Emily Price
The father of a prominent Reform MS has joined his daughter’s party after decades of political defections and being blocked from becoming Swansea’s mayor over comments he made about Bangladeshi immigration.
Councillor Richard Lewis, who represents the Gower ward in Swansea, is the father of Gŵyr Abertawe MS Francesca O’Brien.
His political career has spanned over five decades, and during that time has attracted controversy over remarks he has made.
In 2021, Cllr Lewis faced a formal rebuke from his colleagues after likening the outdoor area of a proposed children’s residential home to a concentration camp.
He previously served as Deputy Lord Mayor of Swansea, but was dropped from becoming Lord Mayor in 2013 over remarks he had made about Bangladeshi immigration in an election leaflet.
All five political groups on Swansea Council took the unprecedented step of lodging a joint complaint with the Local Government Ombudsman over the remarks.
In the leaflet which was sent to every home in his constituency Cllr Lewis reflected on a meeting he had held with the British High Commissioner to Bangladesh.
He said: “I asked him how he got his job and to my surprise I learned he had worked for Tony Blair in the Cabinet Office at 10 Downing Street.
“He went on to inform me that last year his office in Bangladesh had issued 38,000 visas to his fellow countrymen to legitimately live in the UK.
“I am sure he is a very talented man, however I do wonder where his loyalties lie … to Bangladesh or to Great Britain.”
The remarks were condemned by the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association.
Lewis denied there was anything wrong with the statement, saying: “There is nothing racist or anything like that in the article, it is just fact.”
Cllr Lewis’s daughter jumped ship from the Welsh Conservatives to Nigel Farage’s party in August 2025, becoming Swansea’s first Reform UK councillor for the Mumbles ward.
Her father also left the Conservative Party at the time but chose to sit as an Independent rather than join Reform UK.
It is understood that Reform were about to reveal he had joined the party imminently, but a source tipped Nation.Cymru off ahead of the announcement.
Cllr Lewis is one of Britain’s longest-serving local politicians, first standing for the Welsh Conservatives in 1969.
He went on to switch political allegiances several times throughout his career, serving two separate spells as a Conservative and three as an Independent as well as serving a stint with the Liberal Democrats.
He has also stood as a candidate for UKIP and has campaigned nationally for the Referendum Party.
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