Former Tory leader calls on Andrew RT Davies to make clear stance on Muslim hatred
Emily Price
Former Welsh Conservative leader Lord Nick Bourne has called on Andrew RT Davies to make clear his “stance against anti Muslim hatred and Islamophobia”.
The Tory politician served as his party’s leader in the Welsh Assembly from August 1999 until May 2011.
His made his intervention after the leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd and a backbench MS were accused of racism and Islamophobia.
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth said: “The Welsh Conservative Party and indeed the Conservative party at a UK level is a one nation party. Racism is pernicious and has no part to play in our party and must never have .
“The party and party leader in the Senedd should make clear its stance against anti Muslim hatred and Islamophobia in the light of understandable concerns being expressed in the Muslim community and elsewhere.”
Condemned
Lord Nick Bourne has joined Tory MSs Natasha Asghar and Peter Fox in publicly condemning racism within their own party.
Peter Fox said: “There is no room for racism in my party, or indeed in any party, and there should be no tolerance of it in any form. Where it does raise its ugly head it needs to be dealt with.”
Ms Asghar, one of two Muslim MSs in the Tory Senedd group said: “Whilst there might be a few with totally warped and unacceptable views, the majority of us are decent, tolerant, and accepting people.”
Her Newport constituency, which has the second largest Muslim community after Cardiff, was recently daubed with Nazi symbols and Islamophobic messages.
Pressure has been mounting on Andrew RT Davies after the Muslim Council of Wales accused him of “Islamophobic race baiting”.
Their comments came after the Tory leader demanded answers from Welsh councils about non-Halal options and penned an opinion column headlined, ‘Children SHOULD NOT be forced to eat Halal school lunches’.
Mr Davies went viral on X, formally Twitter, after the issue was amplified by far-right figure Tommy Robinson.
The most senior Tory in Wales says he is following up on the concerns of his constituents.
The Muslim Council of Wales said: “Andrew RT Davies is engaging in Islamophobic race-baiting, at a time when we require politicians to be the voice of reason and show moral leadership.
“The hamfisted attempts at dog-whistle racism may lead to more engagement online for Mr Davies, but have real consequences on our streets and in our mosques.”
Welsh Conservative Senedd members have become uneasy in recent days about their leader’s trademark abrasive social media style.
Slur
A text message also surfaced this week which showed a Tory backbencher making a racist slur.
The message was sent by Laura Anne Jones who branded the Chinese owners of TikTok, “chinky spies”.
She apologised for the racist term – but has not yet had the party whip withdrawn.
Earlier this year several other messages surfaced from a chat overseen by Ms Jones which included offensive remarks about “multiculturalism” and “gays” as well as cruel jokes about Natasha Asghar.
She is also currently under investigation by police and the Standards Commissioner for allegedly falsifying accounts.
Tory sources told us there could be plans for a leadership challenge but there are concerns that the group wouldn’t unite behind a successor.
Mr Davies has spent the day at the Eisteddfod in Pontypridd where he said he was offered “warm words of support”.
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It’s all getting a bit Father Ted now…
Andrew RT Davies is a ongoing joke. He’s the gift that just keeps on giving. The Welsh Conservatives are in deep trouble and they know it. Good. Roll on the 2026 Senedd election.
Not that I would vote for Bourne, I did at least have a little respect for him as a politician. It is telling that in his understated way, his criticism of Davies is scathing.
By the way, one does not need to (wrongly) contend that many nations are one in order to be anti-racist. That is the application of an imperialist position to a moral imperative. A strange combination …
‘Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth said: “The Welsh Conservative Party and indeed the Conservative party at a UK level is a one nation party. Racism is pernicious and has no part to play in our party and must never have ‘ Lord Bourne is a voice from the Tory party’s now virtually extinct ‘one nation’ past, when it was a party which, sixty years ago, I once tended to support. But these days, post-Johnson, it’s just become a right-wing jingoistic faction. His lordship has a choice: he can either openly accept the Conservative party’s radical change of direction, or at the… Read more »
This is like the headmaster calling in the ringleader bully of the gang to be disciplined but it never really worked even when I was in school where the two bullies in chief were called in many times. What fixed them in the end was being taken around the back of the bike sheds by their victims whose patience had run out. Now I’m not advocating vio….. oh, darn it. My pen’s run out of ink.
Doubt Andrew RT Davies will make a clear “stance against anti Muslim hatred and Islamophobia”, as he is deliberately trying to court the far-right/racist/islamaphobic vote. His favoured media outlet GB News, on which he regularly appears, is owned by someone who regularly likes racist tweets and today the channel is critical of the King for criticising the racist rioters!
The state of gb news at the moment, the whole bent is trying to blame others not the rioters, as well as labour. gbeebies are not mentioning the part the likes of farage (who is not a journalist and never will be and stoked the riots, i hear #farageriots is trending) and 30p (made another hotel claim that was actually nurses at a hotel) are supported by the station and has made some horrendous comments. They are actively stoking it now with the intent of blaming labour. Any of the Welsh Cons appear on this station again, all credibility for… Read more »