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New Welsh Tory leader spells out how he intends to defeat Labour and Reform and become First Minister

12 Dec 2024 32 minute read
Martin Shipton (L) and the new Welsh Conservative Senedd group leader Darren Millar

Nation.Cymru’s Martin Shipton met the new Welsh Conservative Senedd group leader Darren Millar for a wide-ranging discussion, including how he plans to become First Minister after the next Senedd election in May 2026.

MS: First of all, I think we need to talk a little bit about the circumstances under which you became the leader. Obviously there were people within the group who were disaffected with the old regime. Andrew RT Davies was claiming there was a plot against him. What role did you play in all that?

DM: Well look, I was Andrew RT Davies’ Chief Whip. I was loyal to Andrew to the end, as you would expect a Chief Whip to be. But of course there were differences of opinion about style, I think it’s fair to say. But Andrew has been a pretty formidable leader – even his political opponents recognise that. Securing those seats in the 2021 election – our biggest ever election results in the Senedd. And anyone who’s served such a long time as leader, although there was a short period when Paul Davies took the helm, I think is due some respect. He has made his mark in Welsh politics – I don’t think anybody could deny that.

MS: What would you say went wrong, to the extent that nearly half the group wanted him out?

DM: Look – as I say, there were differences of opinion on style. That’s the best way I can describe it. Clearly there were people who were speaking to news outlets like yours, expressing their opinions. It’s a matter for them to clarify those opinions if they want to.

Credible policies

MS: My perception, for what it’s worth, is that we got to a point where what was the official opposition was no longer in a position where it was putting forward policies that were credible as a potential alternative government. That is the role of an official opposition. And that what had happened was that the function of the opposition seemed to a degree to have declined to a point where a lot of the activity was on social media, and that there was an obsession with a small number of niche ideas, for example jumping on the 20mph bandwagon. We then strayed eventually into rather unpleasant racist waters. And I think that was really quite damaging to the party.

There was also this attempt, as I’ve characterised it, to out-Farage Farage, where you had this embrace of populism. Really, I think people expect more of an official opposition. There are a lot of criticisms to be made of the Labour government, as we know. I’ve seen you in action in both the chamber and committee, and frankly I think you’ve done quite a good job – I won’t hide from saying that – holding them to account. But the image that was created by the party was one that was sniping rather than ;presenting a credible, positive alternative.

DM: As I said when I took over this role unexpectedly last week, I want to set out a positive vision for the future of Wales. That’s what I believe is the job of a party that wants to be in government to do. I want to be the next First Minister – I make no secret of that. And that means that we’ve got to inspire people to come and vote for us. I think there’s perhaps over the years – and I’m as guilty as other people of being party to this – we’ve spoken too much of what we’re against rather than what we’re for. And that’s why I am determined to define us by what we are for in the future, under my leadership, and you’ll hear us talking about the plans we have to fix Wales, and those many problems and challenges that people encounter each and every day.

Whether that is their desperation very often trying to get a home of their own, whether it’s the challenges they face trying to get the appointments that they need, the tests that they need, the surgery that they need in our health service. Whether it’s those pretty concerning standards in our schools – and there are some excellent schools in Wales, don’t get me wrong. But when the system is turning out functionally illiterate learners, there are big problems. So we’ve got to identify the solutions we want to bring to the table to fix those problems – and that’s what I’m determined to do. I’ll be unveiling a Shadow Cabinet later on today, and that will be the team that will carry us through into those elections, and help to define what we are for, and the solutions that we want to bring forward to fix some of these issues that have been caused by pretty lacklustre Labour governments and a Labour Party that has taken Wales for granted for a long time.

