Welsh Tory ex-cabinet minister David Jones announces he’s joined Reform UK
A former Conservative cabinet minister has announced he is now backing Reform UK as the party that now “best represents my views”.
David Jones, who served as Welsh secretary under David Cameron between 2012 and 2014, announced he was joining Nigel Farage’s party on Monday after more than 50 years as a Tory.
The former Clwyd West MP described the move as “a very difficult decision for me” and said he had written to the Conservatives in October to say he would not renew his membership, but received no reply.
He said: “I joined the Conservatives all those years ago because I believed it was the party that best reflected my values and beliefs. Regrettably, that is no longer the case.
“Today, Reform UK is the party that best represents my views – and, I believe, those of many others who have become disillusioned with the two old major parties.”
After losing his cabinet job in the 2014 reshuffle, he went on to become a minister in the Department for Exiting the EU under Theresa May for a year between 2016 and 2017.
He later became deputy chairman of the European Research Group, a Eurosceptic group of Tory MPs.
Private individual
Mr Jones, who stood down from Parliament last year after 19 years as an MP, said he had no intention of standing for election, and had joined Reform “as a private individual”.
But as a former cabinet minister, he is the most senior ex-Tory MP to join Reform so far, following Marco Longhi, Anne Marie Morris, Ross Thomson, Aiden Burley and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, now the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.
His defection also comes as Mr Farage’s party seeks to make significant gains in next year’s elections at the Senedd in Wales, where polls suggest the party is in second or third place.
First Minister
In January, a political source told Nation.Cymru: “Senior figures in Reform are totally convinced that Reform will be the largest party after the May 2026 Senedd election. Under the standing orders of the Senedd, the First Minister is elected by MSs at the first meeting after a Senedd election. If MSs from each party group vote for their own nominee, the Reform candidate would win.
“David Jones has left the Conservatives and joined Reform, and senior people in Reform are now trying to persuade him to stand for the Senedd next year. If he’s top of the Reform list in the super-constituency where he’ll be standing under the new electoral system, he won’t have any trouble getting elected.
“Their plan is that, if he can be persuaded, he will be Reform’s candidate for First Minister. He’s something of a hero to them because he was such an ardent Brexiteer, and obviously he has experience as a UK Minister in a way none of the rest of them has.”
Mathematics
The political source said that what happened next would depend on the mathematics of the election result and decisions made by other parties: “It’s possible that between them, Labour and Plaid Cymru would have enough MSs to form a majority. They could decide to join forces and elect a First Minister from their own ranks. On the other hand, it’s possible they may take the view that, having won the highest number of seats, Reform should be allowed to form a minority government. That would be more likely, however, if Labour and Plaid weren’t able to command a majority between them.
“If Reform came out on top and the Tories had enough seats to give them a majority with their support, they might be reluctant to enter a formal coalition but it’s plausible that they could back a Reform minority administration from outside the government. That’s what the Scottish Tories did in 2007, when the Scottish Parliament election ended with the SNP having one more seat than Labour.”
‘Complication’
One complication might be the difficult nature of the relationship between Mr Jones and Welsh Conservative Senedd group leader Darren Millar, who are reputed to loathe each other.
When quizzes by us on his plans, Mr Jones said: “I have no intention of standing for election, be it to Westminster, Cardiff or anywhere else. After 19 years representing the people of Clwyd West, I stood down at the last general election and am now thoroughly enjoying my retirement.”
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Reptile thought extinct discovered alive in new livery…
Piercing eyes and a crooked smile, guaranteed to make one shudder and feel uneasy…
Someone should do a study, a facial recognition window on the soul, using the mugshots of n.c as part of a wider body language course…it would pick up the liars, deceivers and confidence tricksters…if we all held a BS degree in it, lets say from Cameron and Fat Shanks onward no would-be Prime Minister of any Party would have troubled us rather than every one…a bad patch ok but a generation of them…and Ladies you must admit, you were equal bottom…
Useless brain deficiency individual
Doesn’t surprise me in the least that this greasy individual should crawl across to Reform
Why would someone like David Jones want to join a repugnant fascist leaning party like Reform UK? Ah, yes, of course, I think I’ve just answered my own question!!
Because, apparently, Reform “best represents his views”. One shudders to think what his views are.
Reform UK’s growing popularity is heavily dependent on Nigel Farage’s personal brand, media presence, and outsider image. However, since he is not standing in next year’s Senedd elections, they risk losing that anti-establishment appeal, especially if a former Tory cabinet minister like David Jones step in. His potential candidacy could seriously undermine Reform’s credibility among disillusioned Welsh voters who reject both Labour and the Conservatives. Therefore this presents a clear opportunity for Plaid Cymru, if they are smart enough. By exposing Reform’s contradictions and highlighting its establishment ties, Plaid could re-frame itself as the true alternative to Westminster politics. With… Read more »
He will stand and will be their candidate for First Minister.
No surprise. He was always to the right of Mussolini. But he never made the trains run on time. A perfect fit for the English nationalists.
David Jones, the man who claimed that Wales would not be a penny worse off outside of the EU.
Looking after his own career interests.
Every masonic lodge needs a village idiot.
I’m not surprised; prior to last year’s election he was my local Westminster MP, and I communicated with him rather frequently in order to express my view as regards the iniquities of the government which he supported in the Johnson era and thereafter. He’s always been a ‘hard right’ Conservative, and so Reform UK should be a natural home for him. And I’d guess that the utter uselessness of the Tory party in its current manifestation might have had some influence on his decision! Like him or loathe him, he was an incisive and effective politician, which is more than… Read more »
All those years in Clwyd West and now a move which confirms his anti Welsh credentials and face spitting disloyalty. What a guy!
Moving from scrap heap of life to one lower down.
Reform seems to prefer its regional leaders to be teenagers. Someone of Mr Jones’s fine standing would be a threat to The Leader.
Does he actually live in Wales?