Reform UK hire Andrew RT Davies’ aide as new party spokesman for Wales

Emily Price 

Reform UK have hired Senedd Member Andrew RT Davies’ aide as the party’s official spokesman in Wales. 

A Conservative source told Nation.Cymru that former Senedd support staffer Conor Holohan left Davies’ employment this week after taking a job heading Welsh communications for Nigel Farage’s party.

Mr Holohan previously split his time between positions with both Andrew RT Davies and former Conservative Senedd Member Laura Anne Jones.

When Jones defected to Reform UK in July, Holohan had the option of continuing his employment with her under the Reform banner or remaining with the Welsh Conservatives. 

Replacement

It is understood that for a short period of time he was removed from internal Tory group chats before being added back in when he confirmed he had chosen to stick with Andrew RT Davies.

In August, Holohan was photographed posting Conservative campaign leaflets alongside Davies in his South Wales Central constituency.

In recent weeks, Reform’s UK head of communications, former Tory staffer Ed Sumner, has been conducting interviews to hire a new spokesperson for Wales to replace Llŷr Powell who had quit the job in August.

On September 13th, it was revealed that Powell would stand for Reform UK at the October by-election in Caerphilly following the sudden death of Labour Senedd Member Hefin David.

Powell had also previously stood for the Conservatives in Cardiff in the 2022 council elections but was not elected.

It’s understood that Ed Sumner offered Powell’s Welsh comms role without an interview to at least one other Senedd staffer who firmly declined the offer.

Mr Sumner told Nation.Cymru in late August that the hunt for the right candidate to fill the post was taking time because, “it’s hard to find good people”.

Abolish

In September, the role was handed to Conor Holohan.

A senior Reform UK source said that Ed Sumner had “made a full time job out of hiring his pals”.

Prior to his employment with Andrew RT Davies, Holohan worked as the Welsh Conservatives head of communications.

He had previously worked for Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party member Mark Reckless firstly as a senior researcher then as a senior advisor between 2018 and 2021.

Reckless is a former UKIP MP who went on to join the Conservative group but left over the party’s failure to deliver Brexit.

In May 2019, Reckless made moves to form a new Brexit Party group in the Senedd but was criticised by pro-devolution Brexit Party volunteers when he suggested that he would support the campaign to abolish the Senedd.

He then left and joined Abolish the Welsh Assembly – a fringe party that campaigns for the abolition of Wales’ Parliament.

Reckless is now a member of Reform UK and is expected to stand at the 2026 Senedd election.

Conservative

Conor Holohan also previously ran the hard right blog Bubble Wales alongside the former UKIP official Crispin John who was found to have stolen equipment worth almost £2,000 from the Senedd.

In 2022, Holohan stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative council candidate in Grangetown, Cardiff.

Holohan went on to manage communications for Andrew RT Davies when he was the leader of the Welsh Conservatives before leaving the Senedd to work as a media campaign manager for the Tax Payers Alliance (TPA).

After leaving TPA he made his way back to Tories in the Senedd up until being appointed Reform’s spokesman in Wales.

The Welsh Conservatives and Reform UK were invited to comment.