Double challenge

MS: We’re less than 17 months away from the election, so it’s not long at all. And I suppose in a strange way you’ve got a bit of a double challenge. You’ll obviously be having a go at the Labour administration, which has been around since 1999, but in addition you’ve got the challenge of Reform, which has taken quite a lot of votes away from the Conservatives. If we look at the opinion polls, recent polls were saying that four parties were pretty close, but there were one or two where the Conservatives were in fourth position. So how do you go about reclaiming the position that you had as a the official opposition, which gives a certain degree of credibility and kudos to the party, when you’ve got to deal with not simply holding the Labour government to account – and I suppose in a way it’s easier to do that, because there is a lot to have a go at with the Labour government, whereas you’ve got this populist, insurgent party, Reform UK, which is very much based on the personality of one person, Nigel Farage, who doesn’t even live in Wales or have anything really to do with Wales. And yet there are a lot of people who are supporting Reform because they have been impressed by him, by what they’ve seen of him on TV, social media and all of that.

Last week my wife went to IKEA to pick up some shelves. She needed a taxi to come home and had a conversation with the taxi driver, who said to her that he and everyone he knew was going to vote for Reform. So how do you deal with this joint challenge- one, having a go at the Labour Party and exposing the bad things it’s done while also putting forward a positive alternative, but also dealing with the populism of Reform, whose popularity doesn’t seem to rely on any specific Welsh policies at all?

DM: For me, I’m absolutely determined that we need to win some Reform voters back, but I want to take votes from the Labour Party. Plaid Cymru, disaffected Lib Dems as well. I’m not going to concentrate in any one particular direction. The solutions that we bring forward will be sensible solutions that you’d expect from a government in waiting. I saw those polls, which effectively, if you take in the margin of error, put four parties neck and neck. That gives me great hope and optimism for the future, because I think it’s perfectly credible for me to be able to tell ;people that we’re within grasping distance of being the biggest party in the next Senedd.

That’s a perfectly possible outcome – and I think if people understand it’s a perfectly possible outcome, that’s when they begin to look in a bit more detail. They get the magnifying glass out and there’s a bit more scrutiny about what you stand for and whether you are really up to the job of running a country. And while someone like Mr Farage has obviously got a golden tongue, he’s got a following, if you like, he’s got a great media platform presence because he’s the leader of a party, he’s got his own programmes and things like that on news media like GB News. He’s bound to have the opportunity to get his messages out there because of all those things. And as you and I both know, there’s insufficient focus and insufficient scale in Welsh media for people to get those messages across the country. So that’s why I’m going to be telling my activists in the Welsh Conservative Party, ‘you’ve got to work doubly hard to get our messages out’. And they will be positive messages. I’m determined to make sure that we are positive, because our country needs an injection of hope and optimism about the future. Almost every person I spoke to during recent by-election campaigns and the most recent general election campaign, they were dour about the future, and they need that dose of optimism to believe things can be different and things can change.

I think it’s starting to dawn on people, because of that polling and the collapse in Labour support, because let’s not forget, Reform aren’t just picking up votes from the Conservatives, they’re picking up significant numbers of votes in places like the Valleys from the Labour Party too. They’re a challenge for us all because of the insurgent sort of identity of the party. But we’ve seen all this before, haven’t we? We saw it with UKIP. Eventually Nigel Farage fell out with his own party. There was a divorce of him from the party, and the party collapsed. We saw it with the Brexit Party – exactly the same again. And I would predict that something similar might happen again in the future, so far as Reform is concerned. Whether that is before or after the election, I don’t know, but that is a huge risk I think for people that we need to inform them about, as we go into those elections.

Legacy

MS: To what extent do you think that the legacy of the last Conservative UK government, with the criticisms there were of Boris Johnson’s behaviour, for example, the Liz Triss Budget debacle and all of that is still an issue, is still live? Because that was obviously damaging to the Conservative Party and had a significant impact on the result of the general election this year. Do you think that people have now forgiven the Conservative Party, have they moved on, or what?

DM: We definitely got a good hiding, didn’t we, at the last general election. It was a challenge for us. The good thing about clear results at general elections is it gives an opportunity for reflection and people to come back together. We’re seeing that now, I think, in the party. We’ve got a new leader in Kemi Badenoch. She wants to renew our party across the UK, including here in Wales. I want to help her with that project. I’ll be forthright in sharing my views with her, as you would imagine, and making sure that Wales is an important part of her programme.

