Support our Nation today - please donate here
News

Gwlad Gwlad candidate stood for party that wanted vote on claiming Monmouthshire for England

20 Nov 2019 3 minute read
Laurence Williams. Picture by Laurence Williams.

A candidate for the Welsh nationalist party Gwlad Gwlad in the Vale of Glamorgan stood three times as a candidate for a party that wanted a referendum on Monmouthshire being part of England.

Laurence Williams stood for the English Democrats party at the Erith and Thamesmead in the 2010 General Election and East Wickham council by-election in 2009.

He also stood for the party on the South East Wales regional list in the 2011 Welsh Assembly election.

Since 2007 the party have also put forward candidates in Monmouthshire, arguing for a referendum on taking the county out of Wales and into England.

Among the party’s other policies in 2010 were doing away with the Barnett Formula which “institutionalises discrimination against the people of England by ensuring that public spending in Scotland and Wales is far higher per head of population”.

Laurence Williams told Nation.Cymru however that he did feel Welsh and used to be a Plaid Cymru member.

“My family left there [Wales] in 1888, and made their way to London, I’m simply ‘going home’, so to speak,” he said.

“My association with the English Democrats some 11 years ago, after I’d left Plaid Cymru, was / is that they seek Independence from Wales and Scotland, thus Cymru and Alba would become independent by proxy.

“I wasn’t happy about the Monmouth bit, but was expected to take an interest given my Welsh heritage. Once I’d read about King Henry VIII’s annexations, I knew only too well that Monmouth is Welsh. And so are Hereford and Shropshire!”

 

‘Division’

Laurence Williams went on to stand in Old Bexley and Sidcup, where he still lives, as the Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship” candidate for Member of Parliament in the 2015 General Election.

The party’s manifesto railed against political correctness, saying it was “generating fear and division in neighbourhoods and communities”.

He also stood as the Christian Peoples’ Alliance candidate for the London region in the 2014 European Elections, before going on to be the 2018 Liberal Party Candidate (not the Liberal Democrats) in the local government elections for Sidcup.

Gwlad Gwlad have put forward three candidates in Wales at the General Election, standing in seats where Plaid Cymru have stepped aside as part of the Remain Alliance with the Liberal Democrats.

They are standing in Montgomery, Cardiff Central and the Vale of Glamorgan. The party have been contacted for comment.


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.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

55 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Clive Busson
Clive Busson
5 years ago

He sounds bonkers to me ! 🙂

Sid Cordle
Sid Cordle
4 years ago
Reply to  Clive Busson

No. Just likes helping lots of small parties. He’s a great guy!

Dave Brooker
Dave Brooker
5 years ago

Herefordshire often feels more Welsh than some parts of Wales, as does Oswestry, perhaps the future is a western regional government?

Leigh Richards
Leigh Richards
5 years ago
Reply to  Dave Brooker

Eh? Hopefully the future is a Welsh govt in an independent Wales

Hethin Bennett
Hethin Bennett
5 years ago
Reply to  Leigh Richards

Dream on, Plaid need a majority to start the ball rolling and never going to happen

Hethin Bennett
Hethin Bennett
5 years ago
Reply to  Dave Brooker

Oswestry is English and most the locals will fight over it, maybe a few farmers round the fringes wave a welsh flag but that;s it

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
5 years ago
Reply to  Hethin Bennett

It’s mainly English but you’ll always hear Welsh spoken there. Talk of a referendum on the issue has been mooted a few times in recent decades, but you personally will be relieved to know that there are no plans for a referendum in the foreseeable future. That doesn’t bother anyone in the least this side of the dyke, because Oswestry is a very nice town whose Welsh feel is still there for anyone who wants to find it., and although Wales is not laying claim to Croesoswallt, it will always be considered an honorary Welsh town — in England. Fun… Read more »

FactCheckCymru
FactCheckCymru
5 years ago

English Democrats: Crypto-fascists
Christian Party: Crypto-fascists
Gwlad Gwlad: You can probably fill this bit in yourselves.

Eos Pengwern
Eos Pengwern
5 years ago
Reply to  FactCheckCymru

Are you the Welsh Conservatives in disguise?

Huw Davies
Huw Davies
5 years ago
Reply to  FactCheckCymru

FCC – could also stand for “Fib Creating Clown” making it up as he/she goes along ! Such fun taking the p**s while anonymous.

GG need to be a touch more careful, welcoming new boys on the team without fully appreciating their backgrounds. There again we have far better resourced Unionist parties dropping huge clangers ( always or mostly dismissed as “oversights”) with Tories, Labour and Plaid producing live examples of assorted horrible bastards within last week or two. Just waiting for the next LibDem duffer to crawl out of the woodwork or most likely found importuning or kiddie molesting.

