Audio surfaces of Patrick Brown telling Tory MPPs he was quitting after sex scandal
(The Star Travel)

Amid confusion over whether Patrick Brown formally resigned as Progressive Conservative leader, the Star has exclusively obtained a recording of him doing just that.In audio from one of two conference calls with Tory MPPs late on the night of Jan. 24 – hours after CTV News broadcast allegations of sexual impropriety involving teenage girls – Brown calls it quits.“Despite the fact that this is character assassination and false allegations, I don’t want any of us to set back on our mission to defeat Kathleen Wynne,” he tells his colleagues.“I want nothing more than to see you all successful in replacing this corrupt government. When you work 20 hours a day like I do on defeating this government I would never want to be an obstacle to you defeating this government,” Brown continues.“I’ve asked (director of communications) Rebecca (Thompson) to prepare a statement that I will resign,” he says.“And I’ve asked her to figure out at what point tomorrow that is set and she has drafted a statement while you guys were on the call and she can read it to you if you want to hear what we’ve put together so far.”In contrast to his emotional 81-second news conference earlier in the evening, where he was too upset to take journalists’ questions, Brown sounds composed and resigned to his fate.Despite his resignation, some of his loyalists in the party claim he is still technically the leader.Brown himself claimed to Global News earlier this week that he did not agree to the departure plan.“The resignation was sent out without my permission,” he told Global.But the audio of the conference call suggests that his statement was not factual.Read more:Patrick Brown resigns as PC leader amid sexual misconduct allegationsOpinion | Martin Regg Cohn: Progressive Conservative party sitting down to eat itself alive three months before an electionThat bizarre revelation came Thursday just as t ...