I want, as I say, to inject this hope and optimism into our support base, into our voter base, and then inspire people to get on board with this national mission to change this country for the better after this 25-year period when the Labour Party has been ruling the roost in Wales. It’s time we knocked them off their perch, frankly – and that’s within grasp. And that’s why I said I’m excited, because I think that there is a real prospect of us being able to have the largest number of MSs of any political group in the Senedd, and an opportunity to have a non-Labour First Minister for the very first time.

Darren Millar MS – Photo Senedd Cymru

MS: Do you think Boris Johnson was good for Wales, good for the UK?

DM: Well Boris Johnson took us out of the EU. I know many people were divided about that referendum result. But someone had to get through and navigate that process. It was a difficult process and I’m glad that our country is now beginning to heal from those divisions. What’s important now is that my party gets behind the leadership of Kemi Badenoch, who I think is a formidable person. She’s values driven and she will deliver some change. Love Maggie or hate Maggie, as many people of course did in Wales, she was a values driven person as well, and she achieved great things. I think it was very telling. Some of that recent polling suggested that Maggie was more popular in Wales than the current Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer.

MS: Margaret Thatcher, of course, was one of the architects of the European Single Market. The Conservative Party now is wholly against the Single Market – it doesn’t want us to be in the Single Market because of the issue of freedom of movement. But even though we’re out of the Single Market, there has been, under both the previous Conservative administration and the current Labour one, record numbers of people coming into the UK. So they have freedom of movement, whether we like it or not. Do you think Brexit has been a good thing for Britain? What would you point to and say, this is what Brexit has achieved? Most economists would say to you that Britain has actually lost out as a result of being out of the Single Market.

DM: And I remember most economists predicting like Nostradamus that our economy would completely collapse, that we’d be in tatters. Of course, the facts don’t bear that out. The pound didn’t collapse, we have seen growth – better growth than the Euro zone in recent years, and I think that’s a positive thing. Regardless of what people’s opinions were on the whole Brexit issue and which way they voted, I think there is a desire now amongst the public to move on from that, make the best of the opportunities that we have now to be a global trade partner in all sorts of different ways, and to maximise those opportunities around the world.

There’s no doubt that immigration has been a challenge – it’s been a challenge both within the EU and without the EU. North America’s got problems with immigration as well. And that’s because the West is an attractive place to many people around the world who are living under terrible oppression in places where there’s no freedom to the extent that we enjoy the freedoms that we have here in the West. We’ve got to work together with international partners to get a grip on these things and to make sure that we can spread that hope and optimism into those nations too. Of course the situation in places like Syria is very concerning as well at the moment, with a power vacuum there, and we don’t know what will emerge.

So there are always going to be global things going on around the world that are difficult to contend with, but my own personal view is that we are better off outside of the EU because we’re able to make those decisions ourselves, in a way we were not able to do before. I always want to make sure that my party here puts Wales first, that my party across the UK puts the UK’s interests first. And I believe that’s what every Conservative is about.

Small boats

MS: But in terms of dealing with the small boats issue, for example, it’s more difficult that we’re out of the EU because the French do not have to provide us with the sort of protection from people coming over here that they would have if we were still in the EU.

DM: Of course the small boats issue has been a problem of many years in the making, really, and if you look at the challenges that even Ireland is facing with immigration, where it’s a very hot topic and has been in the recent Irish general election. I think you’ll find that immigration is a problem across the whole of the EU. Whether you’re in the EU or outside of the EU, Europe has had this issue and these challenges, as have other parts of the world too. But I am determined that we focus here in Wales on the devolved powers that the Senedd has, and that means that while immigration will be an issue of discussion, it’s not going to be something that I or my Senedd team can influence to a huge extent. So I’m more focussed on the NHS, our education system, making sure we get the investment in transport, addressing some of these terrible regional inequalities in terms of access to services and investment in capital infrastructure. They’re the issues that I want to turn my attention to – the ones that we can solve from within Wales, and particularly if we get into government, and that’s the prize that we’re all aiming for.

