Kirsty Williams
Kirsty Williams AM is calling on Welsh Labour to come clean over what the party knew about Alun Davies’ attempts to smear opposition Assembly Members.
It’s emerged that only hours after he emailed his Private Secretary to ask for information on farm payments, Labour’s official Assembly twitter feed decided to also focus on the matter.
- At 9.37am on 2 July, Alun Davies emailed his private secretary to ask for information on farm payments paid to some Assembly Members.
- At 2.23pm and 2.24pm on 2 July, @LabourSenedd tweeted the exact wording Kirsty Williams was asking in the chamber:
- “7.Kirsty Williams: What assessment has the Minister made of the current market prices for Welsh beef?” and “Q.11. Kirsty Williams: Will the Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support available to farmers in Brecon and Radnorshire?”
The former Environment Minister Alun Davies was sacked for “unacceptable” behaviour after he repeatedly asked civil servants to give him information about farm subsidy payments to Kirsty Williams and other Assembly Members.
Kirsty Williams AM said:
“The First Minister needs to investigate who else in his party knew about what Alun Davies was up to. Unless it is just a massive coincidence, judging from his party’s official twitter feed it would seem that others high up in the Labour party possibly knew about it.
“When Mr Davies was found to have broken the Ministerial Code, rather than hold his hands up and simply accept wrongdoing, he instead went on a rampage to get revenge. His reckless behaviour has finally cost him his job. But Labour needs to come clean about who else knew about this concentrated smear campaign.
“At the time it seemed particularly odd that the Labour party was tweeting the questions. It now seems clear that it was an attempt at intimidation; yet they’ve actually shot themselves in the foot. This scandal looks like it could have grubby Labour fingerprints all over it.
“It is outrageous that Alun Davies tried to use his position for party political purposes. If the Labour party officials were part of this shocking misuse of public office, then the people of Wales deserve to know about it.”
