Neil Hamilton has been ousted as UKIP group leader in the Welsh Assembly.
The former Conservative MP has been replaced by Caroline Jones.It comes after a day of wrangling over the Mid and West Wales AM's future at the helm of the group, and after reports of a heated meeting of the party's AMs on Wednesday.
Mr Hamilton became leader of the group after he ousted Nathan Gill following the 2016 assembly election.
Speaking to BBC Wales, Ms Jones confirmed she had won a majority vote of the group, which was taken on Thursday afternoon.
"I'm honoured they've put their trust in me to lead them in the Senedd and to bring us forward," she said.
"Neil has done a good job, a very good job. He's an accomplished politician. It will be difficult to follow his lead, really."
The South Wales West AM would not confirm who had voted for her - although it is understood that she has been backed by UKIP colleagues Michelle Brown and David Rowlands.
Considering that Mandy Jones has been sitting as an Independent oy ,rams that Caroline Jones only has to vote for herself as well to win 3:2.
Can it be just over two years when Ukip won 7 seats in the Welsh Assembly elections?
What's happened to the 7 since those heady days?
Nathan Gill
In the 2016 Assembly election Gill won a seat representing the North Wales region. He was beaten to the post of leader of the UKIP group in the National Assembly for Wales by former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton, in a move which Gill described as "bizarre".Farage described the move as an "unjust act of deep ingratitude" resulting in Hamilton dismissing Farage as simply an "MEP for South East England whose opinions were "irrelevant".[19] Gill subsequently left the UKIP group in the assembly to sit as an independent, citing much infighting and distractions.He remained a member of the party and its leader in Wales, until Neil Hamilton was made Wales leader in September 2016.[21] He resigned as an AM in December 2017.
Michelle Margaret Freda Brown
In the 2016 Assembly election Brown won a seat representing the North Wales region.n February 2017 Future Inns, a hotel in Cardiff Bay accused Brown of smoking "recreational drugs" in her hotel room. The hotel stated the room could not be used for 24 hours and issued a £250 bill to Brown for the cleaning cost
In July 2017, a recording of a telephone conversation emerged, in which Brown was heard describing the Labour MP for Streatham, Chuka Umunna as a "fucking coconut". The call was recorded in May 2016 to her then senior adviser Nigel Williams, who she sacked later that month. Brown said her language was "inappropriate" and apologised, although also staying that she "was using language that friends and colleagues often do when chatting to each other". However, Brown stated that she stood by her comments that Umunna "as much understanding of an ordinary black man’s experience as I have". Brown was also recorded referring to Tristram Hunt, who was then Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central as a twat. Brown's comments have been referred to the assembly's standards commissioner and Labour, Conservative and Plaid Cymru members called for Brown to be sanctioned. Nathan Gill UKIP MEP for Wales has called on the party to expel her for the comments. Neil Hamilton then leader of the UKIP AM group in the assembly refused to comment.
Mark Reckless
On 27 September 2014, Reckless then a Conservative MP for Rochester and Strood defected to the UK Independence Party at its party conference in Doncaster, and announced his resignation in order to seek re-election at a by-election. He became the second Conservative MP in the space of a month to defect to UKIP, the first being Douglas Carswell. In a speech delivered to the conference, Reckless claimed that the Conservative leadership was 'not serious about real change on Europe', and that 'Britain could be better'.[3]Although he won the by-election on 20 November 2014 as a UKIP candidate, in the May 2015 general election Reckless lost his seat to the Conservative candidate, Kelly Tolhurst.
In June 2015, Reckless was made Director of Policy Development by UKIP.
In March 2016, Reckless was announced as UKIP's lead candidate for the Welsh Assembly Election region of South Wales East. He was elected on 5 May 2016.
On 6 April 2017, Reckless left UKIP to join the Conservative Group in the Welsh Assembly, however, he did not rejoin the Conservative party. This move made the Conservative group the second largest in the Welsh Assembly. Upon leaving, he said, "I leave UKIP positively, having achieved our joint aim, a successful referendum to leave the EU".
