Welsh Conservative MSs accused of bullying party official

Emily Price

Welsh Conservative Senedd Members have been accused of bullying and insulting a party official.

Grassroots activist and deputy chairman of the Monmouthshire Conservatives, Huw Davies, made the allegation on social media during a online spat with South Wales East MS Natasha Asghar.

It came shortly after Mr Davies chaired a meeting which saw Ms Asghar granted incumbency rights to stand on the Conservative list for her constituency at the next Senedd election.

The deputy chairman later took to X to brand the vote “completely undemocratic” because “only 6% of the local membership” participated.

Ms Asghar hit back saying Mr Davies hadn’t aired any concerns when he chaired the meeting.

Alleged

The party activist alleged that he has been unable to complain through the “proper channels” because he had been openly bullied during official Conservative Senedd group meetings.

Mr Davies also claimed that Ms Asghar did not intervene when “personal insults” were directed at him.

The Tory MS has strongly refuted the allegations which she says shouldn’t have been aired on social media.

She said: “Whilst I do not recognise the allegations levelled against my colleagues and I on social media, I would encourage anyone with concerns to raise these via formal channels.

“I take bullying and harassment incredibly seriously, and will call it out when it rears its head. We all have a collective responsibility to stand up for injustice.

“However, these concerns should be dealt with officially through proper processes, not on social media.”

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‘Codial’

Welsh Conservative Chairman, Bernard Gentry, was also in attendance at Ms Asghar’s meeting. He told Nation.Cymru he was not aware of any bullying.

He said: “The meeting was very cordial and passed without incident and Natasha won the vote.

“Huw has been a critic of the party for some time and he says a lot on social media. But he partook fully in Natasha’s meeting on Thursday and did not raise any issues.

“He hasn’t sent any complaints of bullying to me and as far as I’m aware there isn’t anything to complain about because the meeting was totally uneventful.

“The policy for readopting Senedd candidates was agreed the best part of a year ago before I became the party chairman.

“The process is being followed the same in every consistency and is basically the same as the process used for sitting members of parliament.

“When MPs were readopted, they went before a selection council and gave a presentation then there was a vote, and if they won they were readopted and if they didn’t they could still apply in an open contest.”

We invited Mr Davies to comment further on the allegations he had made on social media – but he declined.

A Tory source who wished to remain anonymous told Nation.Cymru that Mr Davies has been subjected to name calling.

Passionate

The party activist has become a thorn in the side of the Welsh Tories after calling for incumbency rules to be changed.

The next Senedd election will see votes cast for parties instead of individual candidates as part of plans to increase the size of the Welsh Parliament.

Under the closed list system parties will be able to put forward a list of ranked Senedd election candidates.

Incumbency rights for sitting Tory members will virtually guarantee that they will be at the top of the party’s list of candidates in the areas where they are already standing.

But Mr Davies says the new rules have been imposted without any consultation with grassroots members.

He has also strongly challenged the party’s pro-devolution stance and called for the group to rule out a deal with Plaid Cymru.

Stance

This goes against the current stance of newly elected Tory leader – Darren Millar.

Huw Davies is a passionate supporter of Andrew RT Davies and has publicly hit out at the rebel MSs that staged a coup to oust the former Welsh Conservative leader.

His row with Natasha Asghar comes just weeks after he launched an online attack on Shadow Health Minister, James Evans.

Mr Davies mocked the Brecon and Radnorshire MS over his group’s stance on being open to working with other parties and branded him “sad”.

In response, Mr Evans said the deputy chairman should apply for a spot at the “comedy club” in Cardiff Bay.

Mr Davies later accused the shadow minister of “belittling” his concerns.

We invited the Welsh Conservative Senedd group to comment on the allegations made by Mr Davies – but we did not receive a response.