Former Welsh Secretary reflects on ‘incredibly stressful’ time in Cabinet
Twm Owen, Local Democracy Reporter
Eighteen months since losing his place in government former Welsh secretary David Davies has said he didn’t realise at the time how “stressful” the job was.
The former Monmouth MP lost his place in Parliament at the July 2024 general election which ended the Conservatives’ 14 year run in government and for Mr Davies, 25 years representing the constituency.
He had been first elected to Parliament at the 2005 general election, Tony Blair’s last victory as Labour leader, as the Conservatives gained their first seats in Wales since being wiped out in the 1997 Blair landslide.
That paved the way for Welsh devolution and the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales, with Mr Davies elected the first Assembly Member for Monmouth at the inaugural 1999 election.
His political life has now come almost full circle as his time as an MP, and cabinet minister, was ended by another Labour landslide and he is back at the former National Assembly, now known as the Senedd, though working as the chief of staff for the Conservative group rather than an elected representative.
“It’s about looking after the Conservative group members and it’s not dissimilar to the role I had as a government whip in terms making sure people have what they need to do the job,” said Mr Davies explaining his current role in Cardiff Bay.
He also believes he brings the benefit of experience: “I’d like to think because I’ve been around for a long time if people are having problems they can talk to me because I’ve probably had those problems myself and I understand the stress MPs, and Senedd Members are under.
“I dare I say it understand it better than they do themselves because I don’t think they realise just how stressful their lives are. I didn’t realise until I stepped out of it.”
Mr Davies was appointed Welsh Secretary in October 2022 when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister following Liz Truss’s six week premiership, having been appointed a Wales Office minister in 2019.
But while Mr Davies admits he misses being an MP he also feels relieved of a burden.
“I enjoyed being a Member of Parliament and I’ve quite enjoyed the last 18 months not being a Member of Parliament. I’ll always see the silver linings of things. Being an MP is a great job, and it comes with a lot of responsibility but it does, if I’m honest about this – and I think every MP will agree – if you’re doing the job properly you don’t get a lot of free time. It’s a seven day a week job.
“I don’t want say I wouldn’t like to be the MP still, because obviously I would, but I’m not particularly unhappy.
“The cabinet role was a funny one, it is an incredibly stressful job. I don’t see how anyone from any party would deny that. I’m not asking for any sympathy, I’m not doing it now and haven’t done it for 18 months, so there’s a small part of me, a very small part I have to say with this government, that almost feels sorry for anyone in cabinet because they’ll have no peace. From the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep they will be on the job.
“Quite often it was long journeys trying to be switched on for meetings having been driven in the back of a car, which I hate, I hate being driven in cars. You come out feeling half car sick and having a whole load of figures you’re trying to remember for a meeting and then off you go. Instead of five star meals in a hotel, you’re grabbing McDonald’s on the way. I’m not complaining about it, I enjoyed it but I’m not sort of waking up every morning thinking ‘ooh god, if only I was doing that today’. Not at all.
“This is all sounding like a whole load of whinges, and it’s not. I loved doing the job, I miss doing the job but there are plenty of aspects of it that I don’t miss at all.”
2026 will see a Senedd election in which Labour’s dominance of Welsh politics is expected to be seriously challenged and the Conservatives are also predicted to struggle, with polls indicating both Plaid Cymru and Reform could benefit.
Mr Davies, who isn’t standing in the Senedd election, said there is “no chance” he would become the latest in a long line of Conservatives to defect to Reform: “I’ve been a member of the Conservative Party since 1983. I first went and canvassed as a 13-year-old for Mrs Thatcher, and for a guy called Mark Robinson in Newport West who won. I can’t throw that away, 40 years.”
Despite appreciating the free time he’s had to spend with his family, or surfing at Rest Bay, Mr Davies is still open to making a Westminster comeback: “I don’t rule it in or out. I’m certainly not chasing after it, I don’t want to be standing at by-elections elsewhere, I don’t want to live anywhere else other than here. Whatever else I do I love living in Monmouth and Monmouthshire and I’ve had lots of good wishes from people.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Us in Monmouthshire really do not miss him. The hatred that him and his party treated both his monmouthshire constituents and Welsh people in general with was disgusting.
Every single Tory that walks through the doors of the senedd brings a small veneer of shame upon Wales and I’m rather upset that he’s found employment down there. After his appalling treatment of Wales I genuinely hoped he would leave and not come back.
A possible reason why he found the role of Secretary of State for Wales stressful is because it’s a defunct role in terms of getting things done. That role is in the hands of the Welsh Government. It means that he had two different bosses. Officially reporting to the Prime Minister in London while at the sale time actual power was in the hands of the Senedd. So his tenure as Secretary of State was a negative role preventing things getting done rather than a positive role of proactively getting those things done. The source of his stress may well… Read more »
It’s largely token gesture in terms of being able to implement new legalisation l, managing a budget etc. In the case of a Tory government, I feel its still important to have one though – as it ensures at least one Welsh voice at the cabinet table. Each evening, cabinet members have to sign off other departments business related to theirs, not having a Welsh viewpoint would be disadvantageous. Whether he was the right voice is another matter.
“Stressful”!!! The man needs to look up the meaning of “stressful”. He would not know stress if it hit him in his gob. I am willing to wager that most of the population of Cymru would swap their stress for his stress whilst he was in office.
Not sure what’s so stressful about the role of Secretary of State for Wales post-devolution. What exactly do they actually do?!