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Swindon MP Robert Buckland becomes the new Welsh Secretary

07 Jul 2022 4 minute read
Robert Buckland

Swindon MP Sir Robert Buckland will be the new Welsh Secretary.

Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MP Simon Hart resigned yesterday.

Robert Buckland was born and raised in Llanelli but becomes the first Welsh Secretary since the late Cheryl Gillan under David Cameron not to represent a Welsh constituency.

He served as Solicitor General for England and Wales from 2014 to 2019, until he became Minister of State for Prisons. He was appointed Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor by Boris Johnson in July 2019, serving until the cabinet reshuffle in September 2021.

His appointment comes less than 24 hours after he called for Boris Johnson to resign as Prime Minister.

Speaking to The Telegraph, he said: “The PM no longer has my support. I think that the events of the last few days have only served to heighten the increasingly unrealistic situation in which we find ourselves.

“The office of Prime Minister depends on several factors: integrity, honesty, and straightforwardness.

“And if those attributes are no longer clear or no longer operable, then I’m afraid that the person in office has to go. And it’s on that basis I think that now is the time for the Prime Minister to step down. We need to seek an alternative as soon as possible.”

‘Interim’

Andrew RT Davies MS, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, said he was “sorry to see Simon Hart leave the Wales Office under extraordinary circumstances”.

“Since being appointed in December 2019 his help, support and dedication to Wales have been unwavering,” he said.

“I also want to pay tribute to his fantastic ministerial team, David TC Davies and Virginia Crosbie, and all the hardworking Wales Office staff.

“I look forward to working with the new Secretary of State for Wales, Llanelli-born, Welsh speaker Robert Buckland, who I first met when we both went for selection to the seat of Brecon and Radnor over 20 years ago.

“We fully recognise the interim nature of the cabinet appointments, but it is essential they focus on the opportunities and challenges facing the people of Wales today.

“It’s now vital that the Party get on with selecting a new leader to take over as Prime Minister and continue to deliver on the mandate the British people gave to the Conservative Party in 2019, enacting our manifesto commitments in the remainder of this parliament.”

‘Privilege’

Robert Buckland’s appointment comes after The Wales Office’s second in command, Monmouth MP David TC Davies, said that he won’t take the Welsh Secretary post.

David TC Davies said that he had made “clear last night” that he would not take the role if Simon Hart vacated the post.

The Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire MP resigned as Welsh Secretary last night saying he had “no other option left” after being among a delegation of ministers that went to Downing Street to encourage the Prime Minister to step down.

David TC Davies, who is the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales, gave no indication at the time that he would be following him in resigning but posted his former boss’ resignation letter online.

“It has been a privilege to work for Simon who did a great job as Sec of State for Wales,” he said. “We should not be in the position of losing decent and hard working Ministers. I made clear last night that I will not take the role.”

Wales Office PPS, Ynys Môn’s MP Virginia Crosbie, was one of the first to resign on Tuesday, meaning that David TC Davies is now the only minister left in the Wales Office.


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Rob
Rob
1 year ago

Time to scrap the post of Welsh Secretary (as should the Scottish and NI equivalents). How can someone elected by the people of Swindon have a democratic mandate over Wales? No doubt unionists would be responding with “what does it matter we are all British.”

Y Cymro
Y Cymro
1 year ago

Yet another Conservative appointee parachuted into the post of Welsh Secretary, Robert Buckland, MP for Swindon.

So it’s business as usual. Nothing really has changed. The same self-servatives who aided Boris Johnson’s idiocratic misrule ride roughshod still over Wales.

HywelE3
HywelE3
1 year ago

Cymro Cymraeg o Lanelli. Did a decent job as Attorney General, mae eto gobaith.

Kerry Davies
Kerry Davies
1 year ago
Reply to  HywelE3

He was Solicitor General and made history by finally admitting that he had once been found guilty of professional misconduct and on a separate occasion found to be a tax avoider. He is as corrupt as the rest of them and has never been Attorney General.

Cai Wogan Jones
Cai Wogan Jones
1 year ago

Another nodding dog. Apologist for Johnson’s lies, corruption and illegality. Shame on him.

Stuart Cane
Stuart Cane
1 year ago

So, Mr Buckland, what attracted you to the serial liar offering you a ministerial salary, ministerial car and a seat at the cabinet table?

Kerry Davies
Kerry Davies
1 year ago

Manifesto commitments?
Not a penny less. Forty new hospitals. 50,000 new nurses. 50 million more surgery appointments. 20,000 more police. Millions more per week invested in research. No tax or NI rises.
So far they are all lies so which ones will you keep, Andrew?

defaid
defaid
1 year ago

Ave! Duci novo, similis duci seneci.

Keith Gogarth
Keith Gogarth
1 year ago

Another colonial governor

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