Former Minister Alun Davies apologises after sacking

Carwyn Jones says he's sent a hand-written note of apology to the Opposition Leader after their angry exchanges in the Senedd last week. The First Minister had questioned Andrew RT Davies' absence from a meeting between Welsh political leaders and Prince Charles.

He apologised in the chamber after Mr Davies said he'd been ill himself and caring for his mother-in-law following a stroke. But Carwyn Jones told his monthly press conference that he followed up that apology with a personal note which the Conservative leader had 'graciously accepted.'

Assembly Members are calling for a wider inquiry into the actions of sacked Minister Alun Davies.

The former Natural Resources Minister was dismissed yesterday after it emerged he'd tried to find out confidential information about his political opponents.

ITV Wales' Political Reporter Owain Phillips has the story.

Sacked minister Alun Davies has written a letter of apology to the five AMs who were targeted by his request for civil servants to find out how much each of them receives in farm subsidy payments.

First Minister Carwyn Jones, who apologised in the Senedd yesterday, ruled that Mr Davies' behaviour was unacceptable and sacked him. The former minister has now written to Andrew RT Davies, Kirsty Williams, Antoinette Sandbach, William Powell and Llyr Gruffydd.

His letter reads: "I am writing to you to offer my apologies to you. My decision to seek the CAP payment schedule was an error on my part and I regret my actions.

"The purpose of my request was simply to provide background information and I can offer my absolute assurance that at no time did I intend to use this information, neither for political gain nor for public use."

Many politicians in Cardiff Bay, including the First Minister, have concluded that Alun Davies' request for information, in an email headed OAQs, was to give him ammunition for use at Oral Assembly Questions.

David Cameron has told MPs that he finds Alun Davies' attempt to get civil servants to unearth details of farm subsidy payments made to his political opponents "a very worrying development".

Later at Prime Minister's Questions, he was urged by the Labour MP for Ynys Môn, Albert Owen, to "end his agenda of attacking Wales at every opportunity".

The First Minister has dismissed Liberal Democrat claims that the attempt by sacked minister Alun Davies to obtain details of political opponents' farm subsidy payments was part of a wider Labour party smear campaign. Carwyn Jones told ITV News that he was confident that it was "a one-off".

Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams, who was one of the AMs targeted by Mr Davies, says Labour's official Assembly twitter feed quoted a question she asked about farm subsidy payments on the very day the minister asked his civil servants for the information on farm payments.

She 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.

"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.”

The former Minister for Natural Resources Alun Davies has apologised following his sacking.

Speaking to ITV News Mr Davies made an apology to his civil servants, whom he says he 'placed in a very difficult situation.'

He continued to say how sorry he was to be leaving Government, "I was due to launch the biggest ever rural development programme today so I'm very sorry to be leaving Government at this point in time."

Mr Davies also said he will continue to work with the First Minister and the Welsh Labour Government, stating Blaenau Gwent comes "first, second and third."

Carwyn Jones has finally sacked his Natural Resources Minister, only a week after he'd spared him. Last time Alun Davies was let off with a warning after breaking the ministerial code. But this time it was far too serious.

He'd asked a civil servant to unearth confidential information about his political opponents. Owain Phillips reports.

Alun Davies AM says his priority is his Blaenau Gwent constituency, after he was sacked from his role as Natural Resources Minister.

First Minister Carwyn Jones has dismissed as "nonsense" a call from Opposition Leader Andrew RT Davies for sacked minister Alun Davies to lose the Labour party whip. Alun Davies was fired for trying to get his civil servants to give him information about farm subsidies paid to five opposition AMs.

In bad tempered exchanges, the First Minister challenged the Leader of the Opposition for failing to attend a meeting with the Prince of Wales last week. Andrew RT Davies replied that apart from being ill himself, his mother-in-law had suffered a stroke and he had apologised for missing the meeting.

Amid uproar in the Senedd, Carwyn Jones said he withdrew his comment and apologised for it.