MS: Give me a flavour of the kind of measures that you would introduce that would make life better.

DM: I only took the helm last Thursday, so I am not going to be able to unveil any detailed policy manifestos. But I will tell you the sort of values that inspire me. I’m pro freedom of choice, I’m pro personal responsibility, I’m pro home ownership, I’m pro business, I’m pro farming, I’m pro the countryside, I’m pro devolution, I’m pro Wales, but I’m also ;pro Union. These are the values that drive me and that will underpin all of those policies which we will begin to unveil as we progress into the early part of the New Year.

I’ll be working very closely with my Shadow Cabinet team and my Chief of Staff [former Secretary of State for Wales David TC Davies] will make sure that the resources in my group office are able to support them in developing those solutions, so we can fix Wales, which is broken, I’m afraid to say, after 25 years of Labour ruling the roost, with a bit of support of course from the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru.

Devolution 

MS: You say you’re in favour of devolution. Some of the members of your group have flirted with the Abolish the Assembly concept. We know there was that stunt at the Vale of Glamorgan Show, for example, which Andrew RT Davies was involved with and Joel James. Will you make it a very serious matter for people who pursue that particular line? Would you actually consider withdrawing the whip from people who were advocating that the Senedd should be abolished?

DM: I haven’t seen any evidence of anybody in the Conservative group in the Senedd advocating the abolition of the Senedd. Everybody here stood on a manifesto which was pro devolution and pro Wales. That will always be the position of the Welsh Conservatives. You can’t roll back devolution in Wales without rolling it back in Scotland and the Mayoralties around the rest of the UK. It’s for the birds frankly to argue for those things. So it’s not going to happen on my watch. We are very much pro devolution.

That is the settled will of the overwhelming majority of people in Wales. Of course there’s a minority of people out there who support the abolition of this place, and there is a minority of people as well who want to have a completely independent Wales. But I’m with the majority on this, and that is that devolution can be a good thing, and is a good thing, and that the problem in Wales is not with devolution, it’s with the Labour Party having run Wales for 25 years. You can’t have a one party state and have a thriving democracy.

MS: Nevertheless there were some of your Members behaving in what could be characterised as a rather crass way in terms of flirting with the idea of abolishing devolution. Was that a clever thing to do – to be having this bucket where people were putting in different coloured balls at the Vale of Glamorgan Show? It came across as completely stupid to me,

DM: It’s not something I would do. I think that answers the question.

MS: Will you tell them not to do it again?

DM: Well it’s not something I would do or encourage. It’s for individual Members to justify their actions and decisions they take. But let me be clear: devolution is here to stay and in order to make the most of it, we need an alternative government to the one that we’ve got.

UK Labour

MS: What would you say about the way that the UK Labour Party has performed since taking power in July?

DM: Very, very, very poorly. I think what has been astonishing is seeing the way that the Labour government here has changed its tune to the extent that it simply now is constantly pandering and kowtowing to some clear instructions that are coming from the other end of the M4. And that’;s very disappointing, because I think that there is power and strength when people come together, and the Senedd has spoken on many occasions in a united way about a number of things, including the need to make sure that there’s a Barnett consequential – a funding consequential – from the HS2 project. Now all we get is a lot of fudge on those issues from the Labour government here. So yes, the performance has been woeful.

There’s a lot of buyer’s regret, if you like, that’s going on from those people who voted for what they thought would be positive change. We’ve seen broken promises already on things like the employers’ national insurance, which is having dire consequences not just for the private sector but also for the public sector. I think it was very telling that neither the Cabinet Secretary for Finance here – Mark Drakeford, the former First Minister – or the First Minister has any idea of the cost of the rise in employers’ national insurance is going to be to the public sector. They still haven’t got a handle on that, even though obviously they ought to by now. And we’re told they won’t know until May or June of next year, which is obviously part way through the new financial year. So that’s not a basis on which local authorities can plan, and I’m very concerned about the impact on other people who are delivering public services under contract to the public sector as well.

