Andrew RT Davies faces vote on his future as Welsh Conservative leader

The Welsh Conservative leader will face a vote on the future of his leadership next week.

Andrew RT Davies has called for the vote to be held by Senedd Conservatives in their regular group meeting next Tuesday.

It follows a meeting he held today with a group of fellow MSs who, I understand, expressed dissatisfaction with Mr Davies’ leadership.

I’m told that those he met today do not represent a majority of the Senedd group.

In response to their concerns, Andrew RT Davies has asked for a motion of confidence to be discussed in the meeting on Tuesday and a recorded vote taken.

There have been rumblings about Mr Davies’ leadership in recent months, with some concerns spilling out in public.

Some came after he posted a photo on social media from the Vale of Glamorgan County Show earlier this year inviting people to have their say on abolishing the Senedd.

Fellow Shadow Cabinet members made public statements saying that the party doesn’t support abolition and following that Mr Davies told the Sharp End programme that “It isn’t Conservative policy” and that “our policy is to make devolution work for the people of Wales.”

He was also criticised by colleagues after posting comments about halal meat in Welsh schools.

While he insisted that he was raising legitimate questions from constituents but his fellow shadow cabinet member, Natasha Asghar, told the BBC she had raised concerns about his posts with him.

More recently he received an official reprimand in October after the Senedd’s Standards Committee endorsed a finding by the Standards Commissioner that he brought the Welsh Parliament into disrepute by calling Wales' 20mph speed limit a "blanket" policy on social media.

The Commissioner Douglas Bain said that as "Leader of the Welsh Conservatives and a former experienced member of the Standards of Conduct Committee it was incumbent of the Member to set a good example and to follow the guidance given by the Committee and in the Guidance on the Code of Conduct.”

In response to the reprimand, Mr Davies said that his choice of words was "a matter of opinion.”

A farmer and campaigner on rural issues, Andrew RT Davies became a Conservative Assembly member in 2007.

He was elected leader in 2011 but was forced to quit after losing the support of his group in 2018. Three years later, he returned to the top job and has been in charge ever since.

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