THE First Minister for Wales told Senedd members today that he had ordered his permanent secretary to launch an investigation into the conduct of the deputy minister for arts, sport and tourism, Dawn Bowden.

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi urged Ms Bowden to consider her position following an interview on BBC Politics Wales on Sunday, where the latter was questioned about her handling of the allegations of misogyny made against the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).

Responding to a question from opposition leader Andrew RT Davies, Mr Drakeford told the Senedd that Ms Bowden had written to him this morning asking for the allegations made by Ms Antoniazzi to be investigated under the ministerial code. 

“There’ll be an independent investigation of the allegations and it will be carried out, in the first instance, by the director of ethics and propriety within the Welsh government,” Mr Drakford said.

Ms Antoniazzi, the Labour MP for the Gower, issued a public statement on Monday alleging that Ms Bowden had made a number of “inaccurate claims relating to our communications regarding allegations of sexism and misogyny in the WRU.”

Ms Antoniazzi said she needed to clarify the communication between her and the sports minister.

She said: “Contrary to the statements in her interview, I provided her with contact details of several women across the WRU who were willing to speak with her about their experiences.

“I first raised concerns regarding sexism and misogyny at the WRU with Dawn in early 2022 and she indicated that she was happy to speak with any of the women involved.

“I followed this up on multiple occasions, sharing the contact details of the women affected who were willing to meet with Dawn, as well as making her aware of the emotional impact this was having on these women.”

Ms Antoniazzi said she had a record of the correspondence and was happy to share it.

The former Welsh Rugby women’s international said she was unclear why the minister chose not to contact these women and said she was “extremely frustrated that my representations to Dawn were met with what I can only describe as apathy.”

The MP publicly asked Ms Bowden to “withdraw her recent remarks about me, to apologise to the women whose outreach she ignored, and to seriously consider her position.”