Cabinet minister Alun Cairns quits on the day of Boris Johnson's election campaign launch

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Cabinet minister Alun Cairnes has quit on the day that Boris Johnson will launch his general election campaign.

Cairnes announced his resignation as Wales Secretary on Wednesday amid claims that he was aware of the role his former aide played in a "sabotaged" rape trial.

Ross England, who is now a Conservative member of the Welsh Assembly, made claims about a victim's sexual history in an April 2018 trial which led the case to collapse.

Cairnes denied having knowledge of this when England was nominated to stand as an assembly election candidate in December 2018.

However, BBC Wales reported that he was told about the incident in an email sent four months prior to this in August.

In a letter to Prime Minister Johnson, he wrote: "You will be aware of allegations relating to the actions of a party employee and candidate for the Welsh assembly elections in the Vale of Glamorgan.

"This is a very sensitive matter, and in light of continued speculation, I write to tender my resignation as secretary of state for Wales.

"I will co-operate in full with the investigation under the Ministerial Code which will now take place and I am confident I will be cleared of any breach or wrong doing."

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