Reform's unknown new leader in Wales

Reform has a new leader in Wales – and you can be forgiven for never having heard of him.

On Thursday, Nigel Farage summoned the Welsh media to Newport’s International Convention Centre to unveil the person who will lead his party into May’s huge Senedd election – and the party’s first Welsh leader since Nathan Gill, who will follow events from prison after receiving 10-and-a-half years for taking bribes to make pro-Russian statements in the European Parliament.

Rumours swirled as to who Farage had chosen (this being Reform, there was no pretence at internal democracy). Would it be Laura Anne Jones, Reform’s first Senedd member after defecting from the Tories last year and whose seat is in neighbouring Monmouthshire? Llŷr Powell – or ‘Welsh Dave’ as Farage, who can’t be bothered to learn the pronunciation of his name, calls him – who was Reform’s candidate in last year’s high-profile Caerphilly by-election? Or even the late dark horse Jason O’Connell, who represents the party on Torfaen council?

In the event Farage unveiled… Dan Thomas. Who, you may ask? As did all of the journalists present – and pretty much all Welsh Reform members. Because Thomas is a complete newbie to Welsh politics, having not lived in Wales since 1999 and being until last year a member of Barnet Council in North London.

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Thomas was a Conservative councillor in London from 2006 until last year, serving as leader of the council from 2019 to 2022. He defected to Reform last year, meaning Farage’s leaders in both Wales and Scotland were until very recently Tories. Under Thomas’s leadership, Barnet was nicknamed EasyCouncil for the way it outsourced pretty much all its key functions, from finance and IT to environmental services and planning.

Still, one can see why he appealed to Farage – Thomas devoted pretty much all his speech in Newport to immigration, something which isn’t devolved to the Welsh government and thus no first minister can do anything about.

“They say there’s nothing to be concerned about, because immigration is relatively low in Wales, and besides that, it’s not a devolved matter, so let’s not talk about it,” he said. “Well, I can tell you, the people of Wales are concerned about immigration, and it’s not hard to see why.”

He added: “I have seen what uncontrolled immigration has done to London over the last 20 years, the pressure on public services, schools, hospitals, the congestion and the community cohesion issues. I have seen what weak and woke policing has done to law and order in London, and I do not want to see Wales and my hometown go down the same path as London.” Thomas’s hometown is Blackwood in Caerphilly, where the last census showed 1.9% of people, or approximately 240 people, held a non-UK passport.

Clearly a man on Farage’s wavelength, then, although it’s difficult to know who should be more insulted: the people of Wales, in being offered a potential first minister who’s been absent for more than a quarter of a century – or Reform members already actually in Wales, not a single one of whom Farage thought was up to the job.