Online interactions with Nathan Gill deleted from Reform Caerphilly by-election candidate’s social media
Emily Price
Reform UK’s Caerphilly by-election candidate Llŷr Powell has removed thousands of his social media posts including online interactions with his former boss Nathan Gill.
Wayback Machine – a digital archive of the web that allows users to view past versions of websites – shows that 3207 posts published by Powell have been removed.
We scrolled back on the Senedd hopeful’s X account and found that posts published prior to August 8th 2023 can no longer be viewed.
This includes interactions between Powell and his former employer – the disgraced ex-Reform leader in Wales, Nathan Gill.
It is unclear when the posts were deleted.
Gill was elected as a UKIP member of the European Parliament in 2014 and held the role until the UK left the EU in 2020. He then led Reform UK’s 2021 Senedd election campaign.
He recently pled guilty to eight counts of taking bribes in exchange for making pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament on dates between December 6 2018 and July 18 2019.
Powell was employed by Gill as a constituency caseworker while he was an MEP.
‘Abhorrent’
Questions have been raised by Powell’s political opponents – including Wales’ First Minister Eluned Morgan – about whether he knew about the offences at the time.
He has strongly denied knowledge of his former boss’ Russian bribes and has described Gill’s behaviour as “abhorrent” and “a betrayal.”
X posts published by Gill in 2016 praising Powell as an “excellent spokesman” who gives “first class interviews” are still available to view online.
But comments published by Gill on X responding to posts by Powell now show an error message which states: “Nothing to see here – yet.”
Other X posts in which Powell has interacted with Gill online now show the error message: “This post was deleted by the post author.”
Posts in which Gill has attempted to share links from Powell’s account show the error message, “This post is unavailable”.
The Reform by-election candidate has been campaigning hard in recent weeks to win the Senedd’s Caerphilly seat from Labour following the sudden death of Hefin David.
A recent voting intention poll shows a close contest between Reform (42%) and Plaid (38%) ahead of the October 23 vote.
Nation.Cymru asked Llŷr Powell why thousands of his X posts had been removed from the web. We did not receive a response.
A Welsh Labour source said: “We’ve said throughout this campaign that Reform UK has serious questions to answer about Nathan Gill, what they knew and his influence on the party in Wales.
“Nigel Farage continuely pretends he barely knew him. The people of Caerphilly deserve to know what they are voting for.”
‘Serious concerns’
Labour Senedd Member Mick Antoniw said the deletion of online interactions with Gill “raises serious concerns”.
He said: “The issue is not necessarily the deletion of general social media postings: that is quite common.
“However, the deletion of his engagement with Nathan Gill raises serious concerns.
“The former Reform leader in Wales is due to be sentenced for receiving Russian bribes.
“There are many concerns being raised about Reform links with Russia and there are clearly issues of national security that could be at stake.
“It is important that people know what his engagement was with Nathan Gill at the relevant time, before and after and whether these relate to the Russia connection.
“It also begs the question as to why he would want to delete this engagement.
“It may be the case that the security services already have this information in which case there may well be further questions raised in Westminster.
“If such information is available it would be appropriate for him to authorise their public disclosure.
“This is clearly a matter of valid and genuine public interest.”
‘Transparency’
Plaid Cymru criticised Powell for failing to answer Nation.Cymru’s questions on why he deleted so many posts.
A spokesperson said: “There’s a clear pattern here in Reform refusing to answer perfectly legitimate questions – not just about the deletion of thousands of tweets, but also regarding his disgraced former employer, the former leader of Reform in Wales, Nathan Gill, who was found guilty of taking bribes from a foreign state currently invading Ukraine.
“They claim to ‘tell it straight’ but cannot even answer questions. The people of Caerphilly deserve a representative who offers transparency, accountability, and leaders they can trust.
“Plaid Cymru is standing up for Caerphilly. With Labour in freefall in third place, this is a clear two-horse race and every vote for Plaid Cymru is a vote to ensure Caerphilly is represented by someone who will fight for the community and keep Reform out.”
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Very telling from Reform UK Llŷr Powell. This is the equivalent of guilty man shredding the evidence. Tainted by association. Caerphilly beware of Trojan Tories promising a land of milk and honey. The Gremlins in the pocket of the Kremlin will run amuck.
Just the sort of scummy behaviour you’d expect from Putin’s puppets.
Reform and Farage are trying to play the Welsh people for mugs again!
Very true. And their silence does not say much for their so called free speech. They hardly speak when asked am important question, one that involve hating Muslims, stopping the boats or change. Change for what.
Appearing down the middle of your street; the Gobby Blinders…
Really really read this. Putins useful idiots.
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/10/17/what-nathan-did-next-a-kremlin-backed-forum-on-how-to-subvert-western-democracy/
EU Parliament days come to mind…
The timeline is bang in there. And Reforms owner didn’t say anything to Gill that he was wrong.
Thing is, if I were running interference in a nation, apart from Brexit being a win, I would not have a single in, I would have many. Farage needs to open the books. Where has all his money come from. Where does he stash it.
https://monkdebunks.substack.com/p/nothing-to-do-with-reform-the-myth
It’s a mushroom farm, all happens in the dark and mostly underground…
After reading that it’s ‘Putin’s Gobby Blinders’ cheers Jeff…
Vote Reform, get Putin!!
What’s he got to hide? Is he destroying evidence that could implicate him and Farage? What arent we being told?
Powell wouldn’t shut up a week ago before he showed his true colours on immigration. Why has he gone so quiet all of a sudden?
Nathan Gill is like an open goal
So frustrating that neither Labour or Plaid have weaponised this properly.
,Political amateurs with no real machine behind them to support a fight
With money pouring into Reform the next 6 months are going to be relentless
stoking up fears we are going to be overrun with migrants
Well said. Totally true.
The press suppress it. Chinese spying case, they were all over it trying to pin it on Starmer. Russians into Farages inner circle, not a blip.
Llyrnoch Powell and his divisive racist politics will be a disaster for the people of Caerphilly. Only Plaid can save them Labour are finished
Easy to see why the March 2016 tweets have been abolished given that Brexit ended up sending steel jobs to India. No-one buys the net zero excuse because the EU is big on net zero and they still have a steel industry.