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Opinion

Make him go away

By Mark Mansfield
Andrew RT Davies.

Ben Wildsmith

Sipping from a can of Monster, ‘Andy’ (not his real name) struggles to articulate what caused him to become embroiled in this week’s far-right controversy.

‘I dunno, it wasn’t really me,’ he shrugs, puffing furiously on his Poundland vape. ‘People was coming up to me, right, ‘cause they know I’ve got an X account.’

I ask Andy what they wanted, and he looks around furtively.

‘I’ve got to be careful,’ he explains. ‘G’s round here will cut you if you’re a snitch.’

Round here is Cowbridge, a tough Vale of Glamorgan sink estate where Andy grew up.

‘There’s bad mans round here,’ he warns. ‘Almost everyone’s in the NFU.’

‘Are you a member?’ I ask.

‘Couldn’t say,’ Andy sniggers. ‘Let’s just say I know my chine from my sirloin and leave it at that.’

I press him on why his X account is so controversial and he darkens.

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Meat

‘Look, people wanted to know about the meat, see? You’re not from these ends, you wouldn’t get it. It’s alright for you, traditionally slaughtered livestock are all we’ve got round here.’ To emphasise his point, Andy reaches into his North Face jacket and waves a packet of pork scratchings in front of me.

‘It’s our culture!’

Lacking a mandate, Andy relies wholly on the Welsh Government for his income and save for a brief spell as a farm labourer, has been neither use nor ornament his entire life.

‘What are you for, Andy?’ I ask him.

‘I’m out here keeping it real,’ he says, scratching at a congealed Bovril stain on his trousers.

‘Speaking truth to the elites.’

‘About what?’ I ask.

‘Well, me and the boys used to drive from here to Pentre Meyrick in Gerald’s Land Rover and we’d smoke everything we passed, some of them going 30, or 35mph. It was sick.’

‘Sorry, what’s your point, Andy?’

‘Well, it’s shit now, isn’t it? We have to go at 20mph because of The Drake.’

‘Sorry, what is The Drake?’

‘Don’t mention The Drake,’ Andy hisses, ‘not in an NFU pub.’

‘The A48 there has an exemption from the 20mph regulations though, Andy.’

‘That’s what they want you to think,’ Andy laughs. ‘Honestly, wake up, Bruv, haven’t you got GB News?’

Puzzled

I was puzzled as to why Andy had exhorted his followers on social media to ‘Burn the Senedd’.

‘Andy, you and your friends are all paid by the Welsh Government, why on earth would you want to destroy it?’

‘I’m an edgy rebel who plays by his own rules,’ Andy asserts.

‘That’s a line from The Simpsons, isn’t it Andy?’

‘Whatever. Suck your mum.’

Sensing that Andy was becoming agitated, I ask about his plans for the future.

‘Gonna be a YouTuber,’ he announces, brightening.

‘I’ll be on a like-and-subscribe tip, you feel me? I’ll be out there spitting bars and making coin. Gold Landy with a ragtop, Wagyu for breakfast, and custom Hunters on my feet, Bro. Might move to Berkshire but I’ll always have love for my peeps in the ’bridge.’

We reached out to the NFU for comment and a spokesman said,

‘Not him again! For the last time, we have no idea who he is. Make him go away.’

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31 comments

Ieu

How is the leader of an opposition party paid by the government?

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Gareth

He receives a salary as a MS. All MS get paid , they dont do it for free.

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Ben Wildsmith

And the rest... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leader_of_the_Opposition_(Wales)#:~:text=In%20April%202023%2C%20Leader%20of,the%202024%2F25%20tax%20year.

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Ieu

But is his salary from the government or the parliament?

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In reply to Ieu

Gareth

The government. The government decide where to spend money and pay MS and civil servants, the Senedd are elected to scrutinise the government, and hold the government to account.

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In reply to Gareth

Steve George

Wrong. He's paid by the Senedd and the Senedd decides his (and Government Ministers') remuneration. The Senedd also decides how much the Welsh Government's budget is each year and approves it. That's the thing about parliaments, they don't just scrutinise they also make all the really big decisions on laws and spending. The scrutiny is almost a secondary function.

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Valerie Matthews

Do people actually vote for this rabble rouser? He is an attention seeker with no regard for the consequences of his words or actions! Please, Wales deserves better!

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Padi Phillips

Maybe not enough people will vote for him the next time they get a chance to vote, though with Starmer in at Westminster I don't think it'll actually make an ounce of difference. I just hope the Reform monster can be slaughtered before that time.

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Margaret Helen Parish

Dream on!!!

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David

There will be more like him in the closed list!

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j91968

Does it though, does it really deserve better? He is attractive to enough Welsh voters to have become a Member of Senedd, otherwise you'd never have heard of him. However I doubt you will meet (m)any Welsh Tory voters on Nation Cymru, so if you really want to know why he has any popularity you'd best do your own research elsewhere.

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CapM

RT Davies is a regional list Tory Senedd member so it's unclear if the voters in South Wales Central vote for him personally or the Tory party. He's top of the list so with all 8 constituencies electing Labour SMs he's guaranteed a regional seat. If he's still leader and stands at the next election he'll be top of the list again and guaranteed to be re-elected but we still won't know if those voting Tory are doing so because they want him elected or just a Senedd member who's a Tory. If you want to know which you’d best do your own research elsewhere.

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In reply to CapM

j91968

That shines some light on how, but goes no further towards explaining to Valerie Matthews why so many Welsh voters were so happy to put their mark against the party he leads. "With all eight constituencies electing Labour SMs he's guaranteed a regional seat" makes no sense whatsoever, so I think Valerie will be even more confused and baffled than she was to start with.

