Reform on the Ropes

Ben Wildsmith

It must be a conflicting time for Llŷr Powell. In the run-up to the Caerphilly bye-election, he had his moment in the sun. Bezzies with Nige and featured in the London press, ‘Welsh Dave’ was the presumptive Reform Senedd supremo.

If it hadn’t been for that pesky Lindsay Whittle with his decades of public service and comprehensive local knowledge, who knows where he’d be now?

At the count, Zia Yusuf fled the scene in a car that was rumoured to contain a furious Farage, leaving poor old Llŷr standing all alone on the gymnasium floor as if he’d been jilted at the altar.

Nobody in Wales had heard of Dan Thomas then, so when he arrived in our political sky like the Teletubbies baby, grinning fleshily and offering no details whatsoever about his personal life, it must have been a further blow to the Powellian ego.

There are wounds that even champagne and oysters cannot heal.

Now that Thomas has resigned, the party is entering a ‘process’ to select its next leader. That process, of course, will likely consist of picking up the telephone and writing down whichever name Farage barks down the line. It’s the Reform way.

Danny Kruger, Reform MP for East Wiltshire, posted on X today that,

‘The pirate ship analogy is now well out of date. Over the last year Reform has professionalised, organised, and is now rolling out a state-of-the-art plan for the election campaign whenever it comes.’

Right you are, Danny, whatever you say. It’s certainly a well-oiled machine in these parts.

Kruger is an ex-Tory, which plays into the other side of this, shall we say, ‘difficult’ week for his party in Wales. Sarah Cooper-Lesadd’s defection to Plaid Cymru, on the same day as Thomas’s departure, sparked wider discussion about the legitimacy of politicians who switch parties.

Reform MSs and supporters were indignant, accusing their former colleague of betrayal and disrespect for her mandate. How this jives with the status of its four MPs in Westminster who defected after the last election, without troubling their electors for a bye-election, is unclear. I mean, if a statesman of unimpeachable integrity like Robert Jenrick is comfortable leaving a sinking ship, what’s the diff?

Labour, meanwhile, was cynical about the move. Cardiff Council’s Dan De’Ath posted,

‘No, I’m sure this can’t be true. She must’ve just undergone a complete ideological rebirth, abandoning her entire political outlook, values and worldview in three short months – going from the hard right to a steadfast champion of the world’s huddled masses. As people often do.’

Equal and opposite cynicism might, I imagine, suggest that a more forgiving attitude might have been adopted had Cooper-Lesadd headed towards Labour instead of Plaid. I dunno, ask a cynic.

Amongst Plaid supporters, too, there was consternation. Some worried that anyone who had been content to join Reform was ideologically unfit to be in their party. In this instance, there are, I suggest, two issues to consider.

Unhappy

Cooper-Lesadd has a well-publicised focus on a single issue: namely outcomes for people who are care-experienced. Having been unhappy with the support she received for her campaigning from Reform, she can expect enhanced backing from Plaid in return for falling into line on the party’s wider legislative programme.

This harks back to simpler times when backbench representatives were expected to focus on constituency matters whilst pursuing matters of personal expertise alongside. There is no particular reason why backbenchers should hold public views on every conceivable topic and entrapping them over issues they know little about has become a sort of media bloodsport that distracts from the serious job of scrutinising ministers.

If Cooper-Lesadd’s Senedd activities focus on outcomes for care leavers and her constituents in Bridgend, then her views on general policy are largely irrelevant in a system that assumes representatives will follow the party line.

More broadly, her criticisms of Reform’s political style and objectives will resonate with a great many other people who must be disillusioned with a party mired in proliferating criminal proceedings and funding scandals. Its refusal to collaborate with other parties on any level is grating in the Welsh system, which requires cooperation to function.

Trolling

Cooper-Lesadd’s observation that Reform is concerned only with undermining the Welsh government as a staging post to achieving power in Westminster challenges the party to offer a genuine vision for Wales that goes beyond trolling and playing to its base.

If a new Reform leader in Wales cannot provide substance to the party’s ambitions, then Cooper-Lesadd’s disillusionment will be echoed amongst its less committed voters.

If voters are beginning to feel buyer’s remorse, then opponents of Reform must offer a dignified escape route for them, without condemnation and with something positive to offer in its place.

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