The Welsh rugby captain donating money to a Tory MP

A deep dive into who really owns our politicians in Wales

Oh you are in for a treat this week.

First off let me welcome all the new subscribers that have joined on the back of my coverage about farming. The feedback was really positive and I am glad so many found it useful. 

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I have spent the last week going through every single Welsh MP’s declarations of financial interests. MPs have to declare any financial interest or benefit they get which “others might reasonably consider to influence his or her actions or words as an MP”.

There were some very tasty nuggets including a former Wales rugby captain donating £7,500 to a Conservative MP and tens of thousands of pounds pouring into a single Welsh constituency. 

I have been doing this annual delve into who really owns our Welsh MPs for many years and it has unearthed some incredible (if somewhat shocking) discoveries. Here are some of the things I have found out previously:

• Conservative MP and former secretary of state for Wales Alun Cairns received two tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show in both 2011 and 2012 worth over £2,200 from a Japanese tobacco company.

  This was at the same time the Vale of Glamorgan MP voted against a bill banning smoking in cars carrying children and vocally opposed plain packaging on cigarettes.

• Mr Cairns must certainly go down as one of Wales’ most hardworking MPs given that at one point he was holding down three jobs in addition to his role representing the good people of the Vale.

  For these he is paid £60,000 a year for just over four hours work a week. One of these was being senior adviser to Newport-based company Veezu Holdings Ltd who run Amber Cars and Dragon Taxis. For this he receives £15,000 a year, paid monthly, for "providing strategic advice".

  He also started working as a senior adviser at the Crumlin-based BBI Group in 2020 which he was also paid £15k a year. Interestingly BBI Group was part of a group of businesses paid by the UK Gov to develop Covid anti-body tests and also to manufacture Covid-19 tests.

• Another former Welsh sec and current Secretary to the Treasury Simon Hart has also receive significant donations.  He previously received a total of £41,231.66 across four separate donations from long standing Conservative supporter Alexander Temerko who is a Ukrainian-born energy businessman who was previously an arms tycoon.

Mr Temerko, who in the 1990s held a series of positions in Russian state agencies under the Defense Ministry in charge of supplies and armament and was a prominent figure in the team of Boris Yeltsin, has donated over £1m to the Tories. Here are pictures of him with David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Alun Cairns and Rishi Sunak.

What have I found this time?

Going through these declarations is a bit of an epic task but it is well worth it. Not just because of the insights you can get into potential conflicts of interest that could underpin an MPs decision making but because it can give you a flavour of the wider politics currents that are flowing round Wales. 

Let me give you some examples…

Take Craig Williams the MP for Montgomeryshire. If the latest polls are to be believed this is potentially the only seat that the Conservatives will hold on to at the next General Election.

Poor Mr Williams could be the only Tory MP left in Cymru. However Mr Williams is not poor when it comes to election campaigning given that he has received several sizable donations in the last 12 months. 

Craig Williams MP

His donations have included: 

• £20,000 from a man called Christopher Barry Wood in June

• £7,500 from R&A Properties based in Llanelli also in June

• £2,000 from Site Services and Security Ltd in August

• £5,000 from John James also in August. 

• He also received the equivalent of £4,277 from a man named Akhil Triapathi to fly him around with Rishi Sunak to Tory events

Now journalistically it can be a tricky proposition trying to work out the people behind the names making these decisions. Finding a random bloke could John James in Wales isn’t easy. But a little digging does yield some rewards. Let’s take R&A properties.

Mr Williams could be the last Tory MP left in Wales if the polls stay the same

There are three directors listed for the company on Companies House - one of which is a David Francis Pickering. The more rugby minded of you will notice that this is the same name as the former Wales rugby captain and head of the WRU. Interesting Tory donor David Pickering also shares a birthday with rugby player David Pickering. So why does a former rugby player who seemingly lives in Cardiff and has a business Llanelli want to donate to a backbench Tory MP in mid-Wales?

To find out I asked him. He responded:

“I have always tried to support politicians who are trying to have a positive influence for Wales and our people, hard working and bold leaders make a difference to our lives.” 

Well fair play to Craig Williams who is such a bold leader he caught the eye of Mr Pickering to the point he chucked him £7,500. 

It isn’t the first time the former Wales captain has helped out a politician. He apologised in 2010 after he used his WRU email address to sending out invitations to a £1,000-a-head pre-election Labour fundraiser.

David Pickering back when he was in charge of the WRU

Mr Pickering also isn’t the only donor to Craig Williams coming from outside of his constituency. Site Services and Security Ltd, which donated £2k is a security company based in Middlesex run by a man named Vijay Prashar.

I can’t find anything specific about Mr Prashar but this feeds into a wider point that we have a General Election coming up and a hell of a lot of private money is pouring into certain Welsh constituencies to try and keep the incumbent Tories in power. This is mainly done in the seats where they have a chance of holding on to them.

