The downfall of Andrew RT Davies

Emily Price 

Andrew RT Davies’ one man mission to out-Farage Farage has ended with him being put out to pasture by his own frustrated group.

The most senior Tory in Wales handed in his resignation on Tuesday (December 3) shortly after winning a vote of confidence by a whisker.

The vote should have been held as a secret ballot but was gerrymandered by the Tory leader to be a show of hands after his motion for a rule change was supported by Laura Anne Jones.

Despite winning the motion with 9 votes to 7 – the MSs who staged the coup were ready to corner Davies with letters of resignation.

James Evans, Tom Giffard, Altaf Hussain, Natasha Asghar, Peter Fox, Sam Rowlands and Sam Kurtz all voted against their leader.

Halal

The revolt had been simmering away under the surface since the summer recess when far-right riots broke out in parts of England following the tragic dance class murders.

During a time when politicians had a responsibility not to inflame the situation further, Mr Davies posted a number of comments to X, formerly Twitter, making incorrect claims about Halal meat in Welsh schools.

One of his social media posts went viral after it attracted the attention of anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson.

The Hala meat saga reached a new level when the Muslim Council of Wales very bravely called out the Tory leader, branding him a “Islamophic race baiter”.

Mr Davies’ two Muslim MSs appeared to be collateral damage in his campaign for clicks on social media.

Natasha Asghar’s constituency was daubed with offensive racist graffiti.

Stunt

Mr Davies launched himself into a fresh row when his team constructed a home made ballot box at the Vale of Glamorgan show to canvass the public on whether they thought the Welsh Parliament should be abolished.

Team Davies thought the buckets and balls game was a jolly jape – but it received a backlash from senior Tory figures and MSs who publicly condemned the stunt.

As it became clear supporters of Mr Davies wanted the group to adopt an anti-Senedd policy ahead of the next election – some MSs began to discuss whether he was the right person to lead them into 2026.

But by the time politicians returned to the Welsh Parliament after the summer, the heat had gone out of the situation and the mutiny appeared to abate…

Until October, when Mr Davies’ chief advisor and Twitter controller, George Carroll, stood to be the next Welsh Conservative chairman.

During his campaign, Mr Carroll promised 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.

Mr Davies was the only member of the Senedd Tories to back his aide – all the other MSs supported the winning candidate, Bernard Gentry.

Several sources I spoke to at the time viewed Mr Davies’ support of his advisor as warning that the Tory leader could turn against his MSs in the future.

Relevance 

In recent weeks, Mr Davies’ X feed has become more populist than ever as he jumped from one bandwagon to the next in the hopes of finding relevance with Farage supporters.

He was also censured by the Senedd for making incorrect claims about Wales’ 20mph speed limit on his social media channels.

Mr Davies then whipped up a frenzy in the tabloids over supposed plans to ban racist dogs from the Welsh countryside and he called for a BAME teacher recruitment scheme to be axed despite the idea being supported by one of his MSs.

For some time now, the Welsh Conservative Senedd group have become somewhat disconnected from the line being fed out through Mr Davies’ social media channels.

By the time he met with seven members of his group last week to discuss his position – it was clear he would not be able to regain their trust or their confidence.

Scrutiny

Mr Davies’ appalling treatment of minority groups via dog whistle social media posts has ultimately let to his downfall – but his fall from grace can also be party attributed to his aversion to scrutiny by the press.

The GB News regular has had a long term rule not to engage with Nation.Cymru on any stories – good or bad.

He and his diehard supporters view us as a nationalist outfit and therefore will not respond to our legitimate questions.

But in a healthy democracy – politicians speak to the press. Those that don’t often have something to hide.

Thankfully, there were many Conservative insiders and sources who have been more than happy to speak to Nation.Cymru – long may that continue.

A poll carried out by YouGov for ITV Wales and Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre has predicted that the Conservatives will fall to fourth place in the next Senedd election if something doesn’t change.

Social media clout chasing and online culture wars have eclipsed much of the Senedd’s shadow cabinet and the work they do for many months now.

The Welsh Conservatives now have a real chance to gain back their credibility and develop a policy based alternative for Welsh voters without looking to attract Reform supporters alone.

They must unite behind a new leader and get a proper grasp on an identity which can be agreed and embraced by all MSs – not just Mr Davies’ comms team.