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A cabinet minister was today forced to resign over a scandal just asBoris Johnsonwas launching the Conservative election campaign.
Welsh SecretaryAlun Cairns quit as he faced an official investigation under the ministerial codeover allegations he failed to tell the truth about what he knew of an aide accused by a judge of “sabotaging” a rape trial.
In aresignation letter, he said: “This is a very sensitive matter … I will co-operate in full with the investigation under the ministerial code which will now take place and I am confident I will be cleared of any breach or wrongdoing. ”
Two other Cabinet ministers were mired in separate controversies:Jacob Rees-Mogg for remarks that offended Grenfell tragedy familiesand Tory Party chairmanJames Cleverly over a “doctored” videoof Labor’s Sir Keir Starmer.
Conservative disarray reached its peak at the very moment the Prime Minister was setting off on the campaign trail, telling voters “you are the boss”. Barely an hour after Mr Johnson had a 25 – minute audience with the Queen, Mr Cairns’s resignation was announced. Following the revelation, Mr Johnson was expected to say outside 10 Downing Street: “Now it’s time for me to get out of Downing Street and come and talk to you, the voters, about your hopes and fears for the future. I hope you will support my campaign and I promise that if I come back here as Prime Minister I understand that you, the voters, are the boss and my job is to focus every day on your priority. ”
Mr Johnson said he had not wanted ageneral electionbut was forced to act because his Brexit plans were blocked by Parliament.
But there were questions about whether he could keep the focus on his Brexit dividing line as a torrent of blunders swept the campaign off track.
As well as the three Cabinet controversies, rows raged over a candidate who said poor people should be “put down” and Defense Minister Johnny Mercer attacking his own party over the “fake video” row.
Mr Cairns claimed he had been unaware of former staff member Ross England’s role in the collapsed rape trial until after the story broke last week.
But BBC Wales said it had obtained a leaked email sent to Mr Cairns which showed he had been made aware as early as August last year.
Four months later Mr England was selected as the Welsh Conservatives’ candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan for the 2021 Welsh Assembly election.
Christina Rees, shadow Welsh secretary, accused Mr Cairns of “brazenly lying”. The row relates to the April 2018 trial of Mr England’s friend James Hackett, who was later found guilty of rape. A judge in the case said Mr England had “single-handedly” and “deliberately” sabotaged the trial of his friend by referring to the victim’s sexual history.
The day of Tory apologies began at 6. 10 am when Right-winger Andrew Bridgen tweeted his “unreserved” contrition for blundering into the Rees-Mogg row in a ham-fisted attempt to defend the Commons Leader, who had suggested Grenfell residents lacked “common sense ”for staying in the burning building. “I realize that what I said was wrong and caused a great deal of distress and offence,” said the Right-winger. “It was not my intention to do so, and I do not want to add in any way to the pain that this tragic event has caused. I apologise unreservedly. ”
Mr Bridgen caused offence during a radio interviewwhen he said Mr Rees-Mogg was an “extremely intelligent” man and when asked if he was saying his colleague was more intelligent than those who stayed in their flats at Grenfell, he said: “But we want very clever people running the country, don’t we? ”
Grime star Stormzy waded into the Rees-Mogg row by calling on the Commons Leader to resign.
Mr Cleverly had a torrid morning when he was put on the spot over the comments about Grenfell and the Tory “fake news” video during a round of media interviews. He was confronted by presenter Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan about a Tory video of shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir talking about Labour’s Brexit plans, in which one of his responses was replaced with him failing to speak. Mr Morgan repeatedly accused the Conservatives of peddling “fake news” and a “lie” with the video.
Mr Cleverly sought to justify it by insisting that the Tories had also put out the original Sir Keir interview on GMB, as well as their version, which he argued was clipped rather than doctored. Mr Cleverly was also “empty chaired” by Sky News, with presenter Kay Burley claiming he had declined to go on the show – which Tory chiefs denied strongly. Mr Mercer said the Starmer video should not have been altered. “The original interview was bad enough – I have no idea why this needed altering,” he tweeted.
The Government was under heavy fire for delaying the publication of an Intelligence and Security Committee report on Russian interference in UK democracy. And Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill blocked ministers from publishing a Treasury costing of opposition policies. In another blow to the Tories, former culture secretary Ed Vaizey announced he is standing down. Labour’s Diane Abbott confused the party’s Brexit policy by saying the shadow cabinet may back leaving the EU rather than Remain in a future referendum. “I don’t think anyone has said they will vote for Remain, come what may,” she told the BBC.
Mr Johnson was expected to say in his statement outside No 10: “I didn’t want an election, I wanted to get Brexit done with my deal. But without an election, this Parliament would just delay again.
“This is why an election is the least bad option – it gives you, the voters, the chance to get a new Parliament that can either move the country forward or organize another referendum.”
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