BURNLEY MP Peter Pike today spoke of his sorrow at the way his friend and flatmate of 15 years Ron Davies was forced to quit the Cabinet.

He described the former Welsh Secretary's resignation after being robbed at knife-point by a man he picked up on Clapham Common as a "personal tragedy."

The Labour back-bencher made his comments as Tory Welsh spokesman and Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans demanded that Mr Davies come clean about the bizarre circumstances of the robbery and stand down as leader of the Welsh Labour Party.

Questions remain in view of the fact that the place where he made the original contact with the Rastafarian who robbed him is a notorious haunt of homosexuals and the Brixton estate on where he was dropped when the man and his two accomplices took his car, wallet, mobile phone and Commons pass is a notorious haunt of drug pushers.

Mr Pike -- who has shared the South London flat with Mr Davies since the two men were first elected in 1983 -- said: "I am extremely sorry to see Ron Davies go. He has done an extremely good job.

"I have known him for 15 years. I am very sorry to see him resign at this time.

"I just can't comment on whether he was right to resign.

"He has been an extremely good Cabinet Minister. There are certainly one or two jobs that he could have held in the Cabinet." He said whether Mr Davies continued as leader of the Welsh Labour Party was a matter for Ron and the Welsh Party and refused to comment further adding: "Its just a personal tragedy for him."

Nigel Evans said that Mr Davies should stand down as the leader of the Welsh Labour Party and prospective first minister of Wales after the elections for the devolved Parliament there next year.

Mr Evans said that it was up to Mr Davies to now clear up the precise circumstances of what he said was a "personal tragedy for Ron and his family."

He said that there were vital questions about why he resigned that needed to be cleared up.

He said: "If the circumstances were so serious that Mr Davies felt he had to resign and the Prime Minister felt he had to accept his resignation, the people of Wales deserve to know what those circumstances were.

"This is not muck-raking. It is a serious matter.

"If he is not suitable to be a member of the Cabinet, he should not be leader of the Labour Party in Wales.

"I think he should stand down from the post."

Mr Davies is the MP for Caerphilly, is married for the second time and has a daughter. Recently made a Druid he ensured a narrow majority in favour of a devolved Parliament in Cardiff in last year's referendum.

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