“The way you have treated Carl is unforgivable” says Deputy Council Leader as he calls for the First Minister to resign

This article is old - Published: Thursday, Nov 9th, 2017

The Deputy Leader of Flintshire County Council Cllr Bernie Attridge has called on Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones to resign as anger grows around the death of Alyn and Deeside AM Carl Sargeant.

Pressure is growing on Welsh Labour after the family of former cabinet minister Carl Sargeant revealed details of the allegations against him and said he was not afforded ‘common courtesy, decency or natural justice’.

Mr Sargeant had been kept in the dark over the nature of the allegations and identity of his accusers when he was removed from Carwyn Jones cabinet on Friday.

The family said in a statement Mr Sargeant had been accused of “unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping”

Cllr Attridge used Twitter to call for the FM to resign, he said;

“My mourning is turning into anger in the way my friend was treated by so called people who say they were his friend. Time to go FM.”





“@fmwales I call on you to do the right thing and resign. The way you have treated Carl is unforgivable you make me sick.”

Earlier on Wednesday spokesman for Mr Sargeant’s family said:

“Up to the point of his tragic death on Tuesday morning Carl was not informed of any of the detail of the allegations against him, despite requests and warnings regarding his mental welfare.

The correspondence also discloses the solicitor’s concern that media appearances by the First Minister on Monday were prejudicing the inquiry.

The family wish to disclose the fact that Carl maintained his innocence and he categorically denied any wrongdoing.

The distress of not being able to defend himself properly against these unspecified allegations meant he was not afforded common courtesy, decency or natural justice.”

Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami said the party had failed in its duty of care to Sargeant and all employers should learn lessons from the case reports the Guardian.

Mr Tami said he last spoke to Carl Sargeant on the phone on Friday and exchanged texts with him over the weekend.

He confirmed that the Deeside AM was finding it “very difficult” to defend himself over an allegation of sexual harassment when he had not been told the details.

“I spoke to him on Friday and he was shocked. He told me that he’d been sacked from the cabinet and I said ‘Oh God, sorry to hear that’. As you would say,”

“And he said: ‘Well, that’s bad, but I’ve also been apparently accused of sexual harassment.’ And I said: ‘Woah – well, what’s that?’ and he said: ‘I just don’t know.’ That was at that stage.”

Mr Tami said he texted the former minister supportive messages including “thinking of you” and “lots and lots of colleagues being very supportive” over the weekend, to which Mr Sargeant replied: “Thanks.”

Cllr Attridge also called on the national media to stop harassing him, Mr Sargeant’s staff, family, as well as Flintshire councillors have been hounded by multiple reporters from national media outlets doorstepping them over the past couple of days.

“Can I respectfully ask that all none local media outlets leave me alone please, you are harassing me now, show some respect, they are following me, knocking [on] my door,30 seconds after I posted [the] last tweet I had Sky news at my door. You can imagine what I said”

Cllr Martin White posted a picture of a card from a Daily Telegraph reprter and said; “Is there any chance that this person and anybody else from the media please leave me and my family alone.”

Is there any chance that this person and anybody else from the media please leave me and my family alone pic.twitter.com/vOQivrWkQX — Martin White (@MartinWhite66) November 8, 2017

Labour AMs will meet today for the first time since Mr Sargeant died.

First Minister Carwyn Jones’s spokesman said: