Sunday, February 25, 2018
Welsh UKIP Assembly rift grows wider
I was in near-hysterics a week or so ago, watching the UKIP Welsh Assembly leader, Neil Hamilton (who is perhaps better known for other matters) claim that the Assembly UKIP group was the most united and effective group in the Welsh Assembly. I suppose it depends on how you define group.
Certainly the latest development in the many splits that have plagued this loose alliance of Assembly Members indicates that all is not well in the corridors of Ty Hywel, so much so that one UKIP AM has had to have her office moved to another building to get away from the others.
As the BBC reports, Mandy Jones, who succeeded Nathan Gill as a North Wales AM in December but was not accepted into the UKIP group, which she later described as "toxic", is leaving the Ty Hywel office block for a former shop in the Senedd building "to help ease tension" after disagreement with UKIP group leader Neil Hamilton.
The BBC remind us that Mandy Jones has been sitting as an independent AM following a row with UKIP over her choice of staff. The party claimed she had chosen to employ people who were members of other parties, or had recently campaigned for other parties, or both. In January, Mr Hamilton said the people concerned had said "very unpleasant and insulting things" about him and other UKIP AMs.
So much for a united group.
Certainly the latest development in the many splits that have plagued this loose alliance of Assembly Members indicates that all is not well in the corridors of Ty Hywel, so much so that one UKIP AM has had to have her office moved to another building to get away from the others.
As the BBC reports, Mandy Jones, who succeeded Nathan Gill as a North Wales AM in December but was not accepted into the UKIP group, which she later described as "toxic", is leaving the Ty Hywel office block for a former shop in the Senedd building "to help ease tension" after disagreement with UKIP group leader Neil Hamilton.
The BBC remind us that Mandy Jones has been sitting as an independent AM following a row with UKIP over her choice of staff. The party claimed she had chosen to employ people who were members of other parties, or had recently campaigned for other parties, or both. In January, Mr Hamilton said the people concerned had said "very unpleasant and insulting things" about him and other UKIP AMs.
So much for a united group.
