Jeremy Corbyn today refused to back Welsh Labour chief Carwyn Jones amid calls for his resignation over the suicide of a former minister.
The party leader stopped short of supporting Mr Jones after activists claimed Carl Sargeant was ‘sentenced to death’ by the way sexual harassment allegations were handled.
Mr Jones faces demands to quit for his ‘heartless’ sacking of his Labour colleague, who is thought to have killed himself at his home on Tuesday.
Labour bosses were also warned of his ‘anxiety and distress’ over the allegations, 24 hours before his body was discovered in his Connah’s Quay home.
Meanwhile, a former Welsh Government minister Leighton Andrews said there was a ‘toxic’ culture of ‘bullying and mind-games’ in the government and a ‘deliberate’ campaign to try to undermine Mr Sargeant.
Carl Sargeant (right) opens a business with First Minister Carwyn Jones (left) and Labour activist and tech entrepreneur Askar Sheibani (centre)
A private ambulance believed to be carrying the body of former Welsh government minister Carl Sargeant leaves his home in North Wales on Tuesday – four days after his sacking
Jeremy Corbyn, pictured giving a speech in London today, stopped short of supporting Mr Jones after activists claimed Carl Sargeant was ‘sentenced to death’ by the way sexual harassment allegations were handled
Later today, Carwyn Jones is expected to face his Labour assembly members still in shock over the death of Carl Sargeant. He will then make a statement.
His devastated family have released letters and emails to party officials claiming he was unable to fight claims of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching and groping.
Asked after a speech in London today whether he could offer Mr Jones his backing, Mr Corbyn said: ‘Clearly an inquest will follow.
‘Inquiries will then follow. We will have to await the outcome of those. It would be wrong for any speculation by me or anybody else to take place on those circumstances.’
Askar Sheibani, a Labour activist and tech entrepreneur, said former Welsh government cabinet minister Mr Sargeant could ‘only take so much’ of the treatment he faced from his own party.
He said: ‘It’s disgusting and sad that the system had failed him. The system sentenced him to death. The same system that he proudly fought for.
‘If there was a proper system and proper support in place from the beginning this would not have happened’.
Mr Andrews today claimed there was ‘deliberate personal undermining’ of Mr Sargeant from within the Welsh Labour Government over several years.
The former public services minister said he raised one specific complaint with Mr Jones in 2014 but ‘there was no due process’.
In a blog published on his website on Thursday he added: ‘Carl’s solicitor, his family and friends, believe that he was not given the benefit of due process over the complaints made against him, and that the interviews given on Monday by the First Minister prejudiced any inquiry in themselves.
‘Friends in north Wales tell me those interviews fuelled Carl’s despair.
‘But in terms of due process, they undermined what had been set in train when the issue had been handed off to the Labour Party last Friday.
‘There was no due process either when I made my complaint to the First Minister in 2014.’
He said the atmosphere inside the Welsh administrations had become more poisonous by September 2014.
He added: ‘Carl was unquestionably the target of some of this behaviour. The relentless drip-drip of disinformation – and worse – had a strain on his and others’ mental health.
‘The First Minister was made aware of this by several ministers, including myself. Nothing was done.
‘In a normal workplace, it would have been tackled.
‘It was damaging to the mental health of ministers and special advisers.’
Mr Sargeant’s wife Bernie, 48, and children Jack, 23, and Lucy, 25, today pointed the finger at Labour and said he was not afforded ‘common courtesy, decency or natural justice’.
They said in a statement: ‘Carl was not informed of any of the detail of the allegations against him, despite requests and warnings regarding his mental welfare’.
In one incendiary email his solicitor Huw Bowden accused Mr Jones of ‘prejudicing the inquiry’ and described fears ‘the evidence of the witnesses is being manipulated’.
Interviewed by the BBC on Monday, Welsh first minister said ‘action is taken’ when ‘we have somebody who is in a position where they could embarrass the party or bring the party into disrepute’.
Welsh Assembly colleagues said he had been humiliated and isolated – without any finding of guilt. ‘It’s hard to understand why Carl was thrown to the wolves,’ said one.
Neil Hamilton, leader of Ukip in Wales, accused Mr Jones of acting ‘disproportionately and without human sympathy’.
‘It is clear that his summary dismissal was both heartless and in breach of the most fundamental principle of natural justice – giving the accused the right to defend himself,’ he said.
‘By publicly sacking Carl without giving him details of the allegations, he subjected Carl to trial by innuendo and left him to twist in the wind. Carwyn Jones is an experienced criminal law barrister and must be held to the highest standards of due process.
‘The intolerable mental anguish which that failure caused led directly to Carl’s suicide. The first minister should accept his personal responsibility and resign.’
Chris Davies, Tory MP for Brecon and Radnorshire, also called on Mr Jones to resign, saying the way he had handled the matter was ‘terrible’.
Labour MP Mark Tami, Mr Sargeant’s Westminster constituency colleague, said: ‘It’s very difficult to defend yourself against something if you don’t know what you’re defending yourself against.’
Sir Alistair Graham, the former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said the Welsh First Minister had been too ‘hasty’ in sacking Mr Sargeant.
He told BBC Wales yesterday: ‘I have always believed you do not dismiss someone from a position – in this case a minister in the Welsh government – without first going through due process.’
He said the accused must know the allegations against him and be given the chance to ‘carefully consider them,’ as well as being given the chance to put forward a defence.
‘There is a duty of care,’ he said. ‘He’s part of the government and, of course, when serious allegations come which may go back many years then they can be a very serious shock to people.
