Thursday, November 28, 2024
Welsh Tory Leader under pressure
They say that a series of controversial “gaffes” by the most senior Tory in Wales has caused MSs to become “nervous” about the direction he was taking the party, leading to Davies bring informed on Wednesday evening that more than half of his group have asked for him to resign from his leadership role:
Pressure has been mounting on Davies since the Senedd’s summer recess when a number of senior Tory figures and members of his own shadow cabinet publicly lambasted his behaviour following a series of stories by Nation.Cymru.
In August, he was accused of Islamophic race-baiting by the Muslim Council of Wales after he posted a number of incorrect claims about Halal meat in Welsh schools to his social media.
One post published to X, formerly Twitter, went viral after it was amplified by anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson.
The rift in the Senedd’s shadow cabinet appeared to deepen further following another social media stunt at the Vale of Glamorgan show.
Davies and his team had constructed a home made ballot box to canvass the public on whether they thought the Welsh Parliament should be abolished.
Supporters and associates of the politician then began to secretly manoeuvre to change the party’s policy so it would support the abolition of the Senedd
Davies was later pressured by his Tory MSs to make an official statement rejecting calls for the party’s stance on devolution to change.
The rumblings of a coup appeared to lose pace after the group returned to the Senedd in the autumn for a new term.
But tension began to mount again this month after comments Davies made to the tabloids about a Welsh Government report which allegedly suggested dog-free zones could tackle racism.
The ethnic minority group at the heart of the viral news story said Davies had “cherrypicked” lines from the report “out of context, misrepresented and used as clickbait to drive engagement.”
An email exchange shown to Nation Cymru revealed how the head of organisation had reached out to Davies asking him to stop reinforcing the claims because some participants were being subjected to a “barrage” of racist abuse and hate mail.
The Welsh Tory leader responded by doubling down on his stance and arguing that nothing he had said on the issue was “untrue”.
He later discussed the issues on a podcast famous for offering a platform to Tommy Robinson and other far-right figures.
Davies also attacked a Welsh Government incentive scheme to recruit BAME teachers – a cause previously supported by one of his group.
Despite some MSs disagreeing with their leader’s comments, a statement was put out backing Davies without the full group’s sign off first.
Many of Tory figure’s divisive talking points and trademark Twitter persona are said to be the handiwork of his chief aide George Carroll who is a councillor in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Carroll recently lost his bid to become the Chairman of the Welsh Conservatives.
During his campaign he promised a members ballot on whether abolishing the Senedd should become party policy.
He also planned to change the rules around incumbency rights for sitting MSs ahead of the 2026 Senedd election.
Such a move could have seen some current members deselected.
Davies threw his support behind his senior advisor while the rest of the Tory Senedd group backed the winning candidate.
With Reform on the rise in Wales, maybe Welsh Tories feel that having Andrew RT Davies in a leadership role does not distinguish them enough from Farage's party.
