Turf war

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Sian Caiach said a man who supports the FWA was a ‘critical friend’

The ‘chair’ of a controversial extremist Welsh independence party has admitted on social media her predecessor was “turfed out for being an authoritarian, control freak” but that a right wing pensioner who supports a paramilitary group was “a critical friend”The Eye can reveal.

Sian Caiach of Gwlad Gwlad GG (Land Land/Country Country) was the candidate for Cardiff Central in the General Election, yet was also the proposer for The Brexit Party nomination in Llanelli and the spotlight was thrown on to the remarkable situation after comments on Twitter. 

On Facebook she said astonishingly:  “Gwilym ab Ioan was turfed out for being an authoritarian, control freak.  As for Royston Jones, he’s not on the Steering Committee and is now more of a critical friend of GWLAD in essence”.

Gwlad Gwlad/Ein Gwlad has not attracted huge support

The remarkable news follows other extraordinary controversies reported exclusively by us. On the same post, GG said the election result held “promise for the future” despite the fact it had lost all deposits and secured just a few hundred votes, The Eye can reveal.

The contentious party proclaimed that the result on Thursday night was “not bad for a brand new party with no real public recognition at this stage of play”.

Laurence Williams needs to stop smiling about being in so many far right parties…

But apart from Ms Caiach, it has also emerged that the party’s other candidate has a controversial background which has also been divulged by The Eye.

Laurence Williams stood as the GG candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan, yet he has also been a candidate for the far right English Democrats, and stood for the Christian Party (in Old Bexley and Sidcup in 2015), while in the 2014 European elections, he stood for the London region of the right wing Christian Peoples Alliance. His political career however started in the 2010 General Election fighting the Erith and Thamesmead seat for the English Democrats. 

Gwilym ab Ioan – ‘turfed out’

Ms Caiach’s predecessor as chair of GG, Gwilym ab Ioan (then known as Ein Gwlad {EG}) forecast in a secret phone call to us that it would soon collapse, and (presciently) that candidates would lose their deposits. He told our undercover reporter:  “…our big mistake was not vetting people” and that has been thrown into sharp relief by the selection of Mr Williams to fight the Vale of Glamorgan seat.

Mr ab Ioan was ‘turfed out’, as EG/GG cleaned up its image to adopt a “more consensual approach”, but he has long been a contentious figure.

‘Gwilym the gardener’ was known for his attention to detail, except when it came to filing accounts

In the past he has described Wales as a “dumping ground for (English) misfits”, was forced to resign from Plaid Cymru’s (PC) ruling body, and he has been faced with major problems running a charity allotment scheme which failed to file accounts two years running,

EG/GG was originally founded by the retired heating engineer mentioned by Ms Caiach. Mr Jones supports the 1960s paramilitary group Free Wales Army (FWA), and who, it was claimed to us, has also been ‘forced off’ the governing committee of EG/GG. He styles himself in documents as an ‘Investigative Journalist’, and posted on his blog ‘Jac o’ the North’ a picture of the leader of the FWA holding a gun.

Royston Jones now says support the Tories

Mr Jones’ blog proclaims it is: “Interpreting Wales from a Right of Centre Nationalist perspective”, and his picture of Cayo Evans is of him pointing a hand gun at the camera. He revels in his long-standing support for the FWA and has praised Evans as a “friend” and “comrade”.

The FWA 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.

Stephen Morris was ‘General Party Spokesman’ and ‘Policy Researcher’ of the party he founded although as he lived in England he was barred from voting in Welsh elections, so is unable to vote for the party at these ballots. In a piece introducing what was then EG on the Nation.Cymru website, Dr Morris wrote: “Wales is a unique country. There is nowhere quite like it.”  But Dr Morris works in Wrexham although he lives across the English border in Shropshire, and it seems his party has had a difficult birth

Cayo Evans with gun as seen on the ‘Jac o’ the North’ blog

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/GG became deeply unhappy. Officials sent a message to Mr Jones 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”.

Before this a ‘public’ meeting was held in Autumn 2017 and we divulged how Mr Jones had initially pledged to create the new party by early last year, with an Annual General Meeting (AGM) penciled in for March 3 2018, but nothing happened.

Phil became angry when he was accused of being a ‘git’

EG/GG 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. Intriguingly Mr Jones no longer mentions EG/GG on his right wing blog.

Meanwhile his 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 (2018) 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”.

‘Irritating’

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 (The Eye – 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”.

Plainly, despite our factual revelations, Mr Jones was troubled by our intervention, and wrote on his blog:  He (another critic of the plan) used the lies peddled by Phil Parry on The Eye”.
 
Yet it seems he became totally disillusioned with GG/EG and, bizarrely, urged people to vote for The Conservatives. He said on his blog “… I shall be supporting Welsh independence on December 12 by voting for the Conservative and Unionist Party”. We have described how Mr Jones’ former party could be in its death throes amid reports that it now has fewer than 40 members.
 
Gwyn Wigley Evans has hit the headlines for other reasons than politics

But the present senior officials in GG also have interesting pasts.

The leader of GG, Gwyn Wigley Evans, has admitted key people have left, saying:  “There was a disagreement about the direction of the party”. He said in an interview with Nation.Cymru that the party was standing at the General Election in four seats where PC have withdrawn, 
 
Mr Evans has also hit the headlines for other reasons. Last year it emerged that he was director of a company which imported knitted garments from Macedonia. 
 
‘This was a long time ago and the person has left’

Yet it has been accusations of being a far right party which have constantly bedevilled GG/EG.

Nation.Cymru asked Mr Evans about a post on the party’s Facebook page praising the Lega Nord and Brothers of Italy parties, and past praise for Hungary’s controversial nationalist leader Viktor Orban. Mr Evans replied:  “I haven’t seen that post on Facebook. And the person who praised Viktor Orban left a long time ago“.
 
Book posterIt appears Facebook is used extensively by officials at EG/GG – the ‘chair’ of the party used it to warn readers her predecessor was ‘turfed out’ and that a pensioner who supports a paramilitary group was a ‘critical friend’.

 

 
 
Our Editor Phil Parry’s memories of his astonishing 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! The picture doubles as a cut-and-paste poster

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