So it’s been a disaster, particularly on that front and of course pensioners across Wales are absolutely livid about the decision to withdraw their Winter Fuel Allowance. We know that that’s going to have a big impact. We’ve seen people already facing problems with the cold, with no electricity as a result of recent storms and the impact that has had. Well, if people are having to make difficult choices because they’ve got financial problems, then it’s going to be a very tough winter. The Welsh Government, by its own admission, is expecting about 4,000 premature deaths due to the cold. That’s not a great way to start.

Former First Minister Vaughan Gething – Image: Senedd Cymru

MS: How damaging do you think the Vaughan Gething scandal has been to the Labour Party in Wales?

DM: Well, it caused lots of divisions. They have obviously tried to regroup and unite around Eluned Morgan. But it’s not for me to try to be a person who’s personal about people in politics. That’s never been my style either. But clearly it was very damaging, his leadership of the Labour Party in Wales. He was beset by scandals from the outset and quite rightly they’ve tried to deal with it and move on. And that’s the right thing for them to do.

MS: We’ve got a new electoral system – closed list. All the evidence points to the fact that it’s going to be even more difficult for any single party to get a majority. As we all know, the Labour Party, even though it has hegemony, if you like, in Wales, and has done since devolution and long before, was never able to win 31 seats [a majority in the 60-seat Senedd]. All the indications are that it’s going to be impossible for a single party to win an overall majority under the new system. That brings into play coalitions. Your Chief of Staff [David TC Davies] has gone on the record saying that he would at least in theory be open to the idea of a coalition with Plaid Cymru. Other journalists have asked you about the possibility of some kind of link up with Reform. What are your thoughts about working with other parties and creating a new administration which presumably would be non-Labour.

DM: I’ve made it clear that I will work with anybody to get rid of the Lacour Party’s dominance in Wales and to remove them from government. I think it’s in the interests of the people of Wales to see the difference an alternative administration can make. I have a local government background. I’ve been in broad coalitions in order to kick the Labour Party out in local government, and it is perfectly possible to develop a programme of government, I believe, with other political parties where you leave your differences to one side and where you can be grown up about delivering a programme which you can all have an interest in making work for the benefit of people across Wales. And that’s where I’m at. I will work with anybody to get rid of this failing Labour government. I’m determined to do it

MS: Of course when you first got elected to the then Assembly in 2007, that very nearly happened, didn’t it?

DM: It did, and you know … I have to be honest with you. That time, when those discussions were taking place, it was difficult. I had to bite my tongue sometimes, but I remember reviewing the programme for government which had been negotiated, masterfully if I may say by Nick Bourne and David Melding on our side with the leaders of the other parties.

The programme for government I could vote for. It was unpalatable, obviously, to be going into a coalition – it always is. You’d far rather govern on your own, wouldn’t you. It’s always unpalatable to go into a coalition with people who have a very different ideology to you. But it’s perfectly possible to agree a programme for government that can take you to the places where there is some overlap in terms of what you’re aiming for. And that was the case then, and that’s why I fully backed that potential Rainbow Coalition, and was extremely disappointed that it wasn’t pulled off due to the Liberal Democrats being all over the place, frankly, which gave a bit of breathing space for an alternative to be worked up.

Faith

MS: Just finally, I’m going to touch on your faith. You won’t remember this, but I think it was just before you were elected in 2007 that I rang you up. I’ll tell you what had happened then – and the same thing has happened extremely recently, within recent days. On the occasion in 2007 I had been contacted by somebody from another political party who was drawing attention to the fact that you were involved in an evangelical church, and that there was somebody else involved in the church who had rather distasteful homophobic views etc. I’ll let you into a professional secret here. When I rang you up I didn’t know you …

DM: I can remember the telephone call. I was sat in a car park in Eirias Park, Colwyn Bay. I think it was the first time we’d ever spoken.

