QC hits back over masons link

Gerard Elias "surprised" to be called a prominent freemason

A top barrister at the centre of an assembly appointments row has hit back at the First Secretary Rhodri Morgan.

It follows suggestions that he was prominently linked with freemasonry and hunting.

Gerard Elias QC was responding to an assembly statement by Mr Morgan, explaining why he did not want the post of the assembly counsel general to go to him.

Mr Elias said he had not been an active freemason for seven years.

He said: "Whilst my membership has never been a secret, most freemasons would doubtless be as surprised as I am to hear myself described as 'prominent' in this context."

I have never personally attended any hunt meeting at any time in my life and do not have and never have had any association with hunting Gerard Elias QC

Mr Elias said his involvement with the Independent Supervisory Authority for Hunting was as an independent lawyer.

And this, he added, was because of his experience of disciplinary codes within sport, gained while chairman of Glamorgan Cricket Club and with the England and Wales Cricket Board's disciplinary standing committee

Mr Elias added: "I have never personally attended any hunt meeting at any time in my life and do not have and never have had any association with hunting, let alone a prominent one."

Speaking at the assembly on Tuesday, Mr Morgan said he deplored the leaking of the two candidates' names to the media but went on to explain his opposition to Mr Elias' appointment.

'Not good enough'

He told the AMs in Cardiff Bay that legal advice from a counsel general prominently associated with hunting and freemasonry "would not carry the necessary stamp of untrammelled authority throughout the assembly".

However Mr Elias said that all the information was passed to the permanent secretary and the interview panel and if they believed there was any conflict of interest, he had offered to resign from those positions if appointed.

Rhodri Morgan explained opposition to Mr Elias to AMs

Mr Elias said: "Whether, in these circumstances, the first minister's personal objections to my appointment are proper considerations, either as a matter of public law, or even as a matter of fairness and justice to a candidate, I leave for others to judge. "

His statement went on: "It is certainly not good enough that, despite passing the scrutiny of the independent Civil Service Commission process, a candidate learns for the first time after months of delay that such matters provide a first minister with grounds to veto his appointment."

BBC Wales' Dragon's Eye programme revealed last week that Mr Elias was recommended for the £140,000-a-year job by an independent panel.

It has been claimed by opposition parties that Mr Morgan blocked the recommendation because he wanted another barrister with strong Labour connections - which Mr Morgan insists is not true.

Meanwhile, he has started a leak inquiry to find out how the names of the candidates had reached the public domain.