Reform Rewards Laura Anne Jones With Welsh Deputy Leadership After Racial-slur Suspension - Reform Watch

Reform UK has elected Laura Anne Jones as its new deputy leader in Wales, promoting an MS whose conduct was judged serious enough to warrant a two-week suspension from the Senedd without pay. Jones described Chinese people using a racial slur in a WhatsApp conversation in 2023. The Senedd’s Standards Committee found that her conduct had fallen “far below the standards expected” and pointed to an office culture where there was “little respect towards others”. She apologised and denied being racist. Nigel Farage later dismissed the incident as a “pretty minor offence”. The comments predated Jones’s defection from the Conservatives, but Reform knew the full record when it welcomed her into the party. It knew again when she was suspended in November 2025, and still chose to re-elect her and place her inside its Welsh leadership. Jones has also faced accusations of misinformation after claiming rival parties had “entertained” the idea of children self-identifying as cats. Her promotion follows another week of upheaval for Reform in Wales. Helen Jenner moved from deputy leader to leader after defeating Jason O’Connell by 17 votes to 15 in a ballot among Reform’s Senedd group. The party’s wider membership was denied any say over either position, while Reform has declined to reveal who stood against Jones for the deputy leadership. Jenner replaced Dan Thomas, who resigned after being arrested on suspicion of assault and engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour. Thomas was released on police bail, denies wrongdoing and remains a Reform MS. Farage described the loss of his Welsh leader as a “bump in the road”. This turmoil follows the imprisonment of another former Reform leader in Wales. Nathan Gill is serving ten and a half years after admitting eight bribery offences involving around £40,000 in payments for promoting pro-Russian interests while serving as an MEP. Gill later led Reform in Wales. Elevating Laura Anne Jones despite her suspension for racist language shows how little weight Reform gives to the standards expected of elected office. With Nathan Gill imprisoned for pro-Russian bribery and Dan Thomas resigning after his arrest, Farage has answered the disgrace surrounding his Welsh operation by placing another deeply compromised politician at the top table.