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More major problems appear to have beset a new extreme nationalist Welsh independence party created by the supporter of a paramilitary organisation with links to the IRA, it has emerged.
Reporters say they have been unable to contact Ein Gwlad (Our land/country) EG and campaigning before a possible UK General Election has been invisible.
Their website is still active and states: “FOR NEWS, REVIEWS & OPINI0N ON THE POLITICAL FRONT IN CYMRU (WALES)”, but other engagement is minimal.
One journalist told us: “It is incredibly difficult to get hold of Ein Gwlad for a comment. Nobody seems to know who to contact”.
The party was created by Royston Jones, a retired heating engineer, who writes an acerbic right wing blog called Jac o’ the North, which proclaims it is: “Interpreting Wales from a Right of Centre Nationalist perspective”.
He has published on his blog a picture of Cayo Evans, the leader of the 1960s paramilitary group, Free Wales Army (FWA), holding a gun and revels in his long standing support for the organisation.
Mr Jones has also praised Evans as a “friend” and “comrade”.
Evans was the leader of the FWA which came to prominence more than 50 years ago, and it has been reported that the Official IRA (OIRA) gave or sold, most of its weapons to the organisation as part of its turn away from political violence.
But this is not the first time EG has been engulfed by problems.
Following our revelations about Mr Jones’ connection with Evans and news on The Eye of his publication of him with a pistol, a hotel where he was to announce the formation of EG sent a message to him saying: “With regards to … concerns, we have now cancelled your meeting room with full refund of payment”.
He then advertised on his blog a new venue, with the words: “I am delighted to announce that a meeting has been arranged for November 18th (2018) in Aberystwyth to discuss the formation of a new political party to defend Wales’ interests”.
EG was finally unveiled at Llanelli later last year, but another nationalist blog had ‘reported’ earlier that a first ‘conference’ was to be held before the end of 2018.
Meanwhile Mr Jones’ support for the FWA and Evans, as well as previous statements have been questioned, and it seemed our Editor had become something of an irritant.
On November 19 Mr Jones had written on his blog: “The meeting yesterday went very, very well. I was delighted with the turnout and with the enthusiasm shown…perhaps the one disappointment – given the interest he’s shown in the new party – was that Phil Parry of The Eye wasn’t there. You could have had a scoop, Parry – ‘Shock! Horror! irritating little git thrown out of meeting”.
On November 22 he wrote after an article on The Eye: “Following Phil Parry’s latest attack on me I asked for the right to reply (there has been no such request), but he hasn’t responded. I’d prefer to ignore the irritating little git but he is now making serious and misleading allegations that have to be answered”.
Mr Jones said on Jac o’ the North: “That lying bastard Phil Parry never misses an opportunity to twist or invent ‘facts’”. He continued: “He’s a mouthpiece for the Labour Party (many of The Eye articles have been about the misdeeds of Labour politicians) and often ‘trails’ stories for Llais y Sais (we never write ‘trails’ for other organisations)“. Evidently Mr Jones is unaware of legal rules because these comments are highly-defamatory, and as they have been published, they fall within the remit of libel laws.
The equal treatment of disabled people is viewed by commentators as a progressive mark of civilised countries, and it is seen as important to address debilitating illnesses, but it seems Mr Jones does not agree. One of the lines by him on Jac o’ the North which caused particular offence was: “Am I alone in thinking there’s an element of a Victorian freak show in the Paralympics?”. A post on the Republic website concluded: “(Royston Jones was) awarded …that week’s Full of Shit award. It was well merited (as this was a) primitive attitude to disabled people.”
But readers have been dismayed in the past by what has appeared on Mr Jones’ blog. One commentator on The Eye said: “The man (Royston Jones) and the knuckle draggers that follow him are fascistic ethnic nationalists end of and don’t really deserve the air of publicity except to say that wales has an alarmingly high number (of) far right supremacists who have convinced themselves they have oppressed status so think its okay to demonise ordinary people like retirees from English cities who’ve moved within their own nation state”.
Phil Parry’s memories of his extraordinary 36-year award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the incurable disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major new book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!
