MY INQUIRY PLEA TO FIRST MINISTER
Jack Sargeant’s emotional call:
LABOUR AM Jack Sargeant has made an emotional call for the inquiry into how his late father Carl was treated by Carwyn Jones to get under way without further delay – and he believes the First Minister should be cross-examined by the Sargeant family’s barrister.
It is now more than six months since Carl Sargeant apparently took his own life, four days after being removed from his post as Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children following unspecified allegations of sexual harassment that he denied.
But although Mr Jones announced a QC-led inquiry within days of Mr Sargeant’s death, and QC Paul Bowen was appointed in January to lead it, it hasn’t begun because of a failure to agree how it will be conducted.
Now Jack Sargeant, who in February won the Alyn & Deeside by-election in his father’s former constituency, has made a public appeal to Mr Jones to ensure that the inquiry proceeds immediately.
During an interview in his office at the National Assembly, he told us: “We’ve got a QC, the inquiry itself has got a QC and we need to get it under way. A lot of this is in the hands of the lawyers, but as far as I know we’re waiting for an operational protocol to be sorted out.
“It is my Dad, it is my Mum’s husband, but it’s also one of the Welsh Government’s own – the guy who took through the most legislation, the chief whip and a friend to so many people in here.
“From what I hear Paul Bowen is doing a fantastic job. He’s the right person to head up an independent inquiry and I have full faith in him. But we do need to get this operational protocol agreed.
“Wherever the hold-up is, whether it’s the Welsh Government or the Permanent Secretary’s office, we seriously need to get this inquiry under way. I’ve lost my Dad and we’ve all lost a friend. And if it was my friend, I’d want to get it sorted.
“If I was the Welsh Government I’d be doing everything to get this under way. Regardless what the outcome is, we’ve lost someone who worked here within the Welsh Government for many years. He devoted a lot of his life to causes that he believed in, and what happened simply can’t happen again.
“That’s the key for me. I’m not going to get Dad back. I’ve not come to terms with that yet – I don’t think I’ve started coming to terms with that yet. And Mum’s not going to get her husband back. Nan and Grandad are not going to get their son back, which is beyond. You might expect to bury your Dad, you don’t expect to bury your son.”
Asked what his appeal to Carwyn Jones was to get the inquiry under way, Mr Sargeant said: “It’s an independent inquiry, but Carwyn is in charge of the Welsh Government. He announced six months ago that the inquiry would take place.
“He is the current First Minister of Wales and I would be doing everything to make sure it started. We can’t let this happen again – so let’s just get it started.
“We’ve had two birthdays in our home since Dad died – mine and Lucy’s [Jack’s sister]. The next birthday is Dad’s, and it’s his 50th, but unfortunately he’s not going to be there.
“We’ll carry on, but this inquiry just needs to get under way.”
The Welsh Government agreed to fund legal representation for the Sargeant family, and their QC is Leslie Thomas, a highly regarded human rights specialist who represents the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire disaster and who also acted for relatives of those who died in the Hillsborough Stadium tragedy.
Mr Sargeant said: “It’s very touching that Leslie Thomas is working on the Grenfell Tower case. On his 25th wedding anniversary, when he was away in Germany with Mum, Dad
didn’t stop working on the Welsh Government’s response to Grenfell.”
Asked whether he would like Carwyn Jones to be cross-examined by Mr Thomas, Mr Sargeant said: “Not everyone should be cross-examined. Cross-examinations take place on persons of interest.
“The inquiry itself is an inquiry into the First Minister, so therefore he should, as a person of interest whose actions around the tragic events are being looked into, be cross-examined, as should members of his team and whoever else the inquiry feels appropriate to be crossexamined.
“I really hope there isn’t an attempt to make sure the First Minister and others aren’t cross-examined. I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.
“I can’t tell Carwyn what to do. If he felt it was appropriate, I’d welcome him coming out to say he was prepared to be cross-examined by Leslie Thomas QC.”
