‘Missing money’ behind major Welsh Tory row

Martin Shipton

Anger over money which could have resulted in the loss of an MP is said to be at the heart of a major row within the Welsh Conservative Party that has led to officers of a regional federation being sacked.

The North West Wales Conservative Federation was put into “special measures” following a meeting of the party’s Welsh Board on May 19.

Bernard Gentry, who chairs the Welsh Board, emailed members the text of a resolution passed at the meeting which said:

The North West Wales Federation is designated as a supported status Federation.

The powers of the Executive Council and officers be transferred to current members of the Area Management Executive (Kathryn Cracknell, Bernard Gentry, Will Martin and Dillon Hughes – the ‘Supported Status Team’) until May 31 2026 (or such later date as might be determined by the Board at a later stage).

All Federation Officer, Constituency Officer and ward representative roles shall be made vacant as a result of this decision, and the Supported Status Team shall be empowered to appoint replacements to these roles, in due course.

Nothing in this decision affects the Selection Council for the 2026 Senedd elections, which has already been constituted and has commenced its work.

No AGM [Annual General Meeting] or SGM [Special General Meeting] of the Federation be permitted until after May 31 2026 (or such later date as might be determined by the Board at a later stage). However the Supported Status Team is obliged to communicate regularly with Federation members, including via informal meetings.

Kathryn Cracknell was appointed the Board Representative, to lead the Supported Status Team and report back to the Board regularly.

Anger

A member of the North West Wales Conservative Federation contacted Nation.Cymru to express anger at the decision to remove party officers, saying: “This is ultimately all about money and the loss of the Ynys Môn seat at last year’s general election.

“Two and a half years ago the party sold its office in Llangefni and the £58,000 from the sale was supposed to have been ringfenced to be spent on the campaign to re-elect Virginia Crosbie as the constituency MP.

“In addition, there was a further £12,000 left over from a fundraising appeal launched to support her campaign.

“The only thing we know about what happened to the money is that the constituency didn’t get it. We don’t know if it was spent, and if so where. Questions have been put to Bernard Gentry over a long period, but the information has not been forthcoming.

“If we’d had the money, we believe we could have saved the seat. Instead it was lost to Plaid Cymru, whose majority was only 637 votes. It’s really frustrating that the seat was needlessly lost.

“Virginia Crosbie was a very hardworking MP who deserved maximum support from the party. She was badly let down.”

Senedd election campaign

The member said there was a belief that the money that should have come to Ynys Môn would be used to run the Senedd election campaign for Janet Finch-Saunders, the current MS for Aberconwy who will be standing in the new “super-constituency” of Bangor Conwy Môn.

Our source said that many members were unhappy that Ms Finch-Saunders had been awarded the top slot on the seat’s closed list without having to face an internal selection contest.

“People have said openly that they won’t campaign for her and think it is utterly wrong that she should be given the place automatically.

“This isn’t the only part of Wales where there’s been concern about the way this issue has been handled. Members weren’t given any say in the decision to grant incumbents.

“Bernard Gentry and his cronies are running the party in Wales as if it was their personal possession. He’s a man who has only lived in Wales for a few years, having worked for the London Underground for 30 years. He knows very little about Wales and Welsh culture. He is certainly putting a lot of backs up and the only party to benefit will be Reform UK.”

We asked Mr Gentry to comment, but he did not do so.