Friday, March 27, 2026
Reform's Senedd campaign in chaos
Farage's party has just announced all its candidates for the election on 7th May, but the process appears to have thrown up the usual problems of insufficient vetting and infighting, a problem that also haunted the UKIP group in the 2016-2021 Welsh Assembly:
One senior Reform UK source said: “The selections have been disastrous from the moment they began – all of the promises Zia Yusuf made when Farage put him in as ‘Chairman’ to democratise were lies pure and simple.
“Members of the branches are just told to handover money and to turn up to deliver leaflets – they have no rights over who they will be working with when elected to the Senedd.
“Councillor David Thomas joined at the end of 2024 and brought a group of chancers from Torfaen over.
“They’d tried being Tory – anything to get access to the salaries and expenses they can get in the Senedd.
“They wanted all their mates in the winnable positions and the Tory defectors have done the same.
“Welsh leader Dan Thomas isn’t a newbie to politics in Wales, he goes years back with Senedd Member Laura Anne Jones.
“They have as well just used the candidacy process to poach places for their pals.
“It’s gross but this is what Reform has become – jobs for careerists like Councillor Jason O’ Connell.”
A Reform activist also sent Nation.Cymru a series of messages on Tuesday (March 23) warning that the party had “stopped supporting candidates who have been working in their constituencies for months and years” and had instead “shipped in new candidates from outside those constituencies” to support new Welsh leader, Dan Thomas.
The source said: “Many of those original candidates have been pushed out of the selection process and people from local branches are really upset as they do not recognise these new candidates and have noted they have not been in the local branches supporting those original candidates who have been out in all weathers expecting to be fairly elected to represent their constituencies.
“Community links are so important where constituents know the candidate and they know the constituency and its people. I have witnessed members saying this is the last straw and are leaving the party because the members are not being listened to at branch level.
“It is thought that these new candidates have been members of a think tank which has been run by David Thomas and others. Chairmen and members have been sacked for challenging what has been going on behind the scenes.
“Apparently Farage and Thomas are not bothered as they can do what they want with this new system of election. Many ex Labour members have said they will go back to Labour as its turning out to be the Conservative two – party.
“A lot of angry people upset at this chopping of local candidates and parachuting in of new candidates who have no affinity with the constituencies.
“I think Reform have played right into the hands of Plaid and Labour which is their own arrogant fault ignoring local people.”
And it doesnt end there. The BBC reports that Reform candidate, Andrew Barry has quit less that twenty four hours since the party's lists were published:
O'Connell is a councillor in Torfaen and has been a high-profile media performer for Reform in Wales.
Barry said: "I thought this was what I had been waiting for – a party that could break the cartel of Labour and Plaid Cymru alliances, only to find over the past few months that things have not quite added up."
He added: "We finally thought someone was there for people at the heart of the valleys and it's left me bereft of belief."
He described O'Connell as an "ex-Tory" and said: "This will not go down well. There are too many Tories now in the party.
"If Reform believes that putting a former Conservative into the heart of the valleys will go well, then they are wrong."
"It has left a bitter taste that no one cares about Merthyr."
And just to put the icing on the Reform cake, Nation Cymru reports that a photograph has now emerged of a prominent Reform UK Senedd election candidate performing a Nazi salute:
They add that there has been knowledge within Conservative circles for at least six years of an image of Edwards holding a finger to his top lip with his other arm raised in the air in a Nazi style salute.
At the time of writing, Edwards remains a Reform candidate.
At the time of writing, Edwards remains a Reform candidate.
Comments:
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Kick out real constituency supporter candidates and replace with rabid Reform candidates. A COUP to put ideological people into positions of power .NOT those who will work for the areas. That is LIBDEMs (and others) who are far more worth voting for.
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