Annex 141
E-mail correspondence between Mr Alex
Rowley and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
| To: | Alex Rowley
|
| From: | The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
|
| Date: | 21 June 2000 16:49 |
| Subject: | Letter from PCS |
Attached is letter from Elizabeth Filkin. Please
telephone her.
(File attached: Letter to Alex Rowley, 21 June 2000)
| To: | The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
|
| From: | Alex Rowley |
| Date: | 22 June 2000 11:26 |
I refer to your email and letter dated 21 June
2000.
The first point to make is that I was not sacked
by the Labour Party. It is true that Margaret McDonagh, the UK
General Secretary, made clear to me on the day of the Scottish
Elections that she believed things had not worked out for me or
the Party and that she wanted me to leave the post of Scottish
General Secretary. She said that I could be given another job
either in the employment of the Labour Party or in the private
sector. It was suggested to me by Jonathan Upton and John Reid
when he was appointed Secretary of State for Scotland that I could
take on the role of being in charge of local government and trade
union relations for the Scottish Party. During the weeks of discussion
which took place I continued to have the support of senior politicians
including the First Minister and Chancellor.
However, after much thought I concluded that it was
difficult for me to continue in the role I was doing without the
support of the person who was ultimately in charge of Party management.
I did not accept the offer of a job elsewhere as I felt my hands
would be tied and I was no ones puppet. I therefor negotiated
a leaving package with Jonathan Upton and tendered my resignation
to Margaret McDonagh, I then had a meeting with all the Scottish
Staff and explained that I had decided to resign my position and
made clear my absolute loyalty and commitment to the Labour Party.
I say this because the inference from John Maxton
would seem to be that I am somehow being disloyal because of the
circumstances surrounding my departure from the Party. This is
simply not the case, I am clear I was not the source of the accusations
you are investigating, but I took the decision early on not to
lie about these.
I would also make clear that I do not trust or respect
John Rafferty and have never at any time spoke to him about this
matter. Mr Rafferty was as I understand it sacked as Chief of
Staff to the First Minister by the First Minister because he had
lost confidence in him, a conclusion I had reached a long time
before.
With regard to Willie Sullivan, he is a personal
friend and his contract was not renewed by the Party. Willie has
told me that he was interviewed by yourself. My view is that Willie
was not in a position to know that much about this whole thing
and I certainly never discussed other members of staff and their
contract arrangements with him. I hope this clarifies the questions
you raised
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