- Down came the Rayn - 5th September 2025
- Reform minded part two - 5th September 2025
- Scandalous behaviour - 4th September 2025
Amid shock news that former Conservative minister Nadine Dorries has followed other leading Tories in defecting to Reform UK, here The Eye re-publish our story from last month outlining fears that the party could secure its first seat in the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC).
Speaking to the Daily Mail, the ex-MP for Mid-Bedfordshire said: “The Tory Party is dead. Its members now need to think the unthinkable and look to the future”.
Ms Dorries served as culture secretary and as a health minister under Boris Johnson, of whom she was a close ally and supporter.
She is the latest in a string of defections from the Conservatives to Reform UK, including former Welsh Secretary David Jones, ex-Tory Chairman Sir Jake Berry, and one-time Conservative Assembly Member Laura Anne Jones.
Ms Dorries said that her decision to join Reform UK, was due to a rise in some crimes such as shoplifting, as well as hotels being used to accommodate migrants.
“I believe you can feel a sense of dread taking hold of communities up and down the country“, said Ms Dorries.
She acknowledged that she and her new leader would not agree on everything but were united on “the issues of law and order, immigration, the need to drastically cut public spending and boost growth and to support Ukraine”.
Our report about the defections and concern that her new party could make inroads at the next elections, was first published on August 20.
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It wasn’t smiles for everyone when Laura Anne Jones joined Nigel Farage’s party Belief is growing among seasoned politicians and experts that the right wing party Reform UK may win its first seat in the Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC) next year, as the award-winning screenwriter Russell T Davies blames the group for declining gay rights.To left-leaning parties in the WP/SC the rise of Nigel Farage’s supporters is a major source of concern, with significant defections to Reform UK, such as the former Conservative Assembly Member Laura Anne Jones.The Conservatives are clearly rattled by these moves, and have hit back.
James Evans accused Ms Jones of having no principles, while Tom Giffard said Reform UK was welcome to someone who was “always in the news for the wrong reasons”.
The Eye hears of concerns It came as two councillors in Conwy also left the Tories for Reform UK, and one leading Welsh political analyst who works with all of the parties told The Eye: “They all fear this, and I have to keep telling them it could actually happen at the next Senedd elections according to our polling…”.
The controversial party thinks it is on the cusp of success in a newly-expanded WP/SC at the elections scheduled for May 2026, with recent polling suggesting support for them is closely behind Labour, and neck and neck with Plaid Cymru (Plaid).
Mr Farage has declared that he is open to doing a deal because the new voting system will mean “it’s not going to be easy” to win an overall majority.
Mugshot of Donald Trump taken by the police Meanwhile Mr Davies (who comes from Swansea) is aghast, and has said the growth in support for Reform UK as well as the presidency of Donald Trump has meant gay rights are “rapidly and urgently getting worse”.
He said the LGBT community should be “revolting in terror and anger and action” in response to growing support for Reform UK, which has pledged to “ban transgender ideology” in schools.
Russell T Davies is angry Speaking to the Big Issue, Mr Davies said: “When Queer As Folk came out in 1999, if you’d said: ‘What will gay rights be like in 2025?’, we’d have said: ‘Oh, it will all be marvellous – it’ll be sunshine and skipping down the street, hand in hand – gays, queers, lesbians, everyone.’
“And look at where we are. Things got better but now things are rapidly and urgently getting worse.
“What happens in America always happens here, and as we look down the barrel of a Reform government, we, the gay community, queer community, should be revolting in terror and anger and action.”
Nigel Farage wants a “patriotic” curriculum According to Reform UK’s manifesto, its education policies include plans for a “patriotic” curriculum, tax relief of 20 per cent on private schools and cuts to funding for universities “that undermine free speech”.
It has also pledged to replace the Equality Act and said it would scrap diversity, equality and inclusion rules.
Mr Davies has called on the younger generation of LGBT people to organise and fight back against the rhetoric and policies that have emerged on the hard right of British politics.
He proclaimed: “I hope they’re prepared to fight, that younger generation that has no idea how they got there. And neither should they; they’re busy living their lives. I didn’t spend my youth looking back at World War Two. But I do think: ‘Are you prepared to fight? Because a fight is coming. I’m not being alarmist. I’m 61 years old. I know gay society very, very well, and I think we’re in the greatest danger I have ever seen.”
Reform UK failed to win any Welsh Parliament/Senedd Cymru (WP/SC) seats at the last vote in 2021, but the next time could be different Reform UK failed to win any WP/SC members at the last vote in 2021, but came second in 13 Welsh constituencies at the General Election (GE) last summer.
Polling by Survation conducted earlier this year, put Labour on 27 per cent, with Plaid and Reform UK on 24 per cent each.
The new voting system will elect a larger WP/SC with 96 seats instead of the current 60, and will use a list system that aims to better reflect how the public voted.
Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a pact However, it may not all be plain sailing for Mr Farage, if GEs are any guide, and the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said: “I have ruled out a pact with Nigel Farage in the Westminster parliament”.
But Reform UK having a seat in the WP/SC CANNOT be ruled out.
Good reading material… For many Welsh politicians and critics that’s bad news…
The memories of our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry’s, remarkable decades long award-winning career in journalism (during which major political stories were often reported) as he was gripped by the rare and incurable neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’.Order the book now!
Next week – how owners of property in Wales which are let out to tenants have condemned as a joke plans to penalise them financially, declaring that politicians are ignoring facts such as rents going up, and that the sector provides an essential service bringing in millions of pounds.