Jill o the South
Jill o the South
5 years ago
Reply to  Huw Davies

Dafis, you sound as if you know what you are talking about with this, especially the last sentence. He is standing against Alun Cairns for goodness sake. How can anybody look bad in comparison with him?

Huw Davies
Huw Davies
5 years ago

As for Mr Cairns and his rival candidates it looks increasingly like a parade of odds and sods with individual voters probably opting for either “party loyalty” or whatever looks like “least offensive”. There again it is much like that in many Welsh constituencies with some fairly dull, grey souls mixed in with an array of dodgy even deviant characters. Welsh politics is beginning to give off a very bad smell.

Fred
Fred
5 years ago
Reply to  FactCheckCymru

Not much Crypto about the ED

Hethin Bennett
Hethin Bennett
5 years ago
Reply to  FactCheckCymru

Gwlad Gwlad policies would have made Heinrich Himmler blush

Sid Cordle
Sid Cordle
4 years ago
Reply to  Hethin Bennett

Really? Which ones? Please give an example?

Sid Cordle
Sid Cordle
4 years ago
Reply to  FactCheckCymru

And what are you? A New Age liberal anti semite like Corbyn?

Eos Pengwern
5 years ago

This seems very much a storm in a teacup. Laurence has stood for other parties before. So what? This happens all the time. The Lib Dem candidate for Montgomeryshire, backed by Plaid Cymru, is a former Tory. There is an interesting question behind this, namely what the relationship should be between Welsh nationalism and English nationalism. They ought to be allies, because independence for one of the two countries strongly implies independence for the other. Unfortunately, English nationalism has tended to be associated in people’s minds with some very unsavoury organisations like the BNP and National Front. The English Democrats… Read more »

Leigh Richards
Leigh Richards
5 years ago
Reply to  Eos Pengwern

Storm in a tea cup? Really – have you seen what the so called ‘christian party’ he stood for in 2015 stands for? Does he still subscribe to the views he held when he stood for the Christian Party? Their stance on issues like same sex marriage, Islam and a woman’s right to choose are a bit reactionary to say the least. And why didn’t he object to the English Democrats policies on Monmouth and the Barnett formula at the time? And if you think the English Democrats aren’t far right you should check out their Wikipedia listing. Theyve accepted… Read more »

Eos Pengwern
5 years ago
Reply to  Leigh Richards

So you’re fine with Plaid Cymru endorsing a former Tory in Montgomeryshire?

Gareth Westacott
Gareth Westacott
5 years ago
Reply to  Eos Pengwern

….. or a niqab wearing anti-semite and Islamist on their election broadcast?

Ben Angwin
Ben Angwin
5 years ago

Do I support Gwlad Gwlad? I’d rather have coconut shells rammed down my throat.

Do I support Laurence Williams’ right to change his political parties and beliefs without being judged? I do.

Leigh Richards
Leigh Richards
5 years ago
Reply to  Ben Angwin

But has he changed his beliefs? Fraid there is no evidence to show he no longer holds the worrying views on issues like gay rights and women’s rights he held when he stood for the Christian party a couple of years ago

Huw Davies
Huw Davies
5 years ago
Reply to  Leigh Richards

Leigh, after the disclosures of the last few days it seems there are some “worrying views” held within your favoured party.

Simon Gruffydd
Simon Gruffydd
5 years ago

I seem to be detecting a lot of Christianophobia in these comments. You wouldn’t get away with that if it was certain other religion, would you? It may be all the vogue to crap on Christianity in certain circles, but let me remind you, when you show disrespect for Christianity you disrespect our heritage. Historical evidence suggests that Wales (or more accurately ancient Britain) gave birth to Christianity and only after brought it to Rome. As the oldest Christian nation on the planet, the Welsh never succumbed to the Roman perversion of this faith with its afterlife and sin diversions… Read more »

Sibrydionmawr
Sibrydionmawr
5 years ago
Reply to  Simon Gruffydd

Hardly any anti-Christian phobia there at all, rather than a critique of a parties so called ‘Christian’ principles which are actually very far away from being genuinely that. So really all that’s being called out is the hypocrisy of the Christian Party. Any genuine Christian would take a stance against the Christian Party! And as for Islamophobia, the vast majority of Muslims are against those activities that racists and Islamophobes insist are central tenets of Islam, when in fact they aren’t. I’m sure that if you compared the ideology of the Christian Party and that of the extreme Islamists then… Read more »

Huw Davies
Huw Davies
5 years ago
Reply to  Sibrydionmawr

Any political party or movement that includes the word “Christian” in its title is highly suspect. Inevitably they will have a few genuine believers as part of the P.R effort but just below the surface there lurks the usual mix of bigotry, prejudice and downright nastiness. The same general rule can be safely applied to parties who use the name of any other faith too.

