The ex-Tory leader and his wife’s ‘mystery’ job
QUESTIONS have been raised about the role of the wife of a Conservative Member of the Senedd paid up to £35,000 a year to be his PA and researcher.
Former Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has employed his wife Julia as a PA and researcher since 2007.
She is employed as a ‘band one’ staff member, which has a top wage of £35,182. Mrs Davies also advertises her services as a hypnotherapist to private clients.
During an investigation, we spoke to five people who have worked for the Welsh Conservatives in a variety of roles over the 13 years that Mr Davies has employed his wife.
Some occupied significant jobs in the party machinery and all people interviewed said they did not have as much interaction with Mrs Davies as you would expect for someone who was PA to the party leader at the time.
One person told us she “didn’t even realise” that Julia Davies was employed by her husband. She said: “When I did have dealings with his office I personally never spoke to her and never worked with her.
“I definitely never came across her at all. If I search my memory somebody may have mentioned that she works for Andrew but never had any contact with her.
“As far as I was aware a different woman was his personal assistant.”
Another party worker told the Western Mail: “I never got a single email from her. I worked in the Senedd for some time and you do get emails from staff working for other members.
“You may not have met them but you get emails advertising events, looking for substitutions for committee places and advertising all party group meetings.
“You do get to recognise the names of staff working for other members. To not have had an email from someone in years would be strange, especially if they are the PA for the most senior person in the party.”
A third member of staff said they had come across Julia Davies, and she definitely had done some work, but that it was not “as much as you would expect” for the PA to the leader of the group.
They said: “I spoke to her on the
phone on occasion and came across her at the odd event. I would be wrong to say that I never came across her.
“My personal view would be that she did do work, she may have worked from home. But I would not say I came across her as much as you would expect for someone who is the PA for the leader of a group.”
Mr Davies told us that his wife’s role was indispensable to him and that as a dyslexic he struggled to use computers. He said: “Before the coronavirus pandemic I hadn’t turned on a desktop computer during the whole of this Assembly term [which began in 2016]”.
Mrs Davies is employed as both a researcher and PA.
According to the Senedd, the job specification for a personal assistant or researcher role typically includes:
■ Answer telephone, take messages and deal with enquiries and requests as appropriate;
■ Maintain an appointment’s diary for the member, arranging cancelling appointments, meeting and greeting visitors as required;
■ Develop effective relationships and work collaboratively with colleagues from different service areas across the National Assembly;
■ Develop good working relationships with your counterparts in other UK legislatures, with the research community and with policy officials.
One of the Welsh Conservative staff who spoke to us said that you would expect to hear from PAs more than the members themselves.
They said: “PAs are usually the staff who will manage a member’s diary. You would have more contact with them than a member. Say you are a Conservative support staff member, you wouldn’t expect to hear from a caseworker but you would always have contact with a PA as they are the person managing the diary and sorting out committee spaces.”
One source said that Mrs Davies’ Senedd email address was not regularly used and had previously had to be reactivated after it was dormant for an extended period of time. We sent several emails to her account and did not receive a response until after we asked for a comment for this story.
When we contacted Mr Davies for comment he said that his wife had been on annual leave over that period.
As well as being a full-time PA and researcher, Mrs Davies was also running her own business as a hypnotherapist. The business appears to be based in an office space in the centre of Bridgend.
According to her website her “therapy is tailored according to personality, needs and preferences, to make significant positive changes within a relatively short period of time.
“This enables control of anxiety levels resulting in a calmer, more confident approach to all situations.”
It adds: “My background includes a career as a midwife, as well as raising a family. Later in life I graduated with an honours degree in psychology and decided to further my interest in that area due to a strong belief that psychotherapeutic and hypnotherapeutic techniques can alleviate many problems.”
The website claims Mrs Davies can treat 28 different ailments including: anger management, anxiety, depression, exam stress, fear of flying, insomnia, irritable bowel syndrome, low self-confidence, public speaking, sleep problems, stress, stuttering and weight loss.”
When we emailed Mrs Davies’ hypnotherapy business to enquire about availability, she replied within 30 minutes.
The fees were £30 for an initial consultation the £60 an hour thereafter.
Mrs Davies’ business also has a Facebook page, which has been running since at least August 2017.
It has had fairly regular posts over the past three years including inspirational quotes from Nelson Mandela.
When we approached Mr Davies about the business he said: “The website clearly states limited evening appointments only, and outside work isn’t uncommon in the Senedd or indeed other professions/workplaces.”
Mr Davies is correct to say that the website says there are only evening appointments.
However, this appears to have been changed since the Western Mail contacted him for comment when it claimed her availability was “flexible”.
When approached for comment, Mr Davies said that the comments from people who spoke to WalesOnline were political motivated ahead of an internal party ballot for the Welsh Conservative South Wales Central regional list.
He added that his wife does not work at the Senedd.
He said: “Julia does not work out of the Senedd and instead works from the regional office and home, which given the occupancy of Senedd offices in a working week would be a pattern replicated by most other constituency and regional staff employed by members from any political group.
“Due to my severe dyslexia I struggle when it comes to reading and composing emails and dictate correspondence to all three of my staff members, who then send emails on my behalf (one of which is doing so right now). Up until Covid-19 I hadn’t turned on a desktop computer during the whole of this Assembly term.”
He added that the statements from the Welsh Conservative insiders who spoke to us were “untruthful”.
“I think any follower of Welsh politics would struggle to argue against the fact that I am the most active Welsh Conservative MS by any measure,” he said.
“From visits to WAQs to chamber contributions – and certainly the most followed on all social media. That’s nothing to do with me but the hard work and commitment of all of my staff, past and present.
“I have had a loyal and dedicated full-time team with different members of staff during this Assembly who would all confirm the untruthful nature of the statements you’ve collated.”
Following our request for comment, one of Mr Davies’ staff Chris Thorne said: “I’ve worked for Andrew since 2014 in various capacities and happy to confirm that this [the comments from party insiders we emailed Mr Davies] is a load of nonsense!”
The office that Mrs Davies works from is not on the bustling high street you might expect. It is actually in a wooden cabin 50 yards beyond a vehicle security barrier on a rural farm estate.
Two years ago the Western Mail’s chief reporter Martin Shipton went to visit the office and found it unoccupied.