David J. Rowlands
Became a (UKIP) Member of the National Assembly for Wales for South Wales East region since the National Assembly for Wales election, 2016.[1]
Rowlands has contested numerous seats for UKIP in general, Assembly and European elections.
He contested Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney in the 2016 assembly election, he won 4,277 votes finishing second to Welsh Labour's Dawn Bowden.
In 2017 Rowlands stood again for the Parliamentary constituency, he came fourth with 1,484 votes, a reduction in vote share of 14.2%. One of the least controversial Ukip AM but that may be that he has little to say.
Caroline Jones
Who is leader of UKIP in the Welsh Assembly. She has been a UK Independence Party Member of the National Assembly for Wales for South Wales West since the National Assembly for Wales election, 2016.[1]
Like many within UKIP, Jones originally stood for the Conservative Party. She stood for South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner and later defected to UKIP, by 2015 standing for them in the General Election for the constituency of Bridgend.
Jones voted for Neil Hamilton to be leader of UKIP in the Welsh Assembly.
After Nigel Farage declared his intention to stand down she wrote a letter along with other members of the assembly urging Paul Nuttall to stand in the first UK Independence Party leadership election, 2016.
Jones replaced Hamilton as leader of UKIP in the National Assembly on the 17 May 2018 following a vote by the UKIP group but will lead an already devided party.
Neil Hamilton
Mostyn Neil Hamilton (born 9 March 1949) is a British politician, non-practising barrister, and former teacher. He has served as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) Member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Mid and West Wales region since 2016; he was previously Conservative MP for the Tatton constituency from 1983 to 1997.After being implicated in the cash-for-questions affair, Hamilton became widely associated with sleaze; he was defeated in the 1997 general election, and subsequently left politics. His wife Christine and he went on to become media celebrities. He left the Conservative Party in 2002, and joined UKIP. He was elected to the National Executive Committee of UKIP in 2011, and elected UKIP Group Leader in 2016 following his election to the National Assembly for Wals
In September 2011, Hamilton attended the annual conference of the UK Independence Party. The party's leader Nigel Farage pledged to support him in the election for the National Executive Committee. Hamilton was elected to the committee on 1 November 2011. He later become deputy chairman of the party.[30] Hamilton was demoted from his role as campaign director in April 2014.[31]
In the elections for the National Assembly for Wales on 5 May 2016, he was elected as a Member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Mid and West Wales Region, one of seven UKIP candidates to win a seat through the Regional List system. On 10 May 2016, UKIP's AMs voted him their leader in the Welsh Assembly, defeating Nathan Gill. The UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, criticised the move as an "unjust act of deep ingratitude" Hamilton dismissed Farage's criticism as "irrelevant",] accused him of "throwing toys out of pram" and referred to him as "the MEP for the South East of England".[ In leaked emails, he was accused by UKIP's biggest donor, Arron Banks, of being a "corrupt old Tory". Nathan Gill subsequently left the UKIP group in the assembly to sit as an independent, resulting in Neil Hamilton becoming UKIP's Leader in Wales in September 2016] Hamilton was ousted as leader of UKIP in the National Assembly on the 17 May 2018 and was replaced by Caroline Jones.[41]
Following his maiden speech in the Welsh Assembly, he was accused of making sexist remarks towards female politicians after referring to Kirsty Williams and Leanne Wood as "concubines" in a "harem".
Hamilton caused further controversy during a debate on the effects of Brexit in Wales. When Eluned Morgan, was explaining that the economic consequences of Brexit would be hardest for those who could least afford it, Hamilton remarked that "suicide's an option". He was instructed by the presiding officer to apologise for the remark. Hamilton initially refused, saying, "What is there to apologise for?" and "What was unparliamentary about the remark?" He did eventually apologise, saying "I apologise for whatever remark I am supposed to have made."