Sibrydionmawr
Sibrydionmawr
5 years ago
Reply to  Huw Davies

I’ve just read quite a bit of the ‘Christian’ Party’s website. Wouldn’t call them fascists, but they are pretty authoritarian, not very friendly towards diversity and tinged with Islamophobia. The English Democrats on the other hand, seem to be a bunch of swivel eyed right-wing loons who’ve completely lost the plot. However, they do claim to be ‘Not left, not right, just English’. I seem to have seen that slogan paraphrased somewhere else! Oh, and the English Democrats seem to fit into the ‘syncretic’ mould too, the party officially merged with Veritas, and has accepted ex BNP members to the… Read more »

Mawkernewek
5 years ago
Reply to  Sibrydionmawr

I agree, the idea of the Christian Right is completely mistaken from a Christian perspective. Jesus told his disciples to evangelize the world not to take over the government and force people to an outward conformity irrespective of their actual beliefs.

Wasn’t it St. Just-in-Roseland in Cornwall that Jesus as a boy visited with Joseph of Arimathea? As far as I’m aware though there isn’t any historical evidence this actually happened.

j humphrys
j humphrys
5 years ago
Reply to  Mawkernewek

Romantic. Heroes though, we have. Pelagius, with his “taking responsibility for own sins.
And St David rousing our men to defend Christian civilization against the invaders.
Maybe Augustine, who came to put the Brits on the right track, and tricks played on him;
Read Richard Lewis “The Magic Spring, my year learning to be English”, for this bit.
Could Dewi Sant get into Plaid?

j humphrys
j humphrys
5 years ago
Reply to  Simon Gruffydd

Being catholic, I’m uncomfortable with Plaid’s anti Christian stance. There is tremendous ignorance of
catholicism and our relationship with Greek (and drop down Muslim learning) knowledge, Aristotle and
others statues present on the east of Chartres cathedral bear witness to this respect.
Human rights, Science, Universities, one could could go on, but not in a comments section, of course.
” How the Catholic church built western civilization”, by Thomas E Woods, is a good first guide.
Why not give it a whirl? I’m still voting Plaid, of course.

Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards
5 years ago
Reply to  j humphrys

Go j humphreys. Just look at the US. The US left has gone much further than the UK left, and has got most of the media on its side. Few in the UK would fancy totally open borders, or infanticide now legal in New York State and Virginia, or crime or corruption being OK if you are Democrat. Not exaggerating. One of the main forces for middle of the road in the US is the Catholic Church.

Walter Hunt
Walter Hunt
5 years ago

In the Vale of Glamorgan constituency? On the right? Don’t know who you should vote for? You now have a choise between Mr Cairns whose ambitions seem to be to see all of Wales integrated into England and Mr Lawrence who limits himself to just Monmouthshire.

Mike Murphy
Mike Murphy
5 years ago
Reply to  Walter Hunt

I dont know if selecting Laurence was a wise choice, but he at least gives voters a choice.

We have all made wrong political choices in the past – doesnt mean we cant change later…

Walter Hunt
Walter Hunt
5 years ago

In the Vale of Glamorgan constituency? Nationalist sympathies? Don’t know who you should vote for? You now have a choice between Mr Cairns whose ambitions seem to be to see all of Wales integrated into England and Mr Lawrence who limits himself to just Monmouthshire.

Laurence Williams
5 years ago
Reply to  Walter Hunt

Dear Walter, actually, if you re – read it, you’ll see I say Monmouth is Welsh, and so are Salop and Hereford.
LW

Matt Youde
Matt Youde
5 years ago

Of more concern, I should hope, is that the English Democrats are a far-right party, so that a former member feels at home in Gwlad Gwlad should be of note, as should the Christian nationalism exhibited by the other party the candidate has been involved in. Hopefully that will be covered more critically in further coverage.

Eos Pengwern
5 years ago
Reply to  Matt Youde

It would be helpful if you could clarify what you mean by “far right” here, since the tactic of trying to close someone down by saying “oh, they’re far right” is wearing a bit thin. But even if they were, then again, so what? Laurence is no longer associated with them. Neither is anyone else in Gwlad (I’m on their mailing list, sure enough, but I’m on lots of people’s mailing lists). Plaid Cymru is perfectly happy to endorse a former Tory, who lives in London, as their ‘Remain Alliance’ candidate for Montgomeryshire. Why don’t you see that as a… Read more »

CapM
CapM
5 years ago
Reply to  Eos Pengwern

There is a difference rather than a similarity between Plaid in the Montgomery constituency and Gwlad Gwlad in Vale of Glamorgan. Plaid’s Remain Alliance deal (whatever you or anyone else thinks about it) doesn’t result in Plaid having any say in who the LibDem candidate is in Montgomery . To call it an “endorsement” by Plaid is either to misunderstand what such a deal is or to deliberately mislead. Of course the deal also means that the LibDems have no say in who Plaid’s candidates are elsewhere. However Gwlad Gwlad is 100% responsible for selecting their candidate in the Vof… Read more »

Alwyn J Evans
Alwyn J Evans
5 years ago

If he has stood as an English nationalist whilst living in England, then there’s no issue and it’s hardly a worthy story. If he is open about his beliefs and how that would impact on voters, again, no issue and non story. I can’t quite see how this qualifies as newsworthy if there’s no hypocrisy or deceit.