‘He would have had to explain to his family that allegations had been made and you can feel very vulnerable – that seems to have happened in this case.’
Mr Sargeant’s family released correspondence between his solicitor and Labour from the day before he died to highlight their concern at how the case had been handled.
The letters showed the father of four pushed for more specific details on the claims, which were said to centre on several women accusing him of ‘unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping’.
And they said that the wait to find out exactly what he was accused of risked ‘his physical and mental wellbeing’.
Mr Sargeant’s wife Bernie (pictured together) and his children have been left ‘devastated’
Writing the day before his death, Mr Sargeant’s lawyer warned that the case was causing him anxiety and distress and that any delays in concluding the party’s investigation would be ‘prejudicial… to his physical and mental well-being’
It emerged yesterday that the accusations did not merit police investigation.
His solicitor, Huw Bowden, accused Mr Jones and his office of ‘clearly prejudicing what is allegedly an independent inquiry’, including by giving television interviews about the case on Monday.
A family spokesman said it was publishing the correspondence ‘in light of the continued unwillingness’ of the Labour Party ‘to clarify the nature of the allegations’.
‘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 spokesman said. ‘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.’ Mr Sargeant’s solicitors last night issued a further statement accusing Labour of abandoning him in his hour of need.
They said: ‘It has been suggested that support was offered to Mr Sargeant. It is not clear in what form this support was suggested to have been offered but that is not correct. No support was offered to Mr Sargeant other than that personally offered by close friends and family.
‘Those that owed a clear duty of care to Carl and to his family will, no doubt, in due course need to provide clarity on their respective positions in this tragedy.’
Writing the day before Mr Sargeant’s death, Mr Bowden raised concerns about how aides working for Mr Jones had contacted the accusers.
‘There appears to be a very real possibility that the evidence of the witnesses is being manipulated and numerous conversations with the witnesses by various members of the First Minister’s office at the very least must create uncertainties about the credibility of any evidence,’ he said.
Noting that a first hearing for the inquiry was not scheduled until January 16, Mr Bowden said: ‘With the Christmas period intervening … the ongoing delay is both prejudicial to the preparation of our client’s case, but also to his physical and mental wellbeing.’
Labour Assembly Member Jenny Rathbone yesterday said Mr Sargeant ‘wasn’t dealt with fairly in the most basic sense’.
She told BBC Radio Wales: ‘If allegations are made against you, you must know what they are so that you can respond to them.’
Former Welsh Government minister Carl Sargeant, 48, (pictured with his wife Bernie, 48, and children Jack, 23, and Lucy, 25) is believed to have taken his own life at home in Connah’s Quay, North Wales having begged to know what he was accused of
Mr Sargeant was sacked on Friday as Welsh Assembly cabinet secretary for communities and children after several women accused him of ‘unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping’. He was also suspended from the Labour Party.
Mr Jones claims the first time he heard of the allegations was last week. But sources suggest he knew about the claims earlier and had even discussed allegations of misconduct before with Mr Sargeant.
Members of the Welsh Assembly are meeting today to discuss the issue and Mr Jones is expected to make a statement afterwards. He told ITV News yesterday: ‘I’m saddened by events. It’s important that we reflect on it and that we remember the family today. That’s all I can say. It’s important to show that respect.’
A spokesman later added: ‘This is a difficult time for everybody, particularly Carl’s family, who are still coming to terms with this horrific news.
‘Like everyone in the Welsh Labour family, Carwyn is deeply upset by the death of his friend.’ Labour claimed it had followed the correct procedures in handling the allegations and had informed Mr Sargeant of the nature of the allegations, but not the full details.
A spokesman said: ‘Following allegations brought to the attention of Welsh Labour by Welsh first minister Carwyn Jones, an investigation was launched by the UK Party. The Labour Party Governance and Legal Union spoke with Carl Sargeant and, in line with agreed procedure, outlined the nature of the allegations that had been received and how the complaints process works.’
Mr Sargeant’s last tweet was his personal statement in response to the allegations where he vowed to clear his name
Carl Sargeant was a Welsh Assembly Member for Alyn and Deeside and Cabinet Secretary for communities and children
Mr Jones became one of Labour’s most powerful politicians when he took charge of the Welsh government eight years ago.
Raised in a Welsh-speaking household, he joined the Labour Party as a student in Aberystwyth during the 1985 miners’ strike.
After working as a criminal and family barrister for ten years, he lectured in law before being elected to represent Bridgend in the Welsh Assembly in 1999.
His relaxed and confident speaking style – honed during his legal years – help to propel him to the top of Welsh politics.
As rural affairs minister, Mr Jones won plaudits for his handling of the 2001 foot and mouth crisis, earning the respect of farming leaders – not traditional allies of the Labour Party. He won the Welsh Assembly leadership election in December 2009 with 50 per cent of the vote.
But his tenure as first minister has been far from straightforward.
Mr Jones has faced criticism over the state of the NHS in Wales, where waiting times have been considerably longer than in England in many areas of medicine.
Mr Jones was also accused of denying patients access to life-prolonging treatments by refusing to implement a ‘cancer drug fund’. Last year he announced that Labour would put aside £80million to pay for new treatments.
His administration was also criticised for its decision to sell for less than £2million public land worth at least £39million.
Taking Cardiff Airport into public ownership at a cost of £52million was also controversial. However the airport has since seen its passenger numbers rise.
A rugby fan, Mr Jones lives with his wife Lisa and their two children in Bridgend.