Calls for Cairns to quit following leaked email
ALUN Cairns is facing calls to resign after BBC Wales obtained a leaked email which suggests he was told about Ross England’s involvement in the collapse of a rape trial.
The email, dated August 2, 2018, was from his special adviser Geraint Evans and was copied to Richard Minshull – the director of the Welsh Conservatives – and another member of staff.
Ross England was due to stand for the Conservatives in the Vale of Glamorganin the 2021 Assembly election, but was suspended last week.
It emerged a judge had accused him of “sabotaging” a rape trial, causing it to collapse through a “deliberate” and “stupid” attempt to make allegations in front of the jury about the victim’s sexual history.
At the trial of his friend James Hackett, he claimed he had a casual sexual relationship with the victim, despite the judge saying he’d clearly ruled that such evidence was inadmissable. The incident could only be reported last week after Hackett, who was later found guilty at a retrial, failed in his attempt to get an appeal.
The chairman of the Welsh Conservative party said last week that he and Alun Cairns MP were “completely unaware” of the details of the collapse of this trial until they became public.
Yet BBC Wales has now published part of an email sent to the Secretary of State for Wales in August 2018.
The email on August 2, 2018 was sent to Mr Cairns by Geraint Evans, his special adviser, the BBC reports.
It reads: “I have spoken to Ross and he is confident no action will be taken by the court.”
The Welsh Conservatives said there was “no new information” in the email. In a statement, the party 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.”
The party says it has written to the court requesting records of correspondence because it has no record of such correspondence from the court or the judge and has restated that it has suspended Ross England as candidate and employee.
Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru are calling for Mr
Cairns to resign. Christina Rees MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Wales, 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.
“We have previously been asked to believe that Alun Cairns – who describes Mr England as a “friend and colleague” – had no knowledge of the behaviour that led to the collapse of a rape trial – and unimaginable trauma for the victim. We now know this was a fiction.
“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 judgement – the cover-up is unforgivable. Alun Cairns should go, as Secretary of State and as a candidate.”
Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts said Mr Cairn’s actions show that he is unfit to hold public office.
She said: “Not only did Mr Cairns know about Mr England’s role in the case, but he also blatantly told an untruth when he claimed last week he only knew of it once the story had broken last week.”
He should immediately resign as Secretary of State for Wales and should withdraw as a general election candidate.”