Wexit
Wexit
5 years ago

Whoever’s running GWLAD’s publicity operation should take a bow. They seem to have garnered more publicity over the last 2 weeks than they have in a whole year before then. Oscar Wilde’s word come to mind here:’ there’ s only one thing worse than being talked about. Not being talked about. ‘ This Laurence Williams guy is certainly a very colourful figure. They seem to have taken a punt on this colour of his gaining a lot of attention and getting people talking.. .. But with most politicans being incredibly bland and dull, maybe people will respond better to someone… Read more »

Penderyn
Penderyn
5 years ago

Outdated stereotype…….. Im born and bred English, live in North East Wales border, have taught myself Welsh and feel very much welsh

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
5 years ago
Reply to  Penderyn

You wish.

Jason Evans
Jason Evans
5 years ago
Reply to  Penderyn

You’re the one who’s way out of step with your anachronistic, narrow minded, desperate unionist views. Fair play to Penderyn for embracing all things Welsh, absolutely fantastic for me to read in so many ways not least your discomfort.

Penderyn
Penderyn
5 years ago

Bit of a clickbait article admittedly

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
5 years ago

No longer true about ‘3 Waleses’; the country’s more united than it was in 1997. But, yes, you’re right, Monmouthshire is indeed becoming a settler plantation thanks to Cairns’s ‘Powerhouse’, and we can expect more of it.

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
5 years ago

Gwlad Gwlad have some good ideas, and they’re certainly more of an independence party than Plaid Cymru at the moment, but they really need to sort this business out if they want to be taken seriously.

I’m amazed he had to read a history book to discover that Monmouthshire is Welsh.

Siôn
Siôn
5 years ago

We need to stop giving airtime to these absolute nutters.

Jonathan Gammond
Jonathan Gammond
5 years ago

I was half expecting a mention of the Natural Law Party and some Yogic flying as the article introduced a series of fringe and near forgotten political parties.

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
5 years ago

Aye. Anyone remember Lord Bucket-Head, the driving force behind the Bucket Party (membership: one)?

Laurence Williams
5 years ago
Reply to  Rhosddu

Yes, I remember him waving at PM Thatcher in the 1987{?} GE, good fun!
LW

O.R
O.R
5 years ago

The only supremacist here is your good self,- capital E for England, w for Welsh.
Welsh speakers only want equality, not supremacy

Laurence Williams
5 years ago

Dear all, thank you for all of your ‘lovely’ comments about my standing for Gwlad Gwlad, it has been quite an experience so far, with everything happening so fast! Though some of you probably view me as a ‘Seisnig’ Gavin day – tripper, actually I have a very deep sense of Love for Cymru {thanks to my Dad!} and can even sing the National Anthem, unlike a certain former Cabinet Minister! So thank you Jill o’ the South putting me in front of Alun Cairns, Huw Davies for saying that the big boys make even greater folly, Hethin Bennett comparing… Read more »

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
5 years ago

Ben Angwin and the Coconuts; I used to have their second album.

Everybody still needs convincing that you’re serious about Welsh independence, Laurence. But I’m relieved to hear that you acknowledge Monmouthshire to be Welsh, after your ‘field trip’ there – notwithstanding the demographic changes going on there even as we speak, promoted by your main opponent in the VoG. Beat Cairns and we might consider letting you be in our gang. And you’re right about that nasty Himmler, of course.

Laurence Williams
5 years ago
Reply to  Rhosddu

Dear Rhosddu, thank you for the ‘offer’ of beating Cairns and joining your ‘gang’…my family never left the gang, as you put it, and I carry on that Tradition to this day, even to the extent of purchasing my own private van Welsh number plate, Welsh stickers all over it, and singing in the Gwalia MVC! (But you’ll just have to take my word for it). Our ‘field trip’ was actually a singing weekend organised by one of our former members, and former Monmouth MP, Huw Edwards, by the way. As far as I can tell, none of my other… Read more »

Rhosddu
Rhosddu
5 years ago

Pob lwc yn erbyn Cairns, Laurence. It’s good in principle that these three traded seats are being contested after all by a pro-independence party, even if you all lose your deposits. Lick your wounds afterwards, then keep your powder dry for 2021 — the real battleground.

Our Supporters

All information provided to Nation.Cymru will be handled sensitively and within the boundaries of the Data Protection Act 2018.