The former Welsh Tory leader now crowdfunding his campaign

Pity poor Andrew RT Davies, the former leader of the Welsh Conservatives, so terrified of losing his Senedd seat to Plaid Cymru in the forthcoming election he’s had to set up a crowdfunder.

Davies has been on the Tories’ defection watchlist ever since he was forced out of the leadership by colleagues in 2024, but appears to be sticking with his party for the time being at least. Polls, however, are not good, and Davies is looking for pecuniary help.

Under the heading ‘Help Andrew stop Plaid in the Vale and Bridgend’, Davies has set up a page on the website Crowdfunder, hoping to gain £2,500 for his campaign.

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“Andrew RT Davies is the lead Welsh Conservative Senedd candidate in the Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend for the election on 7 May 2026,” says the spiel. “A family man, farmer and plain-speaking community champion, he is standing to: stop the Welsh separatists in Plaid Cymru; scrap Labour and Plaid’s Nation of Sanctuary scheme that encourages illegal immigration; and end the left’s anti-white discrimination programmes that unfairly exclude white people.” (You see why he might be on the Reform defection watchlist?)

Alas, the money has yet to come rolling in. He raised just £2 in the crowdfunder’s first six hours, despite a big push on social media, and at the time of writing – five days after launch – had made just £95. Some of these appear to have donated the minimum donation of £1 in order to leave a message to be publicly displayed on the website, such as “Absolutely no Welsh person should ever be voting Tory” and “Don’t spend all of this on a Halal pasty from Greggs”.

The real mystery, though, is quite why Davies needs to crowdfund for small change. Widely thought to be the richest member of the Senedd, Davies is a multi-millionaire largely from inherited wealth with a privileged boarding school education at the £14,000-a-term Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire behind him.

In addition, he earned over £100,000 a year from his role as leader of the opposition in the Senedd. He also declared relatively piffling earnings on the side of around £50 a pop for filling in surveys for the likes of YouGov.