MS: Obviously the person who contacted me was thinking you were likely to get elected, even though it was a Labour held seat at the time. What I was doing at the time was testing you to see the extent of your commitment to your faith, but more importantly to establish whether or not you subscribed to the same kind of, shall we say, reactionary views as the other ;person who was involved with the church. I had probably a 10 or 15 minute conversation with you, and I came to the conclusion that you were somebody who was more sophisticated than I’d been led to believe, and that in a sense it would not be possible to pin any allegations of reactionary beliefs on you. Just the other day I was contacted by somebody from another political party who was raising the same issue. What I said to them was, I’m not keen on this whole narrative of guilt by association.

I want to hear what the individual concerned has to say, because if we followed the precept that was being put to me, we would be put in a situation where we would perhaps be criticising and calling out every single Muslim representative, both in the Senedd and in local councils, because if you scrutinise Islamic belief, in the same way as you can scrutinise Christian belief, you can come up with discreditable statements. And if we’re going to tar everyone with the same brush, just because they subscribe to a particular faith, it wouldn’t be fair. I think people should be judged on the basis of what they say, rather than trying to tarnish them by association with somebody else who may share the same faith but has a different perspective on things. In terms of your own beliefs, are you in favour of gay marriage?

DM: Well I wouldn’t have voted for gay marriage, but I respect the outcome of political votes and the democratic system. That’s why I’m a democrat. Quite clearly that decision has been made in a democratic way and I certainly wouldn’t seek to roll it back in any way, shape or form. That’s my position on that issue.

MS: What about abortion?

DM: Well I’ve always been pro life, I’ve never made any secret of that. But I’m perfectly respectful of people who come to different conclusions, with their conscience, and that’s a matter for them.

MS: Obviously in the United States there’s been huge controversy over the abolition of the Roe v Wade judgement [which gave women a federal right to abortion]. You wouldn’t agitate for any change in the law relating to abortion?

DM: I’ve never agitated for any change in the law in relation to abortion. But I have a clear view which is informed by my conscience.

MS: Which is that you’re …

DM: I’m pro life.

MS: Pro life? That means anti abortion.

DM: I think that there are alternative options to abortion, which I prefer. And that is giving an unborn child the opportunity to live a life.

MS: But you wouldn’t stop somebody who wanted to have an abortion from having one?

DM: It’s a matter of choice for individuals. I’m pro freedom of choice. I made that clear to you earlier on. It’s one of those things that makes me a Conservative.

MS: Who did you want to win the US presidential election?

DM: Ah – good question. Well I think if I was over there, I would have voted for Donald Trump, actually.

MS: He’s a criminal.

DM: Look – he’s a convicted criminal. I accept that. But I would have voted for Donald Trump.

MS: On what basis?

DM: On the basis that I preferred him as a candidate to Kamala Harris.

MS: She’s not a criminal.

DM: She may not be a criminal, but she’s also a person that I wouldn’t have voted for.

MS: People have said to me that she was the wrong choice of candidate for the Democrats, because she was a West Coast liberal.

DM: Look, if there had been another Democratic candidate, I might have supported them, but I didn’t feel that she was a person that was ready to lead what is a very important international partner for the UK.

MS: Which brings me right the way back to another point, which is that it’s often been said that the Labour Party has lost touch with its original roots, and that it no longer represents working class people in the way that it used to – and that, as you touched on, a lot of such people are now voting for Reform. How can you persuade those people who have been voting for Reform, who may be former Labour voters, to vote for the Conservatives?

DM: Well look. I’m from a working class family. I was a free school meals child. I was the first person in my family to get a degree. For me, the revelation that I was a conservative was quite a surprise, because my family had always voted Labour. I can remember in the early 90s, when I first joined the party, getting hold of the different party manifestos and thinking this is the one that makes more sense to me, and this is the stuff that my family believes in. We had a chat as a family then and I joined the Conservative Party. It was quite clear to my family that they were Conservatives as well.

