Who will be Farage's chosen one in Wales?

Who will be the new leader of Reform in Wales after a week in Cardiff Bay chaotic even by that party’s standards?

The party’s 34 (at least at the start of the week) Senedd members have been rocked by the resignation of Dan Thomas, the former north London Conservative council leader who stepped down as Reform leader after being arrested and bailed on suspicion of assault and coercive or controlling behaviour.

That was followed immediately by the defection of MS Sarah Cooper-Lesadd, who took the road less travelled from Reform to Plaid Cymru, having concluded her former party was a bunch of rotters. Reform “has no interest in Wales” and its Senedd group is “a staging post in the effort to get Nigel Farage into Downing Street,” she belatedly concluded.

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Rats in a Sack

Now the role of leader – which, as leader of the opposition in Wales, comes with an enticing £124,000 salary – has become available… although quite how much of a group they will have left to lead is questionable.

The favourite is Llŷr Powell, currently the party’s chief whip, former advisor to the party’s now jailed Welsh leader Nathan Gill and a long-time Farage loyalist (Farage refers to him as “Welsh Dave” rather than learn how to pronounce his name). He was also the unsuccessful Reform candidate in last year’s Caerphilly by-election and – crucially – is despised by large sections of his own group, particularly the former Conservatives who Powell is said to feel haven’t served their time.

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Rats in a Sack

Were Powell to become leader, defections are likely, with Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar said to be open to repenting sinners returning to his fold. Added to this, several Reform members have clocked that, were just five of them to defect to Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, the Senedd would be forced to recognise them as a formal group – with all the public funding that would bring, not least a party leader’s salary for whoever they put in charge.

Other Reform contenders are current deputy leader Helen Jenner, the interim leader and a former English teacher who entered politics after watching clips of Farage on YouTube, and Jason O’Connell. Another, James Evans – a former Tory who described Reform as “quite scary” before defecting to them earlier this year – has ruled himself out after declaring, just two months after being elected, that he would not run again in 2030.

Still, don’t expect much of a leadership contest. Like all roles in Reform, the leader in Wales is selected by one member, one vote – and that member is one N. Farage of Kent.