New Tory chair backs devolution despite debate calls

The man elected to lead grassroots members of the Welsh Conservatives has rejected calls for the party to consider abolishing the Senedd.

Former London Underground trade union official Bernard Gentry was announced as the new Welsh Tory chairman at the party's annual general meeting on Saturday.

One of his rivals, George Carroll, had wanted to open up the party's pro-devolution stance to debate.

But Gentry said the problem in Wales was "25 years of Labour government", not the existence of the Senedd. He said the matter was "closed".

Challenging claims that most Conservative activists are anti-devolution, Gentry said the "majority of people actually back what we are doing".

His comments met an angry response from two anti-devolution members of his party.

Meanwhile it is understood that senior figures in the Welsh Conservatives have backed a report that recommends there should be a directly elected leader for the party in Wales.

Currently Welsh Tories are led by three people who include the chairman, the Senedd Tory leader, the shadow Welsh Secretary.

Gentry, who is a community councillor, had spent 12 years on Lambeth council where he had served as Conservative group leader.

He had defeated Carroll, who had also promised to revise rules that help secure reselection for sitting Members of the Senedd, and Havard Hughes.

Speaking to BBC Wales, Gentry said: "There is no suggestion or idea that we want to abolish the Welsh Parliament.

"What we want to do is make sure that we return many more Conservative MSs.

"The problem that exists in Wales is not devolution - it's 25 years of Labour government. We need to turn that around and not run away from it.

"So the whole issue of devolution, of rolling back on devolution, is closed."

Grassroots activist Huw Davies, deputy chairman of the South Wales East Conservatives, told the BBC podcast Walescast last month that he thought "80%, if not more, of Conservative members would support abolition of the Senedd".

He said as well as a disconnect with the membership there was a "disconnect with our voters".

Gentry, who was a senior trade union health and safety representative when he worked on the London Underground, said "party members have strongly supported me, the party in Westminster strongly supports devolution, and the Senedd members firmly support this".

"I have no doubt whatsoever that while there is a small vocal minority, the majority of people actually back what we are doing.

"For us to say anything else would just open us up to accusations that... the Conservative party do not care about Wales."

In response, Davies said members had contacted him "furious at these baseless remarks".

He said if he believes members back devolution, he could put the issue to bed with a members vote on the subject, or give members a vote at the next AGM.

"I suggest he will do neither for the obvious reason that we are a devosceptic party led by a devophile elite," he said.

The chairman was elected through an electoral college of grassroots party officials, which Davies said was a "tiny fraction of members at the top of the party".

Another grassroots member, Newport councillor David Fouweather, accused Gentry of living in "cloud cuckoo land if he thinks that most Conservative members back devolution".

"If Gentry thinks his position on devolution is right then he should put himself forward to a vote of all party members in Wales. This new Chairman is as out of touch as our MS group, who are also allergic to making themselves accountable to members in selections."

“The pro-devolution minority at the top of the party seem to be determined to provoke a civil war with ordinary members," he added.

Gentry said much of his pitch was about how the party reorganises "so that we concentrate and give our local volunteers and members, the tools, the ability, the confidence to go out and campaign".

He said the party had "lost its way" and had to learn from its general election defeat, where it was left with zero Welsh MPs.

Meanwhile, BBC Wales has learned that a report which recommends that there should be one Welsh Conservative leader had been approved by the Welsh board.

Unlike in Scotland, the Welsh Conservatives do not have a formally elected leader that represents the Welsh part of the Tory party.

It followed calls from Conservative Senedd members for the leader in the Senedd to be the official figurehead in the party.

Although approved by the board in Wales the final decision is in the hands of the UK leader Kemi Badenoch.

Gentry said "a lot of these things will be with the party leader in London and also with the UK party board", which he is a member of.

He said it was "one of the things that we will be looking at in the coming weeks".

The internal report, which was compiled after losing the general election, also recommends that the Conservative party develops a stronger Welsh brand before the next Senedd election in 2026, devolving more of the party's organisation to Wales, and giving members more of a voice in developing party policy.