It is a tough life these days being a member of the Welsh Conservatives. The party lost every Westminster seat in July and now have barely a hundred councillors across the country. In December, the fractious parliamentary party voted by nine votes to seven to retain leader Andrew RT Davies; he quit regardless, prompting his replacement by Darren Millar. He looks to be taking his party to a distant fourth place in the newly-expanded Senedd next year, with polls suggesting that the Conservatives will finish ten points behind Reform.
Now, today, a fresh blow has hit Millar’s party. Among those who have been charged by the Gambling Commission in last summer’s ‘betgate’ scandal are three senior Welsh Conservatives. The most well-known of these is Craig Williams, the ex-MP for Montgomeryshire. But the two other names most exercising Tories are Russell George and Tom James. The former has served as a long-standing and respected member of the Senedd for Montgomeryshire since 2011; the latter is the current director of the Welsh Conservatives.
George was chosen on Saturday to stand again next year, despite his alleged involvement in the betting scandal being first reported last June. Embarrassingly, less than 48 hours after he was selected, he has now lost the party whip, pending the outcome of the judicial process. Some Tories in Wales were already angry at the process by which George was ‘re-selected’. They argue that these are not ‘re-selections’ in any meaningful sense, as these are new seats. At the last Senedd election in 2021, there were no incumbency rights in regional seats.
James, meanwhile, ‘literally sets the standard’, in the words of one Welsh Conservative. His name appears on party literature and he was set to help run the party’s campaign for the Senedd next year. Unlike George – whose involvement in ‘betgate’ was first revealed last June – the charge against James had not been publicly reported. The revelation has sparked fury among party members. Already, Charlie Evans, the president of the Mid and West Wales Area Conservatives, has resigned in protest at the ‘moral rot’ in his party. Other voluntary officers are considering doing similar.
For her part, Kemi Badenoch has acted swiftly. Already, a party spokesman has confirmed that James and all ‘current members of staff who have been charged are being suspended with immediate effect.’ Senior Tories were blindsided by the announcement by the Gambling Commission at 11 a.m. today. But the party is keen to show that it will change under its leader and has stressed it will work to aid the body in its inquiries. CCHQ’s swift and unambiguous response enabled the Conservatives to outflank Labour’s demands for Badenoch to drop anyone found guilty.
Yet, through no real fault of her own, Kemi Badenoch will likely find that her Welsh woes are only just beginning. At both a grassroots and elite level, the Conservatives are divided on the merits of devolution. Some Tories want to stop worrying and love the Senedd; others urge devoscepticism or even outright abolition. Reform UK are hoovering up Tory activists, with some Conservatives privately believing that membership has now dropped below 4,000. Can Darren Millar turn that around by next spring? You certainly wouldn’t want to put a bet on it.
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