A leading Conservative politician has said internal documents “without a doubt prove” the former head of the Royal Air Force “lied” to the then defense secretary over a recruitment scandal involving discrimination against white men.
Alicia Kearns also made accusations RAF i Ministry of Defense for failure to pay compensation to former head of recruitment, group captain Lizzy Nicholl, who resigned from her position in August 2022 in protest against – rightly considering it unlawful – an order favoring female and ethnic minority candidates over white men.
Sky News was the first to report the news resignation.
Ms Kearns, local MP for Captain Nicholl Group, made the allegations during Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
Sir Keir Starmer said his government would “look at” the matter and said the minister would meet Ms Kearns.
The actions of a former RAF recruitment chief, who lost her career after refusing to comply with a controversial order from her command to prioritize women and ethnic minorities, sparked a wide-ranging investigation which found that the RAF had failed to unlawfully discriminate against white men as part of a recruitment drive to increase diversity.
“Group Captain Lizzy Nicholl had an exemplary career in the RAF until she was forced to resign after refusing to comply with illegal recruitment orders,” Kearns told parliament.
“Despite investigation after investigation vindicating Lizzy on every count, the RAF and Ministry of Defense have failed to provide her with substantial compensation and those responsible have left.
“I have documents proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the former Chief of the Air Staff lied to the then Secretary of Defense about his case.”
It is understood that the documents referred to by the Honorable Member include the outcome of an initial review of RAF recruitment policy and practice on 5 September 2022 and the conclusions of a meeting of the RAF Board of Directors two days later, attended by senior officials including Air Chief Sir Marshall Mike Wigston, then head of the RAF, and Ben Wallace, then defense secretary.
Both documents were seen by Sky News.
A summary of the findings of the interim report on RAF recruitment policy and practice stated: 'The RAF's recruitment policy over the last two years has generated a very high risk of successful challenge.
“When considered individually and collectively, policies, while formulated with the laudable goal of increasing diversity, are likely to be found to go beyond lawful “positive action” and constitute unlawful “positive discrimination.”
The second document contains conclusions from the meeting of the Air Force Main Board, which took place on September 7 at the Ministry of National Defense, during which the recruitment scandal was discussed.
It stated: “CAS (Chief of the Air Staff) has asked the Chief of Command Defense (CDP) to conduct a rapid review of RAF recruitment practices; The review concluded that no evidence of actual discrimination was found, regardless of how the order was given, which, if actioned, would expose the RAF to a high risk of successful challenge.”
Asked about Ms Kearns' claims that Air Chief Marshal Wigston lied about the matter, an RAF source said: 'I don't believe he would lie to a politician or anyone else. Everything was based on the best information available – which has changed.”
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In her damning public speech, Ms Kearns also revealed that other internal investigations had similarly confirmed the effectiveness of Group Captain Nicholl, but claimed that her constituent had not yet been paid fairly, while those responsible at the time had “walked away”.
She didn't mention anyone by name, but Air Chief Marshal Wigston was the Chief of the Air Staff at the time and an advocate for improving diversity – something the government also supported.
The chief of staff was Air Vice-Marshal Maria Byford and the next senior staff officer was Air Commodore Jo Lincoln.
Additionally, Ms Kearns claimed that in the run-up to this year's election, officials took advantage of a period called purdah – when there is less ministerial oversight because everyone is campaigning – to offer the group captain a “sneering £2,000”.
Challenging Sir Keir, Ms Kearns said: “The Prime Minister says he believes in righting wrongs, so will he meet with Lizzy and help ensure those responsible don't leave and Lizzy gets the justice she so richly deserves? “
Sky News has approached the Ministry of Defense and the RAF for comment.
