Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns is facing calls to quit amid claims he lied about knowing of allegations a Tory candidate had sabotaged a rape trial.
A leaked email to the cabinet minister by his special advisor suggests he knew ex-staff member Ross
England was involved in the collapse of rape proceedings in 2018.
England was said by judge Stephen Hopkins to have “single-handedly” and “deliberately” sabotaged the trial of his friend, James Hackett, after referring to the victim’s sexual history, it emerged last week. Hackett was convicted after a retrial in 2018.
England has since been suspended from the Conservative Party and withdrawn as a candidate for a Welsh Assembly seat, but the controversy over how he came to be selected continues.
The email, dated August 2 2018, leaked to the
BBC, was sent to Cairns by his aide Geraint Evans, and was also copied to Richard Minshull, director of the Welsh Conservatives.
It said: “I have spoken to Ross and he is confident no action will be taken by the court.”Four months after the email England was selected as the Welsh Conservatives’ candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan – the same constituency area as Cairns represents – for the 2021 Welsh Assembly election.
Cairns now faces a torrent of demands to quit.
Christina Rees MP, shadow secretary of state for Wales, accused Cairns of “brazenly lying” about his knowledge of the allegation and called on him to resign.
She said: “There are no two ways about this – Alun Cairns has been caught brazenly lying about how much he knew of Ross England’s appalling behaviour at a rape trial.
“The secretary of state, special advisers and senior Welsh Tory officials knew what had happened. They chose to select Ross England anyway – and to mislead and obfuscate when found out.
“The decision is an error of judgment – the cover-up is unforgivable. Alun Cairns should go, as secretary of state and as a candidate.”Letter to PM Johnson: remove Alun Cairns from your cabinet and prevent his standing as candidate. The rape victim - a former Tory staffer - has called for Cairns’s resignation. Surely her pleas come before this failure of a cynical, old-boys-network cover-up? pic.twitter.com/yfDXNQjCcf— Liz Saville Roberts (@LSRPlaid) November 5, 2019Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts also called for Cairns to resign as Welsh Secretary and withdraw as a general
election candidate after accusing him of a cover-up.
Saville Roberts said: “The revelation that Alun Cairns knew about Ross England’s role in this case before endorsing him as a candidate shows that Mr Cairns is unfit to hold public office.
“At worst, Mr Cairns is complicit in the attempted cover-up of his former staff member’s actions which collapsed a rape trial. At best, he has displayed gross incompetence in judgment, dishonesty and a lack of leadership.”
The Welsh Conservatives said the email had “no new information” and the party had no record of the judge’s comments relating to England.
A spokeswoman said: “There is no new information from this leaked document confirming an informal conversation which took place a considerable time after the trial collapsed and is consistent with statements made.
“The full details of this case are still not known and we have taken action in writing to the court. All forthcoming information will be taken into account as the party conducts a thorough investigation.”Related... Why Johnson Won’t Want To Remember The 5th Of November 'Appalling' Tory MP Defends Jacob Rees-Mogg Over Grenfell Gaffe: 'He's An Authority Figure' Tories Under Fire For Doctoring Video Of Labour's Keir Starmer