidentiality: https://t.co/zQmHPoFqKT pic.twitter.com/MI8Vkbiq4U

- Alex Wickham (@WikiGuido) December 21, 2015

One of the reasons that Clifford Chance was appointed to carry out the investigation is that there have been multiple allegations that the names of people who complained about Clarke were leaked to Clark himself.

To draw a line under this affair, the Conservatives need the Clifford Chance investigation to be seen as being beyond reproach.