CAIRNS REFUSES TO APOLOGISE TO RAPE VICTIM
FORMER Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has refused to apologise to the rape victim at the centre of a scandal which led to his resignation from Boris Johnson’s Cabinet this week.
Pressure continues to mount on Mr Cairns to pull out as a General Election candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan seat he has held since 2010.
His resignation became inevitable after it emerged that Ross England, his former office manager, had forced the collapse of a rape trial where a friend was a defendant by giving evidence about the alleged sexual history of the victim, contrary to an order made by the judge.
Judge Stephen Hopkins stopped the trial, accused Mr England of deliberately sabotaging it, and said he intended to inform senior Conservatives about his behaviour.
A retrial resulted in the conviction of Mr England’s friend, James Hackett, for rape.
Months later, with Mr Cairns’ support, Mr England was selected by Vale of Glamorgan Tories to be their candidate at the next Senedd election in 2021.
Despite a denial by Mr Cairns that he had any knowledge of Mr England’s involvement in the case, an email sent to him by his special adviser, Geraint Evans, suggested otherwise.
The email stated: “I have spoken to Ross and he is confident no action will be taken by the court.”
Mr England stood down as a Senedd candidate after reports about his behaviour during the collapsed court case were published when Hackett’s opportunity to appeal against his rape conviction elapsed.
Mr Cairns resigned as the Secretary of State for Wales on Wednesday in the wake of the email revelation, and he has been referred to the Civil Service for an investigation to see whether or not he broke the Ministerial Code.
The victim has said that Mr Cairns should withdraw as a general election candidate, but officially he has the Conservative Party’s backing and yesterday he emerged after two days out of the public eye to insist that he will be standing.
Asked by ITV Wales, which found him delivering leaflets in his constituency, whether he would apologise to the victim, he said: “This is a really sensitive case I have taken seriously throughout. I fully support the party’s apology and explanation to the victim and it’s absolutely right that the candidate [Mr England] has stood down.
“It is important to understand I have had no role or association with the court in any way. I have stood aside as Secretary of State so that the Cabinet Office have all of the facts so they can make a judgement and I hope people will allow due process to continue.”
Asked if it was right for him to still be a candidate in the general election, Mr Cairns said: “When people know all of the facts and that’s what the Cabinet Office will do, people can then make a judgement. This is not about trial by media.”
He said he “supported the victim throughout” and added it is a “complex case”.
He added: “The party has apologised and expressed sympathy. I strongly support what the party has said but it is right there is a due process.”
Campaigning in Barry for the former Welsh Secretary’s Labour opponent, Belinda Loveluck-Edwards, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keith Starmer said of Mr Cairns: “He’s got himself into a position he should never be in.
“He’s obviously resigned, but I don’t think resigning’s enough. There’s got to be a full investigation. He’s right to resign, but that’s a necessary minimum.
“There’s more and the investigation now needs to follow.”
Asked whether he thought it was appropriate that Mr Cairns was still the Tory candidate, Sir Keir said: “I think he needs to consider his position very, very carefully.
“He hasn’t got long to do so, but the timing is of his own making, so he can’t make any complaints about that.”
This morning a group of Mr Cairns’ constituents will protest outside his constituency office in Barry at 10am. The protest has been organised by local feminist campaigner and mother of two Charlotte Archibald, who said: “As a constituent of Alun Cairns, I find it absolutely appalling that he supported Ross England’s candidacy for so long when he was obviously aware of what his former employee had done to collapse the trial.
“We shall be outside his office to show solidarity with the victim, who has suffered terribly as a result of being raped, and also by having to wait for justice because of Ross England’s outrageous behaviour.
“Although I am a member of the Labour Party, this goes beyond party politics and I know has shocked people, whoever they support.
“I do not want to be represented by Alun Cairns and think he should not be standing in this election.
“If the Conservatives in Vale of
Glamorgan can’t find better candidates than Alun Cairns and Ross England, they need to consider where they are going wrong.”
While Mr Cairns’ constituency association, as well as the Welsh Conservatives, is backing him to remain as the candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan, not everyone in the party is happy.
A senior Welsh Conservative who did not wish to be identified told us: “Many members are deeply unhappy about this situation, and there is a lot of seething anger, especially from women members.
“It is going to be very difficult for Alun Cairns if he remains as the candidate.
“Obviously he will have to attend hustings meetings and knock on doors. Inevitably he will be asked questions about the Ross England situation, and people will expect detailed answers.
“He hasn’t got a big majority and will be needing support on the ground from party activists. While many don’t mind delivering leaflets, only a minority feel comfortable about knocking on people’s doors and having conversations with them.
“It’s likely that some volunteers who normally go canvassing won’t want to do so for Alun Cairns at this election – and that will have an impact on his chances of keeping the seat.”
The Alun Cairns/ Ross England affair is an example of how unexpected events can have an impact during election campaigns.
It has, at the outset of this campaign, added an extra ingredient to election coverage, which rarely goes according to expectations.
The much-heralded “Unite to Remain” pact between Plaid Cymru, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party appears to be covering little more than a quarter of Wales’ 40 seats. So far, just 11 constituencies will have a single “Unite to Remain” candidate.
Plaid Cymru should benefit at Arfon in particular from not being opposed by the two other Remain parties. At the last general election in 2017, Hywel Williams clung on by just 92 votes.
The other two parties are also not fielding candidates against Plaid in Carmarthen East & Dinefwr and Dwyfor Meirionnydd, the former of which is fairly safe and the latter solidly so.
Plaid’s fourth seat, Ceredigion, does not form part of the pact, and Ben Lake, who won it from the Liberal Democrats’ Mark Williams in 2017, with have a rematch with his rival.
Also in Plaid’s favour is being the sole representative of the pact in Ynys Môn, where with the popular Labour MP Albert Owen having stepped down, it has a good chance of winning the seat.
The decision of Plaid and the Greens not to field candidates in the Brecon & Radnorshire by-election in August undoubtedly contributed to the Liberal Democrats’ victory, and the Lib Dems will be hoping that a repeat of the pact helps their Welsh leader, Jane Dodds, fend off a challenge from new Tory candidate Fay Jones.
Elsewhere, the role of the pact could be of relatively little significance.
There is, however, evidence of discontent among Liberal Democrats who believe they have been let down by Ms Dodds, who allowed negotiations with the other parties to be conducted from London.
Long-serving councillor Mike Powell was told that because of the pact he could not be the Lib Dem candidate in Pontypridd, where in 2010 he was only 2,785 votes behind Labour’s Owen Smith.
He has now said he intends to stand as an Independent.
It will be interesting to see whether the row about Alun Cairns and the establishment of the electoral pact have any impact on voting intention.
At the beginning of the week the first all-Wales poll since the General Election was called was released by YouGov, which had been commissioned by ITV Wales and Cardiff University. It showed Labour on 29% (+4 since the last poll in mid-October); Conservatives 28% (-1); Brexit Party 15 (+1); Liberal Democrats 12% (-4); Plaid Cymru 12% (no change); Greens 3% (-1) and Others 1% (no change).
On a uniform swing since the last election in 2017, this would see Labour losing nine seats to the Conservatives (Alyn and Deeside, Bridgend, Cardiff North, Clwyd South, Delyn, Gower, Newport West, Vale of Clwyd, Wrexham) and Ynys Môn to Plaid Cymru. The Liberal Democrats would lose Brecon & Radnorshire, their recent by-election gain, back to the Conservatives, but regain Ceredigion from Plaid Cymru.