Former Tory writing Reform’s election manifesto was a football hooligan

Martin Shipton

A former football hooligan who was banned from grounds across Britain after admitting his involvement in violent incidents at matches will have an instrumental role in writing Reform UK’s manifesto for the 2026 Senedd election.

Matthew MacKinnon, who until August 2022 was an adviser to Conservative MS James Evans, is now Reform UK’s Director of External Affairs and works closely with party leader Nigel Farage.

Earlier this week he appeared at an event in the Norwegian Church in Cardiff Bay, organised by Camlas, Wales’ largest lobbying company. Together with Llyr Powell, Reform’s candidate in next month’s Senedd by-election in Caerphilly, Mr MacKinnon answered questions about the party’s prospects and policies.

In 2012 he was one of five Swansea City fans given banning orders for three years, following incidents at matches involving the club. The bans were imposed at a civil hearing held at Swansea Magistrates’ Court.

Banned

Apart from being banned from Swansea City’s ground, then known as the Liberty Stadium, they were also ordered not to enter any town or city where Swansea City or Wales were playing away on the day of a match. The order was made on the basis that they had caused or contributed to violence and disorder, which they admitted.

The court agreed they should be banned despite never having been arrested or convicted of football-related violence. Superintendent Phil Davies said at the time that the bans were a warning to repeat offenders.

He said: “South Wales Police can and will continue to pursue civil banning orders against those who are frequently and actively engaged in incidents of disorder at football events regardless of whether they have been arrested or convicted. I’m sure that every Swansea City fan will agree that on the field results this season have been exceptional and going forward nobody will want to miss out on the continued success of the team.

“Therefore these cases should once again be seen as a deterrent to anyone thinking of getting involved in either organised or spontaneous disorder.”

Tory candidates

Ten years later in 2022, Mr MacKinnon and another of the five hooligans, Rhodri Boosey, were both Tory candidates seeking election to Powys County Council. Neither were successful.

The stadium bans were publicised at the time, with a spokesperson for the Welsh Conservatives stating: “Both Matthew Mackinnon and Rhodri Boosey have been open and honest about the incidents in question – which happened when they were much younger. There is no doubting their immature actions were serious and unacceptable, but they did not result in criminal convictions.

“Since then, both have gone on to work hard for their communities in a number ways, and now wish to further their commitment by standing as candidates in the upcoming elections.”

Mr Mackinnon said when the ban was raised with him: “At this time in my life my mother was undergoing treatment for cancer and was extremely ill. It was a time when I was very emotionally vulnerable. I was associated with individuals that I shouldn’t have been and was given a pre-emptive ban as I was made guilty by association. I have never in my life been charged with a criminal offence, and in my career I am expected to pass enhanced DBS checks.”

Think tank

Mr Mackinnon was the director of the right wing of the now defunct think tank the Centre for Welsh Studies, which he founded with Llyr Powell. Mr MacKinnon confirmed that the think tank had received funding from a United States-based global organisation called the Atlas Network that seeks to promote right-wing free market ideology across the world. The mission of Atlas, according to John Blundell, its president from 1987 to 1990 “is to litter the world with free-market think-tanks.”

Mr Mackinnon said in 2021: “We are the only think tank in Wales that supports the free market, so it’s not surprising that we should wish to work in partnership with the Atlas Network. We have received grants of a few thousand pounds from it.”

Meanwhile it has emerged that former Monmouth Tory MS Nick Ramsay, who was deselected by the party before the 2021 Senedd election, is now a member of Reform. Previously he had joined the Liberal Democrats, standing for the party unsuccessfully for Monmouthshire County Council in 2022.

A political source said: “His political journey makes no sense. He has jumped from the Conservatives to the Lib Dems, who believe Brexit was a huge mistake, and is now in Reform, a party led by a man who was one of the main architects of Brexit. It smacks of political opportunism.”

Mr Ramsay did not return our message.

‘Pantomime’ 

Someone working in the Senedd who did not wish to be named said: “We’re being taken for fools—sold the idea that these people represent change, when in reality it’s just two factions of the Senedd’s Tory Group wearing different coloured rosettes.

“Many would be shocked to learn that Francesca O’Brien, the Reform representative on this week’s Sharp End programme on ITV Wales, was working as a spokesperson for Tom Giffard, the very Tory MS she was debating with, until she defected to Reform in July. The pantomime we witnessed was carefully staged to convince voters that Reform in Wales is something new. It isn’t.

“This becomes even clearer when you realise that the person writing Reform’s manifesto was employed by the Conservatives until recently.

“Nick Ramsay’s journey—from the Tories to the Lib Dems and now to Reform—speaks volumes. It’s not about principles; it’s about what best serves their ambitions.”