They believed in hard work, that you should have the opportunity to get some place in life with the support of the country, with government help to try to facilitate that. So I’ve been there. I’m from a working class background and I represent working class communities. I was first elected in local politics in Towyn, which is a working class community. A beautiful place to live, Towyn and Kinmel Bay, with my family. My parents still live in the same home I was brought up in – a little bungalow on the north Wales coast. And I think if I can go on that political journey, other people can too. It’s all about trying to express political views and values in a way that connects with people and helps them understand where they’re at and truly what they believe. And I think you’ll find that the overwhelming majority of working class people across Wales are people who believe that hard work should pay and people should benefit from it. They are Conservative values at the end of the day, and I need to persuade people that we are the party they should choose to lend their votes to at those next elections.

MS: What’s the clinching point to persuade people to vote Conservative rather than Reform?

DM: The clinching point will be we’re a party of government, we’re not a protest movement, we’re not a single issue campaign force. We are a party that is ready to take the reins of the Welsh Government and will do a good job – and we’re competent enough to do a good job. And that’s why you will see us talking about a range of devolved issues rather than things which are not devolved to the Senedd. And in addition, our campaign won’t be focussed on one person in the way that Reform’s might be all about the charisma of their leader.

We will present a team that is ready to run departments, and that has solutions to fix those everyday problems. Because as I said earlier on, Wales is broken, we’re going to develop a plan to fix it and we will be a government in waiting at those next elections. I’m determined that will be the case, and that is how we will present ourselves to the public between now and then.


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Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
24 days ago

Thanks Martin…the man is a clear and present danger to Cymru and all we hold dear…

He would vote for Trump and he drags Christ into the gutter with him…!

Thanks again…£4.5 million in their back pocket and a blank cheque in the USA…

Jeff
Jeff
24 days ago

Ah. OK. Faith is important but will vote for a criminal and woman abuser and someone who has never tried to storm the capital and send the deadly mob after your Vice President and Pelosi and abused a woman and admitted it is his MO vs someone who has done none of those things. Third option for Mr Millar was none of the above had he the choice. UK lawmakers seem happy to overlook this for a political principle yet claim they are for laws and protection’s. But I suppose Cons pegging noses over the crimes, cheating on wives, and… Read more »

Adrian
Adrian
24 days ago

People know what the Tories stand for: they’ve just witnessed 14 years of it, and it ain’t anyone’s idea of conservatism. Badenoch is not what she claims to be and she’ll affect no change. She’s been rubbish at the despatch box – even against the dreadful automaton Starmer. Millar scoffs at Farage falling out with his parties, which is bit rich after four Tory leaders in two and a half years. People know what Welsh Labour stand for as we’ve had it for 25 years, and it’s been a slow-motion car crash. Westminster Labour? They stand for the complete opposite… Read more »

Last edited 24 days ago by Adrian
Cablestreet
Cablestreet
24 days ago
Reply to  Adrian

As you say, of course people know what the tories stand for, 14 years of dragging this country down the pan. Unfortunately the exodus to Refuk is just going to result in another round of Tory incompetence under the Refuk banner if your lot get into power.
And as for mass immigration, blame Brexit.

Last edited 24 days ago by Cablestreet
Adrian
Adrian
22 days ago
Reply to  Cablestreet

Well, we’ll certainly know what dragging the country down looks like by 2029. I don’t think it was Brexit as such that fuelled mass immigration: it was more to do with putting that fat, lazy, grifter Johnson in charge of it.

Blinedig
Blinedig
24 days ago

Once again, an article implying that there is such a thing as a Welsh Tory Party to be leader of. There is the UK-wide unionist lot, and that’s all. And as for placing the words Welsh and Tory next to each other on the page, don’t get me started.

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