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In reply to j91968

j91968

It doesn't explain why he is still the Leader of the Opposition, I mean.Or why his tweets are so often reported and remarked upon on in an independent Welsh news website like this one, giving him a much more prominent profile than one might expect for a man if his questionable calibre. Still, perhaps Reform will be the official opposition next time, and ART Davies will be turned out to pasture. Meanwhile, he's like manure caked on a welly, and Wales is stuck with him for quite a while yet, as he just doesn't seem to be the resigning type.

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In reply to j91968

CapM

None of us, you me or Valerie knows how much support as an individual RTDavies gets from the electorate. Lots of people vote for Johnson, Rees Mogg, Truss and in relative terms quite a few for RTDavies probably. Often there's no accounting for taste or reason where the public are concerned. Voting for a farmyard animal wearing a particular colour of rosette is probably universal. RTDavies is the leader of the opposition in the Senedd so his utterances need to be covered and commentated on by our media.

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In reply to CapM

j91968

I can appreciate the reason for the Welsh Tories being the opposition if Labour and Plaid Cymru are in coalition forming a government, but it's a bit staggering that the Welsh Tories still form a bigger block than Plaid can muster when not in coalition with Labour. It does nothing for the argument we so often see rehearsed on here that a Welsh independence movement is a going and growing concern and is the only possible salvation for the people of Wales

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In reply to j91968

CapM

Are you new to Cymru? Labour and Plaid Cymru have only been in a coalition from 2007 to 2011. " but it’s a bit staggering that the Welsh Tories still form a bigger block than Plaid" The composition of the Senedd to an extent follows the UK two party Punch and Judy show. Under the new much more Proportional Representation system we might well see a significantly different make up in the next Senedd term. There is an element which appears to be growing within the Labour vote of those who want at least more devolution. This is evidenced by the coaltion delivering the advance from Assembly to Senedd. and the improvement in democracy for the people of Cymru that the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act. Neither of these improvements would have happened if Labour voters in Cymru were as British Nationalist as Tory voters in Cymru are.

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In reply to CapM

j91968

I have been voting in Welsh elections for the whole of the C21st, but the voting system changes, and the consitutional reforms are rarely explained well in the mainstream press or even web-based media like this. In comparison with a Westminster GE voting for the Senedd feels a bit like being told you have to play the best of three games of chess when you're only adept at a quick game of drafts. People can still vote without being obsessed with the technical minutiae, I guess. Thing is, though, my vote carries pretty much the same weight as the vote of a genuine enthusiast for these excrutiating details, doesn't it? Which must be infuratiang for the people who adore all the exhaustive and often exhausting analysis. I suppose I'd have to join a party and go to meetings, and keep getting all stirred up and furious all the time to learn more. Sorry. Really not me.

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In reply to j91968

CapM

In the new system each voter has one vote and decides which party they wish to give that vote. Do you really think that it equates to playing "the best of three games of chess"! The "excrutiating details" that you appear to loath are less "excruciating" and no more "adored" than those that apply at Westminster. Subjecting yourself to the "technical minutiae" originating in Caerdydd or London is your choice and both can be easily avoided if you want. If you've been in Cymru for over twenty years you should be well aware of the democratic deficit caused by the lack of media servicing the country. Everyone can chose to delve into the "technical minutiae" to whatever extent they wish. You're free to chose to remain uninformed and still vote. So I don't really know what you're complaining about.

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In reply to CapM

L Edwards

That other gift that refuses to stop giving, Laura Ann Jones, is also a regional list Tory MS. She too has failed in all her attempts to be elected personally for a constituency. I remain to be convinced by the new wholly list-based system

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Annibendod

He's never won a constituency seat. I doubt he ever could.

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Annibendod

No. I doubt many do. He is not a constituency MS. He gets in on the regional list under the d'Hondt method. Each time he has stood for a constituency he has failed to be elected. He is a prime example of why the coming lists system (all 96 new MS's in '26 will be elected under d'Hondt), is a democratic failure. Such individuals, who could never win a constituency seat, will be able to sway a small portion which is enough of their party members, perhaps even only their party officials (how many candidates did Labour parachute in?), and by dint of a core vote thinly spread, win a seat. STV was by far the better way to go. It retains the constituency link and provides a fair degree of proportionality. What's of vital importance is that STV allows the public to choose or reject individuals as they see fit. Party lists allows parties to foist more Andrew RT Davies' on us. This is very bad for Welsh Democracy. He and others like Gething and ab Owen have brought the Senedd into disrepute. We the public should have the electoral shepherds crook at the ballot box. The list system has compromised our means to remove bad politicians with our votes.

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Mab Meirion

Solicitor Politicians are not to be trusted...!

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CapM

The other side of the coin is that a party that lists genuinely good candidates could get a voting boost at the expense of parties that put dross on their lists.

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Mab Meirion

Wack a Mark...ok:> Ambulance waiting times are four times worse since you took over first time round... You, Gething and the Baroness have presided over how many extra deaths above the norm Mr Drakeford? Do you have a clue what to do to repair the damage you three have done to the health service in Cymru...? Get some help from MSF...

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Fi yn unig

Delightful.

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David RJ Lloyd

brilliant BW, great take on a total prattttt

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Whatamimissing

What does any of what ive just read have to do with rt davies?

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Jeff

If you quickly say "gbeebies" three times he appears as if by magic......

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Y Cymro

If only it were that easy. Where's David Copperfield when you need him. He made the Statue of Liberty disappear. Surely he can make Andrew RT Davies go away.

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Leave a reply

Replying to David Cancel

There will be more like him in the closed list!

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