Another good example of this is on the Isle of Anglesey. The constituency of Ynys Mon is going to be a big battleground when Rishi finally decides he is sick of flying around the UK and calls an election. It currently has a Conservative MP in the form of Virginia Crosbie but both Plaid and Labour are eyeing the island and it is likely to be a three way shootout.

Virginia Crosbie

Here we see that many, very wealthy people, seem unusually invested in keeping the Tories in power. Here are some of the donations Ms Crosbie received:

• £5,000 from Charles Lewington in June 2023. Mr Lewington shares a name with someone who was the press secretary to John Major and now runs a large communications company called Hanover. 

• £20,000 from Patrick Evershed in April 2023. He is an investment fund manager who was awarded a CBE for public and political service in June 2019. He clearly really has an interest in Anglesey politics as he donated £20,000 the year before as well. 

• £3,000 from Hugo Page Croft in September last year. Mr Croft shares a name with a Tory candidate from the Ynys Mon Council elections. 

• £5,000 from the Cayzer Trust Company Limited in November 2023. The Cayzer Trust Company which is wholly owned by members of the Cayzer family. It is the principal vehicle through which the bulk of the commercial interests of the Cayzer family are consolidated. They have often donated to the Tories. 

This is not an aberration. In 2022 Virginia Crosbie has received more than £45,000 in private donations and that was on top of £50,000 she has previously received before that. So what is Ms Crosbie doing with all this cash?

When I asked her she said:

“As always, I am very grateful for those people who donate so generously so I can continue to help people on Ynys Môn. Just in the last year, the money I have received has enabled me to produce leaflets outlining my work and successes like the Freeport at no expense to the taxpayer and using island printers.

“I have paid for hi-vis jackets for litter pickers, helped sponsor the Anglesey Show and paid for venues so the community can be trained on the use of defibrillators. The money has paid for Young Farmers Eisteddfod sponsorship and for my Welsh website and various Welsh translations – a subject close to my heart - to name but a few things.

“In previous years, the donations have been spent on my mental health campaign, for example. All donations are registered in line with all the rules and I make no apology for taking money from people and organisations and spending on the island for the good of islanders.”

Noble sentiments. But one can’t help but wonder what investment fund managers are donating £20k a year to buy hi-vis jackets for litter pickers on a Welsh island?

She is right to say that none of this is outside the rules. But I would tentatively suggest that a system where wealthy people can donate huge amounts of money to politicians to help keep that politician in power is not the mark of a healthy political system. 

I will publish my other findings on WalesOnline this Sunday.

When will we have a Senedd election in Wales? Potential hypocrisy? 

I want to finish this newsletter with something that has been bothering me. In March Welsh Labour members will elect their new leader. This person will automatically become the First Minister of Wales and will ultimately be in charge of the running of our schools and hospitals. 

The public will not have voted for this person to be First Minister. Now I know we never technically vote for a First Minister, but anyone who suggests that the party leaders don’t play a massive role in how many people vote in an election is being willfully naïve. 

In recent years, every time there has been a new Tory Prime Minister without an election (May, Johnson, Truss and Sunak), Labour politicians have clamored to call for a General Election as that the leader of the country is now “unelected”. Given this, isn’t it right that Miles or Gething should do the same if they take the top job? 

This wouldn’t be simple to do because we have fixed term parliaments in Wales -however it is entirely possible. Without getting too technical, an “extraordinary” General Election can take place under section 4 of Government of Wales Act 2006. The Senedd can pass a resolution to dissolve itself for an extraordinary general election and at least 40 Members must vote in favour of the resolution; if fewer do so the resolution has no effect.

I approached both Vaughan Gething and Jeremy Miles to ask them if they planned to put their leadership to the people of Wales if they one the election and the response from both was a resounding no. 

Vaughan’s campaign said:

“If elected as First Minister, Vaughan’s first priorities will be tackling the Tory cost of living crisis and fighting the must-win General Election that’s expected any day to help oust the Tories from Downing Street. He would not seek an early Senedd election.”

While Jeremey’s said:

“Welsh Labour was elected in 2021 to deliver its manifesto in government. Jeremy intends to do that throughout the rest of the Senedd's term - alongside his ambitious plans for Wales' future. 

"Ahead of that election, Mark Drakeford was not shy in saying he would step down within the term so that a new leader could take the party and the programme for government forward."

I think the argument made by Miles that people knew that Drakeford would be stepping down when they voted Labour in 2021 is a sound one. Anyone voting Labour knew that this change would be happening. However I think it is worth bearing in mind next time that a politician argues that a General Election should be called due to a change of leader that neither Labour or the Tories practice what they preach. 

Well if you are still awake after that dry piece of legislative discussions I will wrap it up there. As always please leave comments and make suggestions for topics you would like me to discuss in the future.

Take care

Will