Reform councillor defends parents meeting with far-right group
Emily Price
A Welsh Reform councillor has defended a meeting she chaired with parents from a Swansea school and two notorious associates of Tommy Robinson.
Nation.Cymru reported on Wednesday (October 8) how Mumbles Councillor Francesca O’Brien had led a public meeting in Mayhill with parents from Sea View Primary School to discuss allegations about religious education lessons.
O’Brien claimed that pupils at the school were being forced to pray on Muslim mats and recite prayers from the Quran and that Christianity wasn’t getting the same representation in lessons on religion.
Swansea Council have strongly refuted the allegations branding them “misinformation”.
Cllr O’Brien was accused of “inciting hate” and causing “stresses” to the teachers that work at Sea View Primary School.
Meeting
The far-right group Voice of Wales, led by failed UKIP candidate Stan Robinson and convicted fraudster Dan Morgan, promoted O’Brien’s meeting on social media and encouraged parents to attend.
The pair are associates of one of the UK’s most prominent anti-Islam activists, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – better known as Tommy Robinson.
Voice of Wales played a prominent role in the 2023 demonstrations at the Stradey Park Hotel in Llanelli, regularly reporting from the protest encampment in the town and accosting politicians and councillors on the demonstrators’ behalf.
The group was condemned by several political parties in 2021 when they had their YouTube channel banned after it was labelled “racist” and accused of expressing “foul” and “unacceptable” language and ideas.
It’s understood that senior Reform figures have warned the party’s elected representatives in Wales and potential Senedd candidates not to interact with Voice of Wales.
However, a photo posted to Facebook by the designated hate group showed Cllr O’Brien chatting to co-founder Stan Robinson.
Voice of Wales later posted another photo of the Reform councillor saying, “We are blessed to have friends in these places”.
‘Stresses’
Cllr O’Brien defected to Reform from the Conservatives in August leaving the employment of Tory Senedd Member Tom Giffard.
We asked if she had invited Voice of Wales to the meeting herself or if she was uncomfortable with the group’s links Tommy Robinson – but Cllr O’Brien did not respond.
This week, a news article featuring Cllr O’Brien’s comments went viral after it was shared by Tommy Robinson on X.
The former English Defence League leader wrote: “Welsh primary school invites Muslim in to class to push Islam on kids without parents consent.
“Tells kids they’ll all be muslim in a few years. Parents made to feel ‘racist’ for speaking out.”
Video
On Thursday (October) Cllr O’Brien posted a video to Facebook defending herself saying she doesn’t “believe” in vetting groups that attend her public meetings.
She said: “I do not vet people who attend a public meeting – it’s an open forum.
“I don’t mind which political party or group or anything you come from – if I’m there I’m there to listen to you.
“It may be something I don’t like – but that’s the way the world is isn’t it.
“I didn’t ask for a list of the parents attending. I went in there by myself as a councillor to listen to parents regardless of what they might say.
“I’ve got no control over who attends these, I’ve got no control over who sees these letters on social media.
“And yes, I was warned just before going that a couple of members might be there from a certain organisation – I’m not going to stop them. It’s a public meeting.”
‘Inaccurate’
Cllr O’Brien’s video came after Swansea Council published a post to Facebook addressing misinformation circulating in the aftermath of the Reform councillor’s meeting.
The council said: “We are aware of misinformation circulating on social media regarding religious lessons at Sea View Primary. We want to make it clear the statements and assertions being made are inaccurate and untrue.
“We know that some parents and carers in Swansea have questions about what their children learn in Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) lessons and we’d like to offer some clarity and reassurance.
“RVE is a vital, compulsory part of the Curriculum for Wales, taught to all children aged 3 to 16 across Swansea and beyond.
“The curriculum is backed by our education trade unions who are very supportive of the work their members do in this area, vital work which helps promote dignity, tolerance and respect in our schools and communities.
“RVE is not about practicing or promoting any religion – it’s about understanding it. Children are never asked to take part in religious rituals or worship during these lessons.
“Instead, RVE explores the beliefs and values of different faiths. While it reflects that Christianity is the main religious tradition in Wales, it also introduces children to other major world religions and acknowledges that many people hold non-religious worldviews.
“These lessons are designed to be fair, balanced, and inclusive, respecting the diverse backgrounds and beliefs of all families.
“They encourage children to ask thoughtful questions, explore different perspectives, and develop a deeper understanding of the world around them.
“If you’d like to know more about how RVE is taught in your child’s school, we encourage you to speak with your child’s school.”
