Alun Cairns resigned on Wednesday as the UK Wales Secretary after being accused of "brazenly lying" about his knowledge of a claim that a former staff member and Conservative candidate for the Welsh National Assembly, Ross England, had sabotaged a rape trial
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th November, 2019) Alun Cairns resigned on Wednesday as the UK Wales Secretary after being accused of "brazenly lying" about his knowledge of a claim that a former staff member and Conservative candidate for the Welsh National Assembly, Ross England, had sabotaged a rape trial.Cairns claims he had been unaware of England's role in the collapsed rape trial prior to when the story broke last week. However, BBC Wales said it had obtained a leaked email sent to Cairns four months prior, which shows he had been aware of the allegations. On Tuesday, shadow Welsh secretary Christina Rees said Cairns had been caught "brazenly lying" about how much he knew about England's behavior at the rape trial.
"You will be aware of allegations relating to the actions of a party employee and candidate for the Welsh assembly elections in the Vale of Glamorgan. This is a very sensitive matter, and in light of continued speculation, I write to tender my resignation as secretary of state for Wales," Cairns wrote Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Cairns added that he intended to co-operate fully in the investigation which would be taking place now and that he was confident that he would be cleared of any "wrong doing."
England had been giving evidence at a rape trial in 2018, when he made claims concerning the victim's sexual history, following which the judge accused England of deliberately sabotaging the trial and kicked him out of court.
The issue came to the forefront last week when a member of parliament asked Johnson if he would fire England over his actions. Johnson said that it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings although they had already concluded by then.
