‘I didn’t know who they were’ – Reform MS’s far-right meeting defence

Emily Price

A Reform UK Member of the Senedd has defended her links to a notorious far-right group, saying she did not know who its leaders were when she chaired a meeting promoted and attended by them last year.

Gŵyr Abertawe MS Francesca O’Brien made the remarks during a podcast interview with controversial evangelical YouTuber Faith Jarvis, as she discussed the backlash she received after chairing the meeting in October.

The gathering was held with parents to discuss untrue allegations amplified online by the far-right group Voice of Wales about religious education at Sea View Community Primary School in Mayhill.

O’Brien said she had taken up the cause because her duty as a councillor was to “serve” regardless of what the issue was.

Her meeting was attended by Voice of Wales’ leaders Stan Robinson and Dan Morgan, as well as far-right activist Peter May, who last year featured in social media videos shouting “Pakistanis” into a megaphone outside a hotel in Rhoose that was housing Afghan refugees, many of which were women and children.

When Jarvis pointed out that Voice of Wales had been designated a far-right group, O’Brien smiled and responded: “What is far-right?”

Voice of Wales claims to be a media outlet but has been classified as a “hate group” by anti-extremism watchdogs because it routinely hosts prominent anti-Muslim figures on its channels, including the founder of the English Defence League, Tommy Robinson.

The group’s co-founder Dan Morgan has also faced condemnation after he was convicted for his role in a large-scale call centre PPI scam that targeted elderly and vulnerable people.

During the podcast, O’Brien said she did not know who Voice of Wales were or what its leaders looked like when she chaired the meeting.

She argued this lack of knowledge was due to the fact she does not watch the news or listen to political podcasts or commentators.

The Reform politician laughed while discussing the criticism she faced over the meeting which she had led after repeating Voice of Wales’ unsubstantiated claims that school children were being forced to pray on Muslim mats and recite prayers from the Quran.

The former Mumbles councillor had previously worked as a staffer for South Wales West MS Tom Giffard before defecting from the Welsh Conservatives to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

A Conservative source told Nation.Cymru it was “inconceivable” that O’Brien didn’t know of Voice of Wales, since she worked in a Swansea political office and the group operated directly within that Senedd constituency.

However, O’Brien told Jarvis: “I hadn’t even heard of the Voice of Wales. Much to peoples amazement I don’t watch news. I’m, not on loads of political podcasts where I’m listening.”

She later added: “I didn’t even know what they looked like, I didn’t even know who they were.

“And just because they were in that same room that I was in, in a public meeting, and again, I’m not going to shut anybody out.

“I’ll talk to people right across the political spectrum because I believe in a healthy debate, a friendly debate.”

The Reform MS was elected to the Senedd in May after receiving significant support from Voice of Wales during her campaign, later publicly thanking the far-right group for its backing.

She told Jarvis that her critics had been unable to prove she was “racist”, adding that she had been called it so many times that the label had now become “irrelevant” to her.

The Reform MS also dismissed a recent undercover investigation by Channel 4, which revealed a secret plot by top Reform UK officials to bypass rules on foreign donations.

O’Brien called the investigation “irrelevant” and insisted it would not cause “any damage” to her party.

The Reform MS later said did not know the “ins and outs” of the sacking of two Reform UK officials that featured in the documentary, adding: “Nor do I need to know”.

O’Brien’s interview on the Faith Speaks Louder podcast follows similar appearances on the channel by several of her Reform UK colleagues.

Jarvis has faced intense criticism from political watchdogs and anti-extremism campaigners over her sympathetic interviews with far-right figures.

Critics argue that her channel uses an evangelical veneer to normalise extreme views and expose religious audiences to radical ideologies under the guise of shared spiritual values.

Despite those concerns, Reform UK has allowed its Senedd Members to appear on the platform, with Catherine Cullen, Jason O Connell and Joe Martin all making appearances on the show during the summer recess.

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