Mr Sargeant said he would like the inquiry to address why the First Minister didn’t refer the allegations made against his father for investigation by the Civil Service in line with the Ministerial Code, as Theresa May had referred allegations about UK Cabinet member Damian Green.
Instead, Mr Jones asked a special adviser to undertake a preliminary investigation of the complaints against Carl Sargeant, the results of which were passed to the Labour Party. This led to Mr Sargeant’s suspension from the party.
Jack Sargeant said: “Damian Green’s still here. Dad isn’t. Whether that’s down to the handling ... that’s a difficult question to answer. But it’s certainly one for the inquiry to look at. Why this was handled differently to Theresa May and Damian Green, I don’t know. Maybe the First Minister can answer the question and shed some light on that.”
Talking about the impact of his father’s death on the Sargeant family, he said: “We’ll never move on. Many people say it gets easier, or it gets better. I don’t think it does – I don’t think it will get better.
“I think you’ll find ways of coping and you’ll adjust, and that’s a time process thing. But I don’t think it gets better. And you are going to have those bad days.
“We’ve got to talk. We’ve got to talk to our friends, we’ve got to talk to our colleagues, we’ve got to talk to the stranger on the street. You just have to. Because Dad never walked past anyone. He sold The Big Issue 29 days before he died, and he never walked past anyone. He wanted to know their story – how they had got there, and how if they needed help we could help them.
“We’ve got to carry on his memory and come together as friends and be kind.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said, “Preparatory work for the investigation has been under way for some time and is well advanced.
“Following constructive discussions, we are in the final stages of agreeing with Paul Bowen QC the detailed protocol for how the investigation will operate.”
Last week, to mark six months since Carl Sargeant’s death, a fundraising event was held in the Mezza Luna restaurant in Cardiff which raised more than £3,000 for good causes.
Among the items auctioned were a recording of the late First Minister Rhodri Morgan speaking during Carl Sargeant’s first Assembly election campaign in 2003 and a CD of karaoke songs sung by Carl Sargeant in his home Labour Club at Connah’s Quay.
Today, a photo-call of AMs outside the Senedd will take place at Jack Sargeant’s request to promote Mental Health Awareness Week.
WITHIN days of Carl Sargeant’s death, Carwyn Jones announced that there would be an independent inquiry into his actions and decisions around the former Cabinet Secretary’s sacking.
There are valid questions about why more than six months later such an inquiry has not got under way.
Jack Sargeant has now spoken of the anguish he and his family feel at the lack of progress.
Although Paul Bowen QC was appointed in January to undertake the inquiry, important details about how it will be conducted have yet to be determined.
It is understood the hold-up stems from a failure to agree the “operational protocol” in line with which the inquiry will take place. Such a protocol will set out rules governing whether witnesses will be subject to cross-examination by the Sargeant family’s barrister, and whether any hearings should be held in public.
What needs to be constantly remembered is that Carl Sargeant’s death is by far the most shocking event to have occurred in Welsh politics since the National Assembly was established in 1999. There is clear case for a thorough and transparent inquiry into the circumstances that led up to his apparent suicide. And there is no reason why public scrutiny of the First Minister should jeopardise the anonymity the people who complained about Carl Sargeant’s alleged behaviour should rightfully have.
Many crucial questions remain unanswered, not least why the First Minister did not choose the option of referring Mr Sargeant for investigation by the Civil Service under the Ministerial Code. Instead he asked his senior special adviser to conduct a preliminary investigation into the complaints of sexual harassment made against the Cabinet Secretary and to hand over the results to the Labour Party.
Frustrated by the lack of progress in getting the Bowen inquiry under way, Jack Sargeant has now called on the First Minister to break the deadlock by making it clear he is prepared to be cross-examined by Leslie Thomas QC, a barrister paid for by the Welsh Government to represent the Sargeant family.
Mr Jones has said he had no choice but to handle Mr Sargeant’s dismissal in the way he did.
Much of the Assembly’s weekly business involves members of the Government being scrutinised in public about their decisions. It would be perverse if an inquiry into the conduct of this government at the highest level was conducted entirely out of the public gaze as this is about public confidence in public office.