Welsh Tory leader hits back at Farage over refugee photo

Emily Price 

The leader of the Welsh Conservatives has accused Nigel Farage of trying to “distract” from questions over his donations after the Reform UK leader attacked him over a photograph taken at a refugee event almost a decade ago.

Farage branded Darren Millar a “clown” in a post to social media on Monday (August 24), in which he shared an image of the Clwyd MS posing wearing giant arms emblazoned with the hashtag “Welcome refugees with open arms”.

Reform’s leader wrote: “This is the clown that leads the Welsh Tories.

“He now pretends to care about taxpayer funds being wasted on illegal migrants.

“Never forget what they did to this country.

“They threw our borders open and now expect us to trust them again.

“Never. Only Reform will secure our borders and deport every illegal migrant.”

Farage’s post was amplified by Reform’s leader in the Senedd, Dan Thomas, who shared it to his own social media accounts saying: “Hear hear!”

The photograph was snapped in 2017 when Millar attended a ‘Refugees: Reflections in Words and Music’ concert at St Asaph Cathedral in north Wales.

The event had been organised by the Amnesty International’s Colwyn Bay group and was supported by the Bishop of St Asaph.

The evening featured performances by refugees who had been granted official refugee status, rather than “illegal migrants”, as Farage described them.

At the time, Millar was not the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, a position he took up years later following the resignation of former leader Andrew RT Davies in 2024.

The event took place before small boat crossings in the English Channel had began to climb sharply in 2018 when more people, particularly from Iran, started making the journey.

Millar said Farage’s post was “clearly an attempt to distract from the questions dogging Reform and Nigel Farage about his donations”.

He said: “The photo was taken at an event back in 2017 at which I heard the harrowing stories of a number of refugee families who had settled in North Wales.

“At that time the number of refugees coming to the UK was relatively small and it was prior to the advent of small boat crossings in the English Channel.

“While Reform has spent the summer attacking me and fighting a by-election with a bin in Clacton, I’m focused on holding the Welsh Government to account and fighting for families and businesses in Wales.”

Farage is currently under investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over a £5 million donation he accepted from cryptocurrency tycoon Christopher Harborne in 2024.

The probe into the alleged failure to register an interest was suspended after Reform’s leader triggered a by-election in his Clacton constituency by resigning amid scrutiny over his and the party’s finances.

Farage won the by-election with 22,239 votes and Count Binface – the self-styled “intergalactic space warrior” persona of comedian Jon Harvey – came second place with 9,455 votes.

Following the race, which was boycotted by the other main Westminster parties, the investigation automatically resumed.

Under Commons rules, new MPs are required to register any gifts worth more than £300 they received in the previous 12 months, except where it “could not be reasonably thought by others” to relate to their political activities.

Farage has said the gift was not political and insisted he has done nothing wrong.

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