Tories in disarray in north Wales as party officers are removed from their posts

Martin Shipton

The Conservative Party in north west Wales is in disarray, with all its officers being removed from office without notice and the federation which covers the region being put into “special measures”.

Party members were informed of the moves in an email sent by Bernard Gentry, who chairs the Welsh Conservative Party, at 10.40pm on the evening of Monday May 19.

‘Campaigning’

In the email, Mr Gentry stated: “Dear colleagues, At the UK Conservative Board Meeting held today Monday May 19 2025 a report on the North West Wales Federation was considered and determined.

“The below recommendations were agreed and take effect immediately. As you will see the current Officers and Executive have been removed and replaced with the current members of the Area Management Executive.

“The immediate priority will be to ramp up campaigning for the Senedd election next year, supporting the candidate team led by Janet Finch-Saunders MS and to ensure a cooperative working environment.

“I will write further in the coming days regarding future campaigning sessions and a Strategy Plan will be produced.

“It is time to come together and concentrate on winning the 2026 Senedd election.”

Resolution

The resolution passed by the UK Conservative Board stated:

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 election, 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.

‘Special measures’

A party member who contacted Nation.Cymru said: “The North West Wales Conservative Federation (chaired until very recently by the new Welsh Chair, Bernard Gentry) has been suddenly and inexplicably put into ‘special measures”’ All officers have been removed without notice and replaced by the North Wales Conservative Board, including Mr Gentry, who only resigned his chairmanship of the north Wales group after objections and a complaint against his management of the North West Wales Conservative Federation.

“Janet Finch Saunders is allegedly currently under scrutiny because a member of North West Wales Federation has accused her of bullying. And Ynys Môn members won’t come out and support her campaigning sessions because they don’t back her ‘incumbency readoption’ for Ynys Môn.”

Within the Welsh Conservative Party there has been some unrest over the decision to give preferential treatment to sitting MSs when selections of candidates are made for the May 2026 Senedd election.

The Senedd is being expanded from 60 to 96 Members, all elected by a “closed list” system of proportional representation, under which people vote for a party rather than for individual candidates.

Wales has been split into 16 “super-constituencies”, each with six MSs to be elected.

Aberconwy

Janet Finch-Saunders is currently the MS for Aberconwy. Following the introduction of the new voting system, she has been installed as the lead Welsh Conservative candidate in the “super constituency” of Bangor Conwy Môn.

Party sources have told us that there is some resentment about Ms Finch-Saunders’ selection, partly because she is not a Welsh speaker in a super-constituency that has a high proportion of residents who do speak the language. It has been suggested that some party members in Ynys Môn in particular are angry about her selection and have refused to undertake campaigning activities for her.

Some members elsewhere in Wales have complained that those who believe the Senedd should be abolished have been deprived of the opportunity to stand as candidates, leading to some individuals defecting to Reform UK.

It is thought that news of the split within the party will cause it embarrassment and could lead to further defections.