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Thank you Emily for keeping us updated on this councillors activities. She may have answered one of the questions you posed earlier but if this was a public meeting regarding the school’s teaching, who were the representatives of the school that attended this meeting to put forward their case? I don’t feel she answered the other questions you posed. And, we are still waiting for our reform councillor to make an effort to introduce himself to the residents in Trowbridge and St Mellons. He has joined our FB group but is staying mute for now.
So what connection, if any, does Robinson and Morgan have with this particular school? Why didn’t “concerned” parents speak to their own councillors? Does the catchment area for Sea View extend to Mumbles? Or is this another Reform councillor poking their nose into other wards just to further a Reform agenda? The same has happened in Carmarthenshire with Reform councillor Michelle Beer. She was elected to represent the Lliedi ward but has launched an on line petition, which oddly enough doesn’t refer to her as a Reform councillor, against the development of a solar farm in Bynea, which is nowhere… Read more »
If they just represented the area in which they were elected, that would be a start. Like you said, stirring up trouble in other areas to cause dissent. One of the lowest forms of politics. Now where the heck has Edward Topham disappeared to? He was elected to represent Trowbridge and St Mellons and in typical reform style, he is doing nothing, saying nothing, his supporters are quiet and the residents in my area are wondering if anything will ever improve in our areas other than more houses and less of everything else.
How unexpected. A Welsh(!) former Tory Reform councillor cosying up to the English Defence League offshoot VoW. Proper Welsh. Makes you Proud. How these dumplings made it to this age is a miracle, but rest assured they will be head of propaganda once Herr Farage gets in.
She doesn’t “believe” in vetting groups that attend her public meetings. Really so does anyone believe that if a member of a left-wing, Muslim or pro-Welsh Independence group rocked up this member of a far-right, racist party would be just ok with that?
I think the extreme right need keeping away from schools.
Everyone knows they need fresh and naive minds to prey on, it’s how their system works. The decent people of Wales need to be far more proactive in keeping dangerous extremism out of our country.
The action of war starts with the language of hate and division.
To be fair, Farage and Tommy ten names want to do the same thing to the Welsh as Hitler wanted to do with the Jews so I would think Hitler would be just above Tommy and Nige, with them on their knees licking his boots.
Thank you for another well thought out and intelligent response.
Have a pleasant and fulfilling day.
Do you agree with the spread of false information this person is engaged in, or are you using this just to have a “pop” at the left, as your tone suggests you are supporting this woman. I am all for hearing alternative opinions, as long as they are true, and not some made up lies and propaganda aimed at a certain section of society, which reform repeatedly do.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant: let those spreading nonsense speak, and their nonsense will soon be debunked. Shutting people down or excluding them from the conversation is a stupid and dangerous strategy – typically exercised by fascist authoritarians.
The desire to silence those you disagree with is a key characteristic of fascism. If people want to talk nonsense then let them do it, and it will quickly get exposed as such. People are smart, and don’t need anyone curating what they get to see or here; least of all idiot politicians.
Both the councillor and Stan Robinson are ex-military or military. How strange for two military people to push yesterday’s controversial news story into today’s news cycle on their own initiative…
How many people did the far left try to kill in hotels.
Oh yeah, during the far right farage riots it was the far right egged on by reforms farage and he tried to get the country aflame this summer as well. The riots stoked by hate from the right and continues to this day, the far right attacked the police and anyone that wasn’t white.
Thos opinions we have seen in Europe in the past.
why don’t you crawl back under your rock adrian?
Can someone ascertain the facts of what actually happened in the school? Isn’t that the most important thing when it comes to negating Reform etc? Find the truth and tell it?
Francesca if you are trying to bluff people then you are going to have to try a bit harder than that.
Reform and VOW are just 2 different jockeys riding the same Horse.
Let’s see how hate spread. I cycle to work through Marshfield and I wave to a fellow cyclist going in the opposite direction. I don’t know who he is. But I wave to him as he is a fellow cyclist and it is nice to be friendly. I am a person of colour with a long beard and from my clothing, I am a distinct Muslim. I waved at him this morning and he told me to go urinate.
Reform’s idea of ‘truth’ seems to be whatever stirs the pot and scapegoats the vulnerable. When hearsay from hate groups becomes policy talking points, it’s not reform—it’s regression dressed up as patriotism. Preaching division while claiming to defend British values? That’s not leadership. That’s cowardice with a microphone.
She’s yet another cretin who managed to slither out from the primordial soup offering nothing but the usual moronic divisive tropes she reads on social media. As for “lefties” well, thousands & thousands of them were injured & killed during world war two fighting against the same type of divisive extreme far right (ie, fascist) hate speech that’s now being spouted by these modern day vile & disgusting low lives masquerading as councillors, AS/MPs etc.