Ex-Tory leader ‘learned of coup in text blunder’
A TRUE CHAMPION!
FOUR senior Tory figures “at the other end of the M4” were involved in a plot to remove Andrew RT Davies from his role as leader of the Welsh Conservatives, the politician has alleged.
Mr Davies, who resigned last week from the post he held for seven years, said he had learned of the plot when a text message was sent to him in error 14 months ago.
The message, from a senior Tory that he won’t name, said there was a need to both “keep a lid on it” and “get rid of him as soon as possible”.
Mr Davies said: “The person they wanted to get rid of was me.”
He said the text message related specifically to the case of former Tory MP Mark Reckless, who had defected to Ukip, successfully fought a by-election but lost his seat in Kent at the 2015 General Election.
In 2016 Mr Reckless was elected as a Ukip AM for South Wales East, but a year later left Ukip.
Mr Davies was supportive of him, and backed his application to take the Conservative whip at the Assembly and to attend the Tory group, even
though he was not a member of the party.
The move was opposed by some Conservatives at Westminster, where Mr Reckless had made himself unpopular with Tory MPs by defecting to Ukip just before the 2014 party conference.
Mr Davies said: “Mark has not made an application to rejoin the Conservative Party, but the Assembly group decided unanimously to let him attend meetings and take the whip.
“He has been a considerable asset in helping to hold the Labour Welsh Government to account and having an extra vote has strengthened our position as a group in the Assembly.”
Mr Davies said he did not consider that those who he alleges had conspired to remove him as leader had acted in a democratic manner.
“I think it’s pretty bad that people in the party who aren’t members of the Assembly have been trying to influence events from outside.
“That includes sending AMs instructions telling them how they should vote. They tried it on with one particular AM. Knowing the AM concerned, I wasn’t at all surprised that the attempt to control them didn’t succeed.”
Mr Davies said he very much hoped there would now be a leadership election in the Welsh Conservatives. Since his resignation, the group has been led on a temporary basis by deputy leader Paul Davies.
There has been a suggestion that Paul Davies should be elected unopposed, but Andrew RT Davies thinks it would be good for the party to have an election.
He swept aside the suggestion that he might stand again himself.
He said: “I have had a lot of very kind messages from people asking me to take part in the election, but I won’t be doing so.
“It became clear at the group meeting last Wednesday that people were not prepared to offer me their full-hearted support. They were saying they wanted to see how things went, and I knew then that the right thing to do was to stand down.
“Even if I stood and won the election, it wouldn’t change the nature of the relationship between me and the rest of the group.”
Mr Davies said he would not be endorsing anyone if an election takes place: “Again, I don’t think that would be the right thing to do – but I do think it’s important that an election takes place.”
Referring to comments made by Wales Office Minister Guto Bebb, who pointed out that Mr Davies was never the leader of the Welsh Conservatives but only of the Assembly group, he said: “I was elected in a ballot of all members in Wales. I think it’s rather silly if someone who has been elected by the grassroots of the party can’t be referred to as the party leader.”
He said he now wanted to get on with serving his South Wales Central constituents and the party.
“Life’s too short to be bitter or wallow in self-pity,” he said.
“I lost my mother when I was 15, just eight weeks after she was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
“You just have to get on with life, and that’s what I intend to do.
“I would very much like to carry on as an AM after the next election in 2021, but it will be party members and the voters who will decide whether I get that chance.
“I had wanted to lead the party in Wales up to 2021, helping to devise a policy agenda that will appeal to the electorate.
“But the fact that I’m no longer leader won’t stop me from doing whatever I can to make the campaign a success.”