Tory youth group ‘Activate’ has shut down after two months, after Guido exposed WhatsApp conversations where members discussed “gassing chavs“. Former spokesman Sam Ancliff told PoliticsHome:

“The National Committee ultimately decided that it would be best to end whilst we are still successful and use our resources to make one last difference than to risk the organisation fall into chaos. Ultimately I feel Activate was a huge success, we drove forward the change in mindset in the Party which has seen a shift in policy focus and the revival of Young Conservatives.”

Such a “resounding success” that no one wanted to volunteer to run the group. Deactivate…

As members of the now infamous Tory WhatsApp group joked about “gassing chavs”, discussion turned to what the new ‘Tory Momentum’ group should be called. At the time the name “Future Focus” was considered, with one young member even creating a logo. The idea was quickly dropped when other members pointed out it bore resemblance to a swastika. They went with ‘Activate’ instead, alas they didn’t get rid of the sentiment as well as the logo…

The WhatsApp group below was used by young Conservatives as a precursor to the new ‘Tory Momentum’ group Activate. Unfortunately it descended into stupid college students joking about gassing chavs.

Other young and foolish members of the WhatsApp group suggested “chavocide” and “running medical experiments” on chavs.

Older and wiser hands then told them to pack it in or else the messages might “come up on Guido”.

Indeed they did…

UPDATE: Activate spokesman says sorry:

“None of the people included in those messages currently have any seniority with the organisation. We are working on ensuring that the people in question are removed from the group as a whole, if still members. They were banned from the WhatsApp group in question when comments like this were made. The comments were sickening and are totally incompatible with what Activate is trying to achieve. We apologise for any offence that has been caused by the people in question. And stress our commitment to open discussion about the future of our party and country.”

After a drubbing online yesterday, which was duly followed-up by the national press, day two dawns at Activate HQ, the nerve centre of the new ‘Tory Momentum’. The group’s donation page reveals it has so far raised less than £10, bankrolled by the generous backers ‘Theresa May is wildly incompetent’, ‘Harold Shipman’ and ‘Jimmy Savile’. Now then…

H/T @bengartside

A group of young Conservatives have taken it upon themselves to set up a ‘Tory Momentum’, using the name ‘Activate’. Apparently it’s an “independent national grassroots campaign organisation that seeks to actively engage young people in right of centre politics.” It needs work…

The name is already the subject of mickey taking on Twitter. If you are going to set up a political campaign, you should probably make sure opponents cannot mock it simply by adding two letters.

For some reason the logo uses the square root symbol. No idea why, maybe there is some hidden code in the square root of eight. Or is it just because of all the mathematical symbols that one is coolest?

The Twitter handle, “@Activate_uk_net“, has two underscores in it. Not exactly catchy. And why is a group trying to appeal to young people using the word “net“. It’s not 1995…

The chaps behind Activate look exactly as you might expect. Most of these cool kids are wearing suits and ties in their photos, though some are really letting their hair down with an open collar tie-less look. There is one guy in a bow tie.

How accessible is Activate? You have to be a Tory member to join, so not very. Then you pay a fee of between £5 and £500, for which you don’t seem to get much more than an invitation to a private online forum.

Look at the state of this tweet. Why have they hashtagged “meme” and “retweet“? Makes you think the whole thing is a parody, though you can tell by the amount of effort that’s gone into their “constitution” that they are serious.

They have no upcoming events and nothing in their online shop. Apart from that it looks great…

UPDATE: Activate have changed their Twitter handle from @Activate_UK_Net to @ActivateBritain after we criticised their multiple underscores.