Welsh Tory ex-cabinet minister David Jones announces he's joined Reform UK

A former Conservative cabinet minister has announced he is now backing Reform UK as the party that now “best represents my views”.

David Jones, who served as Welsh secretary under David Cameron between 2012 and 2014, announced he was joining Nigel Farage’s party on Monday after more than 50 years as a Tory.

The former Clwyd West MP described the move as “a very difficult decision for me” and said he had written to the Conservatives in October to say he would not renew his membership, but received no reply.

He said: “I joined the Conservatives all those years ago because I believed it was the party that best reflected my values and beliefs. Regrettably, that is no longer the case.

“Today, Reform UK is the party that best represents my views – and, I believe, those of many others who have become disillusioned with the two old major parties.”

After losing his cabinet job in the 2014 reshuffle, he went on to become a minister in the Department for Exiting the EU under Theresa May for a year between 2016 and 2017.

He later became deputy chairman of the European Research Group, a Eurosceptic group of Tory MPs.

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Private individual

Mr Jones, who stood down from Parliament last year after 19 years as an MP, said he had no intention of standing for election, and had joined Reform “as a private individual”.

But as a former cabinet minister, he is the most senior ex-Tory MP to join Reform so far, following Marco Longhi, Anne Marie Morris, Ross Thomson, Aiden Burley and Dame Andrea Jenkyns, now the mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.

His defection also comes as Mr Farage’s party seeks to make significant gains in next year’s elections at the Senedd in Wales, where polls suggest the party is in second or third place.

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First Minister 

In January, a political source told Nation.Cymru: “Senior figures in Reform are totally convinced that Reform will be the largest party after the May 2026 Senedd election. Under the standing orders of the Senedd, the First Minister is elected by MSs at the first meeting after a Senedd election. If MSs from each party group vote for their own nominee, the Reform candidate would win.

“David Jones has left the Conservatives and joined Reform, and senior people in Reform are now trying to persuade him to stand for the Senedd next year. If he’s top of the Reform list in the super-constituency where he’ll be standing under the new electoral system, he won’t have any trouble getting elected.

“Their plan is that, if he can be persuaded, he will be Reform’s candidate for First Minister. He’s something of a hero to them because he was such an ardent Brexiteer, and obviously he has experience as a UK Minister in a way none of the rest of them has.”

Mathematics

The political source said that what happened next would depend on the mathematics of the election result and decisions made by other parties: “It’s possible that between them, Labour and Plaid Cymru would have enough MSs to form a majority. They could decide to join forces and elect a First Minister from their own ranks. On the other hand, it’s possible they may take the view that, having won the highest number of seats, Reform should be allowed to form a minority government. That would be more likely, however, if Labour and Plaid weren’t able to command a majority between them.

“If Reform came out on top and the Tories had enough seats to give them a majority with their support, they might be reluctant to enter a formal coalition but it’s plausible that they could back a Reform minority administration from outside the government. That’s what the Scottish Tories did in 2007, when the Scottish Parliament election ended with the SNP having one more seat than Labour.”

‘Complication’

One complication might be the difficult nature of the relationship between Mr Jones and Welsh Conservative Senedd group leader Darren Millar, who are reputed to loathe each other.

When quizzes by us on his plans, Mr Jones said: “I have no intention of standing for election, be it to Westminster, Cardiff or anywhere else. After 19 years representing the people of Clwyd West, I stood down at the last general election and am now thoroughly enjoying my retirement.”