Skip to main content

Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay kept suspended by Conservatives






 Report Wales Poc

Monmouth AM Nick Ramsay kept suspended by CoA senior assembly member arrested on New Year's Day but released without charge remains suspended from the Conservatives as the party continues its investigations.

Nick Ramsay is thought to be taking legal advice over the arrest.

Party sources claim there have been several occasions when his behaviour after drinking led to complaints.

Friends reject claims he has been spoken to about allegations relating to alcohol.

They say the suspension process may be open to legal challenge.

Mr Ramsay's friends also defended him and suggested he was the victim of a campaign against him by some in his local party in Monmouth.

That claim is denied by the local party chairman, Nick Hackett-Pain.

The Welsh Conservatives say an "investigation is underway". The party did not explain what the investigation is looking into.

Mr Ramsay, a frontbench Tory spokesman in the assembly and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, was suspended from his party and Conservative group in the Senedd following the arrest.

The AM was released without charge by Gwent Police, but his suspension from both the Conservatives and the Tory Welsh Assembly group was not lifted.

He has not been seen at the assembly since his release. His colleague, party whip Darren Millar, has deputised for him at every public accounts committee meeting this year.

One Conservative AM told BBC Wales discussions with Mr Ramsay were at a "bit of a stalemate" and they had "no idea" when he is due to return to the assembly.

BBC Wales has also learned Mr Ramsay was the subject of complaints by some of his own local members about a speech he made at Monmouth Conservative Association's spring dinner in 2018.

Senior Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg was guest of honour.

Several sources say complaints were made to the assembly's standards commissioner about an allegedly "inappropriate" remark during his speech at the end of the event at Chepstow Racecourse.

One person present claimed Mr Ramsay had had "slightly more to drink than he should have".

BBC Wales has been told the commissioner decided Mr Ramsay had not broken the members' code of conduct. The commissioner's office declined to comment.

Friends of Nick Ramsay have defended the Monmouth AM's conduct.

A source told BBC Wales: "A lot of the allegations being made aren't new.

"There are members of the local party who've been bullying and attempting to intimidate Nick and his family for some time now. The party has been aware of these issues.

"Hopefully they can be addressed and Nick and his family can get the support they need. They've been through a difficult time - Nick just wants things to get back to normal."

One friend of Mr Ramsay said: "I have been in Nick's company and that of his wife many times and I've seen no evidence that he drinks to excess, or has any behaviour problems when he drinks."

The allegations of a smear campaign were rejected as "entirely untrue" by Monmouth Conservative Association chairman Nick Hackett-Pain.

"I have been an active member of this association for a quarter of a century," he told BBC Wales.

"There's no campaign within the association to discredit Nick, cause him problems or difficulties for his family."

Mr Hackett-Pain says he has written to Mr Ramsay and "offered him what help we are able to give him at this time".

Mr Ramsay has been involved in several controversies since being elected AM for Monmouth in 2007:


On the question of when Mr Ramsay might return to the assembly, one source close to him told BBC Wales: "Nick was elected as a Conservative AM, he respects the party and its approach, and he's waiting for this to resolved by the party before returning."

A Welsh Conservative spokesman said: "Nick Ramsay remains suspended. An investigation is underway and we won't be commenting further."
Labels:
Location: Monmouth, IL 61462, USA

Popular posts from this blog

Ed Davey pays tribute to Her Majesty The Queen in Parliament

 Ed Davey, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, paid tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Parliament. The deep mourning across the country now – just like the celebrations of her Jubilee a few months ago – comes not from a sense of duty, but from genuine and heartfelt affection, love and admiration of Her Majesty. It's not because we were her subjects, but because she was truly our Queen. What she meant to us is perhaps best summed up by a phrase on so many people’s lips over the last twenty-four hours:   “I can’t imagine our country without her.”   For almost everyone in the country, she has been there our whole lives. At times of national grief and national jubilation, she has never not been there for us. So it is hard to accept that she is gone. And hard to see how we go on without her.   But we will. Our great United Kingdom has a great future – because The Queen’s spirit of strength, grace and resolve lives on in her people. One of the great...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jeremy Hunt’s Financial Statement Offers Only Uncertainty for Welsh Families

  Commenting on Jeremy Hunt’s shock economic intervention Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS said:   “Hunt’s statement points to the despicable damage that the Conservatives continue to wreck on households, businesses and individuals. All his statement today has done is cause wider uncertainty for households and the businesses sector.   “The Conservatives are trashing the economy with every day that passes and creating havoc for peoples’ mortgages. Now they are planning to inflict even more suffering by raising energy bills, hiking taxes and slashing crucial public services. These service cuts will see knock-on effects to the Welsh Government as budgets for key departments like education and health may be squeezed even tighter.   “What’s worst is they are still determined to protect oil and gas giants from a proper windfall tax and they are still cutting taxes for the big banks.     “Truss and Kwarteng are symptoms of a wider problem....
Post a Comment
Read more

Welsh Lamb Exports to the US Welcome - But the Conservatives Are Paving Over Other Cracks

  Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader Jane Dodds MS. "While we will of course always welcome more export opportunities for our fantastic Welsh produce, Liz Truss and the Conservatives are trying to plaster over the cracks regarding the damage they have already done to the Welsh farming sector.   "That is that they sold out Welsh farmers for cheap trade deals with Australia and New Zealand for nothing in return. This was spearheaded by Liz Truss despite Australian commentators even being in disbelief about how lopsided the deals were.   “Tariff free access by New Zealand in particular poses a direct threat to the survival of the Welsh lamb industry and the communities it supports, including Welsh language communities.   "If Liz Truss was supportive of such poor trade deals already, it does beg the question how much more damage she could do to the sector as the UK seeks revised trading arrangements with the likes of the US, Argentina and Brazil.   “This ...
Post a Comment
Read more