New job for ex-adviser to Tory MP

A FORMER special adviser to ex-Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has got a new job working for a firm of international lobbyists.

Geraint Evans lost his job in the UK Government when his boss had to resign after being implicated in a scandal arising from the collapse of a rape trial.

Vale of Glamorgan MP Mr Cairns’ former constituency office manager, Ross England, was accused by a judge of deliberately collapsing a rape trial in which a friend was the defendant by making allegations in court about the complainant’s sexual history, which she denies.

Mr Cairns denied any knowledge of the matter, but an email sent by Mr Evans that was leaked to the BBC suggested he had been kept informed and told there were unlikely to be any further damaging revelations.

Mr Cairns stepped down as Secretary of State for Wales while a Civil Service investigation decided whether or not he had broken the Ministerial Code. It decided he had not done so, but after December’s General Election he was replaced in the UK Cabinet by Simon Hart, the MP for Carmarthen West and south Pembrokeshire.

Mr Cairns retained his seat in the election and now sits as a backbencher.

Now Mr Evans has been taken on by international lobby firm Hill and Knowlton Strategies as its strategy director of public affairs in London.

According to the company, “Geraint worked on early and advanced stages EU exit planning and the delivery of pledges and manifesto commitments on behalf of the Secretary of State for Wales, Ministers and the Prime Minister”.

Simon Whitehead, H+K UK CEO, said: “Geraint’s reputation and knowledge of the inner workings of government is a great addition to H+K.”