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The founder and former Chair of a controversial new extremist Welsh nationalist group have both been “forced off” the steering committee of a party which was “fraught with infighting”, are setting up a new organisation to secure votes, and a parliamentary candidate stood for a far-right English party, according to an investigation by The Eye.
Following a secret phone call by our journalist the truth about Gwlad Gwlad (GG) (Land Land/Country Country) can now be disclosed.
Coming before the UK General Election the alarming news seems certain to cause shock waves through the Welsh nationalist community.
Apart from being ‘fraught with infighting’ the former Chair of the party, Gwilym ab Ioan (then known as Ein Gwlad {EG}) forecast it would soon collapse, and that candidates in the General Election 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 Laurence Williams to fight the Vale of Glamorgan seat.
As well as standing for the far-right English Democrats, Mr Williams has also 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.
Meanwhile Mr ab Ioan (known as ‘Gwilym the gardener’) has also claimed that he has pulled the plug on his version of the party’s website, and is owed thousands of pounds.
He said the ‘new’ Welsh independence party he is helping to create, would be called ‘Advance’, and will be formed with a well known Welsh Assembly Member.
He chaired EG before the party became GG, as it cleaned up its image to adopt a “more consensual approach”, but he has long been a controversial figure.
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 a retired heating engineer, who supports the 1960s paramilitary group Free Wales Army (FWA), and who, it’s claimed, has also been ‘forced off’.
Royston Jones (who styles himself in documents as an ‘Investigative Journalist’), writes an acerbic right wing blog and published a picture of the leader of the FWA holding a gun.
Mr Jones’ blog is called ‘Jac o’ the North’, and proclaims it is: “Interpreting Wales from a Right of Centre Nationalist perspective”.
He has published a picture of Cayo Evans, pointing a hand gun at the camera, and he revels in his long-standing support for the FWA.
Mr Jones has also praised Evans as a “friend” and “comrade”.
A published review of his writings was condemnatory and started by quoting him: “‘From now on the Welsh national interest must take precedence over everything’” I suspected that was what Royston was thinking when (he) posted his Steve Bannon video upon his blog, tweeted the fascist outlook of Viktor Orban and stood up for the Confederate Flag in South Carolina. I could not help thinking that the party would take anyone who would support Welsh independence and then even involved members of an indigenous Welsh far right”.
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 EG/GG, 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 and lives across the English border in Shropshire.
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.
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 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 (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”.
Mr Jones said on Jac o’ the North: “That lying bastard Phil Parry never misses an opportunity to twist or invent ‘facts’”.
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?”.
But readers have been dismayed in the past by what has appeared on Mr Jones’ blog.
The leader of GG, Gwyn Wigley Evans, has admitted key people have left, saying: “There was a disagreement about the direction of the party”.
Yet it has been accusations of being a far-right party which have constantly bedevilled GG.
Our Editor 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! The picture doubles as a cut-and-paste poster!
