Political reporter, BBC Wales News
Reporter, Newyddion S4C
Welsh Conservatives have rallied around to attack a former Senedd colleague after she defected to Reform.
James Evans accused Laura Anne Jones of having no principles, while Tom Giffard said Reform was welcome to someone who was “always in the news for the wrong reasons”.
It comes as two councillors in Conwy left the Tories for Reform.
Laura Anne Jones was unveiled by Nigel Farage as the party’s first Senedd member at the Royal Welsh Show on Tuesday. Reform said Jones had made “a principled decision” to join the party.
Jones told a news conference for the announcement: “I’ve just suddenly felt that the Conservative Party was unrecognisable to me. It wasn’t the party that I joined over three decades ago.”
She said Reform “is listening to the people of Great Britain” and called party leader Nigel Farage “a great man”.
Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast on Wednesday, Evans said: “Laura Anne Jones is a close friend of mine.”
The Member of the Senedd (MS) for Brecon and Radnor said he first learned she was leaving for Reform at the time of the announcement.
“Laura and I have spoken, and I’ve made my opinions very clear. I don’t think she’s made the right decision.
“I am a firm believer, if you are elected as a Conservative member of the Senedd, you owe it to the electorate, you owe it to your party, to see your term of office out as a Conservative.”
“Jumping to Reform, it seems that she doesn’t have any principles.”
Evans added: “Everything about the Nigel Farage circus turning up here yesterday, I don’t think he had the response he was expecting.
“I heard him being booed. I heard him being jeered in some places, and a lot of people here don’t trust what he’s got to say.
“Because one minute he’ll come here and say one thing, and then he’ll go somewhere else and say something different.”
“They’re not a credible option and they’re not a credible party.”
Tom Giffard, MS for South Wales West, told BBC Radio Cymru’s Dros Frecwast programme that one of the problems with Jones’ defection was that the Senedd group had given Laura “a lot of support over the last few years”.
“This is the way she’s chosen to do this, and it’s not good enough.”
He said the Conservative Party in Wales “is pulling in the right direction. We have policies that I think are exciting”.
“The important thing now is that we’ve got rid of someone who was always in the news for the wrong reasons… Reform are welcome to have those headlines in the future.”
The defection comes just under a year since Jones apologised for using a racist slur about Chinese people in a WhatsApp chat.
She has been investigated by the Senedd’s standards commissioner Douglas Bain, a probe believed to be related to allegations of bullying by a senior member of staff.
Hinting that she is about to be cleared, Jones said she has seen the report and is confident “with the outcome”.
On Tuesday Farage said of the allegations facing her: “Let me assure you that she would not have come to us, and we wouldn’t have accepted her, if we weren’t confident that will all go away.”
A police investigation into complaints about her expenses found “no evidence of fraudulent activity”.
A Reform spokesman said: “Laura has made a principled decision to join a party that she believes truly represents her values and offers Wales a better future.
“It’s clear from the reaction of Mr Giffard and Mr Evans that if anyone dares to challenge the establishment and their cosy status quo, they attack them personally rather than engage with the reasons people are leaving.
“Reform UK will continue to stand up for the people of Wales and push for a government that puts Cymru first.”
Who are the Conwy councillors who have defected to Reform?
Meanwhile two Conservative councillors on Conwy Council have defected to Reform UK, the party has told Newyddion S4C.
Thomas Montgomery and Louise Emery expressed “sadness” over their decision but said they “cannot stand by any longer” adding that “the two main parties have failed”.
Thomas Montgomery has served as the county councillor for the Tudno ward since 2022 and is currently deputy mayor of Llandudno.
He said: “Our politics and our country are broken. We need a party with vision, passion, and policies that deliver for working people and small businesses up and down Wales and the United Kingdom.”
Louise Emery has served as county councillor for Gogarth Mostyn since 2017, having previously been deputy leader and held other cabinet positions. She is also a current town councillor in Llandudno.
She said that Reform UK had a “manifesto of common-sense policies” and would “deliver change at local government, the Senedd, and in Westminster”.
The Welsh Conservatives have been asked to comment.
Responding to a question on whether we can expect more defections from other parties, Reform UK said they “engage in regular conversations with members of all parties and independents,” but that Reform “don’t comment on private conversations”.
