Monday, August 12, 2024
Welsh Tories in crisis
They say that the Chair of the Welsh Conservative Sam Kurtz told Nation.Cymru: “No requests for a meeting have been received. The Group will meet after the Welsh Parliament recess in September, as scheduled”:
His comments came after former leader Lord Nick Bourne told BBC Radio Wales there should be a meeting to make clear that “we are anti-racism, we will not tolerate Islamophobia and we will not tolerate anti-Muslim behaviour”.
Speaking on Sunday Supplement, Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth said: “During this election campaign and indeed before it, nobody has ever raised the issue of Halal meat on the doorstep or on the phone canvassing. I don’t think it’s the sort of thing we should be focusing on.”
Calling for the 2026 Senedd election to be fought from the centre as opposed to the right, Lord Bourne said: “The exposure that Reform is going to get now that they have elected politicians in Westminster may well show what a busted flush they are.
“I would leave all that sort of thing to Farage or Tommy Robinson on his lounger from Greece – that’s not the party we are, we are not that party, we are a party of the moderate right and that should be reflected in the way we approach politics in Wales.”
Pressure has been mounting on Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies after the Muslim Council of Wales accused him of “Islamophobic race baiting” last week.
In a statement the council said: “The hamfisted attempts at dog-whistle racism may lead to more engagement online for Mr Davies, but have real consequences on our streets and in our mosques.”
The group’s intervention came after a series of social media posts by Mr Davies about non-Halal meat options in Welsh schools.
The Tory leader went viral on X, formally Twitter, after the issue was amplified by far-right figure Tommy Robinson.
He also penned an opinion column for GB News headlined, ‘Children SHOULD NOT be forced to eat Halal school lunches’.
Mr Davies has entirely rejected the criticism saying he is following up on the concerns of his constituents.
The news website add that Welsh Conservative Senedd members have become uneasy in recent days about their leader’s trademark abrasive social media style and his lack of action over a racist slur sent in a text by a back bench MS.
Two Tory MSs, Natasha Asghar and Peter Fox, have publicly spoken out about the allegations of racism facing the Welsh Conservatives, condemning the comments and actions of their group leader, while there are suggestions that there might even be a leadership challenge, which could tear the group apart.
Perhaps they are not holding a group meeting beacuse they are hoping all this angst will go away by itself. That doesn't look likely.
