Andrew RT Davies accused of ‘making up excuses’ to justify ‘dog whistle’ Halal comments

Emily Price

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd Andrew RT Davies has been accused of making up excuses to justify “dog whistle” comments he made about Halal meat in Welsh schools.

Mr Davies appeared in an interview with S4C’s Catrin Haf Jones on Thursday evening (October 3) where he was grilled on the events of the summer which saw him accused of “Islamophobic race baiting” by the Muslim Council of Wales. 

Ms Jones asked the Tory leader why he gave a Welsh council only an hour and a half to respond to claims about Halal only lunch options before he published the allegation to X where it was later amplified by far-right figure Tommy Robinson.

He claimed he was told by one of his constituents that the only meal choice on offer for their child at school was “Halal food”.

He argued it was not unreasonable for an elected member to take up the issue on behalf of a constituent.

Letters

Mr Davies published his letter quizzing the Vale of Glamorgan Council on school lunch options to his social media channels in August where it went viral attracting a string of racist comments.

He went on to pen an opinion column for GB News titled, “‘Children SHOULD NOT be forced to eat Halal school lunches”.

Council Leader Lis Burnett later confirmed that school lunches across the Vale of Glamorgan offer “both Halal and non-Halal meat”.

Mr Davies published further letters to his social media accounts requesting information under freedom of information legislation from Welsh schools on whether they offered non-Halal options.

Proud

S4C’s Jones asked Mr Davies whether he was proud that he had given mileage to anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson with claims he didn’t even know to be true.

Mr Davies said: “I disagree with the accusation you put to me. At the end of the day, I am perfectly within my rights to raise constituents issues.

“You can get very excited about it as much as you want. I’ll stand up for my constituents and I’ll always do that and will put my correspondence out so people can see what I’m doing and at the ballot box people make that choice.

“But I disagree with the proposition you’ve just put to me.”

‘Car crash’

Asked whether it was responsible for a leader to make public accusations online before they are proven, Mr Davies said he was showing he was being “proactive”.

He added that he will not change his ways saying, “I am who I am and I will continue to do what I’m doing.”

A Welsh Conservative source described the interview as a “car crash”.

Plaid Cymru’s Mabon ap Gwynfor said Mr Davies’ “excuse” that he was sharing the case publicly in order to be transparent was not a “credible defence”.

He said: “Andrew RT Davies only gave the Council an hour and a half to respond to his Halal email before posting the letter on Twitter/X. I doubt whether his own office responds to constituents emails within that time.

“When challenged by Catrin Haf Jones about this his defence was that he was simply being transparent by sharing cases publicly.

“This might be a credible defence if he published other letters and cases on his X account, but a cursory scroll through shows that this isn’t the case.

“So, either he doesn’t do much work or he made an excuse up to try and justify the dog whistle. People will have to come to their own conclusions.”

Mr Davies’ Halal comments over the summer led to members of his own shadow cabinet publicly distancing themselves from him, including Muslim MS Natasha Asghar and Peter Fox.

Several senior Conservative figures including the shadow Welsh Secretary, Byron Davies and former Senedd leader Lord Nick Bourne also called out his behaviour.