‘Cronyism’ allegations hit Reform UK in Wales
Martin Shipton
Discontent has broken out within Reform UK, with allegations that the party’s interim director in Wales is engaging in cronyism as she establishes branches across the country.
Led by Nigel Farage, the party got the third highest number of votes in Wales at the general election in July – a total of 223,018, or 16.9% of the votes cast. It didn’t win any seats in Wales, but took five in England, including Clacton in Essex where Mr Farage became an MP at his eighth attempt.
Reform came second in 13 of Wales’ 32 seats.
At the 2026 Senedd election, all Members will be elected by the Closed List system of proportional representation and Reform is hopeful of winning a sizeable chunk of the 96 seats.
Nation.Cymru has been contacted by a disgruntled member of Reform UK in Wales, who told us that Kirsty Walmsley, the interim director of the party in Wales, had been tasked to install chairpersons in new branches across Wales.
One of the chairpersons to be appointed is her father, Keith Barrow, a former Conservative leader of Shropshire County Council, who resigned after being found guilty of breaking the councillors’ code of conduct.
Standards committee
The complaint upheld by Shropshire’s standards committee concerned Mr Barrow’s failure in 2012 to declare a business relationship with a director of accountancy firm DRE when it was appointed to audit IP&E, the council’s wholly owned trading company. Both men were also directors of a separate company, Peakfast, that owned land in the area.
A report to the committee by Olwen Dutton, of law firm Bevan Britton, said: “Whilst I accept that this may be considered to be at the lower end of the scale, I find that Cllr Barrow offended against the principles of integrity, honesty and leadership set out in the council’s code of conduct at the time by failing to formally declare his relationship with DRE &Co when they were appointed as auditors to IP&E.”
Mr Barrow is now chairing Reform UK’s branch in Clwyd East, where Ms Walmsley was the Reform candidate at the general election, coming third.
Business partner
A Reform UK source told us: “As well as installing her father in Clwyd East, Kirsty has installed her father’s friend and business partner as chair in Alyn and Deeside.
“She is up for interview to be the permanent director of ReformUK Wales.
“Kirsty was a councillor in North Shropshire with her father. When Barrow was kicked out of the Tories he was brought into the Brexit Party fold – basically nobody else would have him.
“As a Brexit Party loyalist he got involved with Reform locally in Shropshire at the first opportunity.
“As a former leader of the council he had enough clout locally to ensure that Kirsty was selected as the North Shropshire by-election candidate in 2021 [when the Lib Dems overturned a massive Tory majority to take the seat].
“In 2023, as a then Parliamentary candidate and with her dad as a Brexit Party/Reform loyalist, a position came up internally within the party and as Kirsty needed a job she was installed into the role. It’s classic cronyism. Kirsty and her father also forgot to field a candidate for the recent Rhyl council by-election, which was won by the Tories.
Alternative
The Source added: “Reform UK is the alternative that many of us in Wales are seeking. However Walmsley and her father stationed in Shropshire are parachuting their preferred candidates into positions throughout Wales. Wales has many similarities to the rest of the UK, but equally has its own unique challenges that only those living in Wales understand.
“Like any young party there is naturally a reliance on volunteers. Reform UK has come of age. This cronyism could have a lasting impact on Wales if allowed to continue. The people of Wales need a strong voice in local government as well as the Senedd and Westminster. Walmsley and her father are failing at the first hurdle by not even fielding candidates in local by-elections,
“Turning Reform UK here in Wales into an Old Boys’ Club, rewarding failures in England with an opportunity to have a say here in Wales, demonstrates the contempt Kirsty Walmsley and Keith Barrow have for representative democracy.”
Welsh
When she was a general election candidate ion Clwyd East, a biography of her on Reform UK’s website stated: “I was educated at Llanfyllin High School, where I gained a basic knowledge of the beautiful Welsh language. I am now moving to Llangollen, where I have so many fond childhood memories. I am married to Jonathon and we have two children, Emily and Isaac, who I hope will get to enjoy picnics and paddling in the River Dee, just as much as I did.
“I believe I would make an excellent advocate for Clwyd East, having both real world and political experience. I started working life in my family’s carpet and flooring business and went on to have my own furniture business later. My experience as a parent makes me passionate about children, family and education, which I gave keynote speeches on at Reform UK’s first two national conferences. I also have political experience working behind the scenes for three MPs as a caseworker. So I know and understand exactly how to get issues resolved, which is one of the most rewarding parts of being a local MP.
“For me politics is not just about academic debates, removed from everyday life. It is about the personal way it affects us as individuals. I am a compassionate person, who will do everything within my power to help individuals, the community and country.”
Ms Walmsley has been invited to respond to the criticisms made of her by a Reform UK source.
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Well blow me down! Who would have thunk it? A political organisation established by the king of the grifters might actually attract more grifters? Good Lord.
What? Surely you don’t mean our Nigel, Clacton’s answer to Where’s Wally?
Is Caroline Jones of Reform UK Bridgend competing against Kirsty to become the permanent director in Wales?
Its a business. Not a political party. A platform for our Nige to peddle hate. Nige doesn’t want people to have an idea, unless its his idea’s.
As Reform is the bottom of the barrel in terms of political parties then perhaps it’s not surprising that it only attracts the slime at the bottom of the barrel as members.
They have no support in Cymru so it does not matter.
In my constituency in the north-east Reform secured, on 4th July, roughly double the votes which went to the Plaid Cymru candidate. So I don’t think – sadly – that we can write them off here quite as readily as you suggest.
Though ‘every cloud has a silver lining’, I suppose, and the silver lining in this instance is that Reform campaigning in Wales will very largely take votes from folk who would otherwise have voted Tory.
Lot of people voted for brexit, that event that was a massive self inflicted injury on a nation, nige was a cheer leader for that damage. Nige knows how to tap into certain peoples fears. I wont underestimate them, they bring nothing to the table apart from fear and hate.
Agree wholeheartedly.
Unfortunately, or more worryingly, they do. They came within a whisker in Llanelli thanks to a little help from far right UKIP.
None of them are up to the real job of politics, especially Farage. Whereas I don’t want to inadvertently give anyone a mental image of Nige naked, it’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes. However we know how many people were readily convinced the Emperor looked lovely! He knows how to push people’s racist and bigoted buttons. How to conflate unrelated issues and give people convenient scapegoats on which to hang their woes. He caused immense damage in the Brexit debate so shouldn’t be under estimated, even if his main talent is self promotion, limelight hogging and carelessly stirring the pot… Read more »
If the electorate are too thick to see through him and his bottom dwelling cronies, that’s a worry. True up to a point. However the other major parties in Wales also need to get their acts sorted out, otherwise there will be a void for Reform to fill. Reflect honestly on events since 2016 and you will conclude that little or nothing has been done by major parties to address the concerns of communities that tilted slightly towards Brexit in 2016. Just pouring scorn and derision is not a grown up response to people left behind by changes in society.
It’s not about pouring scorn on those that voted for them, it’s about ridiculing the scumbags that led them there.
This is what you can expect when you support a Limited Company instead of a democratic organisation