In April 2018, Hamilton caused controversy by claiming that "the idea that Enoch Powell was some kind of uniquely racist villain is absolute nonsense". Hamilton went on to claim that Powell had been "proved right by events" in terms of social change if not violence. In response, the leader of Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood, accused Hamilton of "keeping Powell's racist rhetoric going". Labour AM Hefin David described Hamilton's comments as "outrageous".
Gareth Bennett
In the 2016 Assembly election Gill won a seat representing the South Wales Central regional Seat
Politically, Bennett began on the left, joining the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) at the age of 16. He left after six months. He was later active in the Labour Party (1992–96), before eventually abandoning the left – and even the centre-left – due to their policies on perceived mass immigration.
This led to Bennett joining UKIP in 2014. He campaigned in the 2014 European election, and was then agent for UKIP candidate Brian Morris in Cardiff West at the 2015 general election. He became secretary, and then chairman, of the Cardiff UKIP branch, and then joined the UKIP Wales regional committee.In March 2016, it was reported that Bennett had topped the poll in the South Wales Central region in a ballot of all UKIP party members in Wales to select Welsh Assembly candidates. He was almost immediately caught up in a media storm over controversial remarks regarding rubbish problems in Cardiff's City Road area, which Bennett blamed on students and – controversially – Eastern European immigrants and was nicknamed the Donald Trump of Wales by the media.[8]
This led to senior UKIP party leaders, like Nigel Farage and Immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe, publicly distancing themselves from Bennett.[9] A petition containing the names of 16 other UKIP Assembly candidates opposing Bennett's candidacy was presented to the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) – which promptly re-selected him as lead candidate. He was duly elected to the Assembly on 5 May 2016.
This furore also involved the resignation from the list of the number two UKIP candidate in South Wales Central. This was Alexandra Phillips, former personal aide to Nigel Farage, whom Bennett alleged was plotting to get rid of him in her role as Assembly campaign media officer.
In the Assembly UKIP group, he backed Neil Hamilton for leader over Nathan Gill, whom he held responsible for the deselection campaign against him. After Hamilton became leader of the group, Bennett was appointed as UKIP Assembly spokesman for Local Government, Housing and Sport.
He is a member of the Equalities, Local Government and Communities Committee and the Petitions Committee.
Bennett was selected to lead UKIP's regional party list in South Wales Central in March 2016. This was a surprise to many within the party who were unhappy about it. He was interviewed by the press including ITV news.
In 2018 it emerged that Bennett had claimed £9,972 within the first year of being an AM attempting to seat up an office in the town of Pontypridd in his South Wales Central seat. The office never opened a move which Bennett described as being "highly regrettable," he also confirmed that he spend £4,500 of his own money to terminate the five year lease he had signed on the office. There was no suggestion that any public funds had been misused.
And there is also
Mandy Jones
Jones stood for UKIP in the Clwyd South constituency at the 2015 General Election.[4] She also stood for UKIP in Clwyd South at the 2016 Welsh Assembly election, coming fourth behind Labour, the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru.[5] As the third UKIP candidate on the North Wales regional list, she failed to secure a National Assembly for Wales seatFollowing the resignation in December 2017 of former UKIP Assembly Member (AM), Nathan Gill, Jones (as the next available UKIP candidate on the regional list) was confirmed on 27 December as the replacement AM.] She was due to actively take up her duties following an oath swearing ceremony, which took place on 29 December at the Welsh Assembly's Colwyn Bay buildings.
On 9 January 2018, UKIP Wales announced that she would not be joining the UKIP group in the Assembly, due to employing members of other parties in her office.Jones refused to change her staff and described the UKIP group as "toxic". She describes herself as a Faragist and claims former UKIP leader Nigel Farage supports her actions
Sh
Newly elected UKIP assembly leader Caroline Jones is inviting Mandy Jones to join the team of five.if she is interested.Could the final act see Caroline Jones or Neil Hamilton leading their fraction into the Conservative group.
Would they be welcome. Probably not as they would be bringing their toxic legacy with them but the 100.000 plus votes they won in 2016.
There is a real prospect that in 2021 Ukip will be wiped out in the assembly elections , it remains a question however which party if any will be the major beneficiary.
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