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The 2024 Welsh Conservatives leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Andrew RT Davies on 3 December 2024. [1] [2] Darren Millar was the only candidate who stepped forward for the leadership. [3] [4] [5] As no other candidate was nominated by the deadline for nominations at 17:00 GMT on 5 December, he was elected unopposed as the new leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the Senedd. [6] [7]
A confidence motion had been held seeking the removal Davies at a meeting of the Conservative Senedd group on 3 December 2024. Although Davies won the motion with 9 votes to 7, he proceeded resign as leader in the hours following the vote.
Darren Millar was the only candidate to stand in the ensuing leadership election, and was consequently announced as the new Welsh Conservative leader on 5 December.
On 28 November 2024, a group of shadow cabinet ministers approached Davies threatening to resign if he did not vacate his position as Conservative Senedd group leader. [8] [9]
A confidence vote was held at party's weekly group meeting on the following Tuesday, 3 December 2024.
Despite initial reports that a secret ballot would be held, Nation.Cymru reported that a recorded vote by show of hands was instead conducted. [10] [11]
The confidence motion was narrowly passed, 56.2% to 43.8%.
Supporters | |
---|---|
Confidence (9) | No Confidence (7) |
Andrew RT Davies | Natasha Asghar |
Gareth Davies | James Evans |
Paul Davies | Peter Fox |
Russell George | Tom Giffard |
Mark Isherwood | Altaf Hussain |
Laura Anne Jones | Sam Kurtz |
Joel James | Sam Rowlands |
Darren Millar | |
Janet Finch-Saunders | |
[10] |
Following the vote, several members of Davies' shadow cabinet threatened to resign their positions. [10]
Thus, despite a narrow majority of the Senedd group backing his continued leadership, Davies published his resignation statement on Twitter shortly before noon on 3 December 2024. [12] [13]
In the subsequent leadership election that followed Davies' resignation, Darren Millar stood as a candidate and was unopposed. Therefore, on 5 December it was announced that Millar would become the new Welsh Conservative leader. [14]
Laura Anne Jones is a Conservative politician who has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for the South Wales East electoral region since July 2020, having previously held the same seat as an Assembly Member (AM) in the National Assembly for Wales between 2003 and 2007. Jones also served as a county councillor for the Wyesham ward in Monmouthshire County Council from 2017 to 2022.
Nick Ramsay is a British politician who served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Monmouth from 2007 to 2021. Originally a member of the Welsh Conservatives, he served as Shadow Minister of Finance under Conservative Leader in the Senedd, Paul Davies, but lost the position in January 2021 under the new leadership of Andrew RT Davies. Ramsay sat as an Independent member before unsuccessfully seeking reelection as an Independent in the 2021 Senedd election.
Darren David Millar is a Welsh politician who has served as the leader of the Welsh Conservatives since December 2024, and Member of the Senedd (MS) for Clwyd West since 2007.
The Welsh Conservatives, also known as the Welsh Conservative Party, is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At Westminster elections, it is the second-most popular political party in Wales by vote share, having obtained the second-largest share of the vote at every general election since 1931. In Senedd elections, the Conservatives are currently the second-most supported party but have at times been third. As of 2024, they hold none of the 32 Welsh seats in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and 16 of the 60 seats in the Senedd.
Andrew Robert Tudor Davies CBE is a Welsh politician who has served as Member of the Senedd for the South Wales Central region since 2007.
Paul Windsor Davies is a British politician who has served as Member of the Senedd (MS) for Preseli Pembrokeshire since 2007, and as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution and External Affairs and Welsh Conservative Chief Whip since December 2024.
The 2018 Welsh Conservatives leadership election was triggered on 27 June by the resignation of Andrew RT Davies.
In the Senedd, the Leader of the Opposition is the leader of the Official Opposition, the largest political party that is not in the Welsh Government. The Leader of the Opposition leads and appoints members of the Shadow Cabinet and as such is sometimes styled as the Shadow First Minister of Wales.
Paul Davies became the Leader of the Opposition in Wales after being elected as Leader of the Welsh Conservatives on 27 June 2018 and named his Shadow Cabinet in July.
Andrew RT Davies became the Leader of the Opposition in Wales on the 24 January 2021 after the resignation of Paul Davies as leader the following day. On 29 March 2021, Nick Ramsay left the Welsh Conservative group, meaning it was no longer the largest party not in government in the Senedd, and therefore no longer the official opposition.
Gareth Lloyd Davies is a Welsh Conservative politician who has been Member of the Senedd (MS) for Vale of Clwyd since 2021. He is the first Conservative to win this seat since its establishment in 1999.
Joel James is a Welsh Conservative politician who has served as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for the region of South Wales Central since the 2021 Senedd election.
Sam Rowlands is a Welsh Conservative politician serving as Member of the Senedd (MS) for the North Wales electoral region since 2021, and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Finance since December 2024. He has also formerly served as Shadow Health Minister, and as the Leader of Conwy County Borough Council from 2019 to 2021.
Andrew RT Davies became the Leader of the Opposition in Wales after the 2021 Senedd election, when the Welsh Conservatives became the second largest party in the Senedd, with 16 seats.
The July 2024 Welsh Labour leadership election was held to find Vaughan Gething's successor as leader of Welsh Labour, after he announced his resignation on 16 July 2024, just four months after he was elected. After nominations closed on 24 July 2024 at 12:00, Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely was confirmed to be the sole candidate, and therefore elected leader unopposed.
Nick Bourne, the leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales, formed his frontbench team of party spokespeople between 18 August and 25 August 1999 after he was elected unopposed to succeed Rod Richards as group leader on 18 August, having already served as acting leader since 11 August. He made a minor reshuffle to his frontbench team in 2000 and made further changes to the team after the 2003 and 2007 National Assembly elections. Bourne's party became the official opposition after the One Wales coalition was formed in July 2007, with Bourne leading a shadow cabinet as the leader of the opposition.
Nick Bourne became Leader of the Opposition in Wales after the Welsh Conservatives became the largest party that was not a part of the government in the National Assembly for Wales after the 2007 Assembly Elections. This was because the second largest overall party, Plaid Cymru, had entered into government as part of the One Wales coalition with Welsh Labour.
Andrew RT Davies became Leader of the Opposition in July 2011, after he was elected leader of the Welsh Conservatives, which formed the second largest party bloc in the National Assembly for Wales after the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election.
In June 2024, Vaughan Gething, first minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour, faced a non-binding vote of no-confidence in him as First Minister, tabled by the Welsh Conservatives, which he lost by a margin of 29 votes to 27 but did not resign at the time. Following mounting criticism over a campaign donation of £200,000 from a criminal businessman, and the resignation of four cabinet ministers, on 16 July 2024 Gething announced his resignation as First Minister. His resignation formally took effect on 6 August, when Eluned Morgan was elected First Minister of Wales.
Darren Millar became Leader of the Opposition in Wales on 5 December 2024, after being elected unopposed in the 2024 Welsh Conservative leadership election, following the resignation of Andrew RT Davies. He announced his Shadow Cabinet on 12 December 2024.