I'm backing Andrew RT Davies

Inevitably when a party's election results are not as good as hoped for, there will always be some consideration and comment about party leadership, including perhaps some self assessment by the leader. Today, I appeared on the influential Good Morning Wales on Radio Wales, and was asked about the future of Welsh Tory Leader, Andrew RT Davies. Asked me to comment on a few other issues as well. 

I had no hesitation whatsoever in offering full support to Andrew. No-one could have worked harder. No-one would have done better. So let us consider the actual result of last week's election. On the face of it, falling from 14 AMs to 11 AMs and falling behind Plaid Cymru, losing the title of 'Official Opposition' is disappointing. But in reality, losing three 'list' AM seats was anticipated because of the great success of UKIP (predicted and actual). The Liberal Democrats were similarly hit by UKIP's success. The disappointment is that we did not take any constituency seats. We were unable to build on Tory successes at last year's General Election. In fact the only party to lose a constituency seat was the Labour Party in the Rhondda.

I was also asked about Andrew's decision to publicly declare his support for the UK to leave the European Union- perhaps because I had refused to express any view on the EU Referendum issue until  after the Welsh General Election was over. My response. I will never be critical of a politician who expresses an opinion. Too often politicians are afraid to say anything controversial, preferring to avoid expressing an opinion.

So this blog post is a tribute to the work and commitment of Andrew RT Davies, and support for his continued leadership of the Conservative Party in Wales.