Emily Price
The Welsh Conservatives have declined to comment on “private conversations” with other political groups after Nation.Cymru told the party it had received information suggesting a Reform MS was preparing to defect.
A source from a Reform Wales branch told us at the weekend that Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd MS James Evans has been in talks with Welsh Conservative leader Darren Miller about returning to the Tory party after a nine month stint with Reform.
When we pressed the Conservative Senedd group on the claims, a spokesperson said: “We’re not going to comment on any private conversations with other political groups.”
Evans, who has been absent from the Senedd in recent weeks, is understood to have categorically denied the suggestion, although he declined to provide an on the record comment to Nation.Cymru.
Shortly after we quizzed him on rumours of his defection on Monday morning (October 12), Evans took to social media to publicly bash the Conservatives.
In a post to X, published around two hours after we requested a statement from Evans, he wrote: “Why on earth would anyone trust the Conservative Party again? New slogans. New promises. Same failed party.
“14 years of hollowing out our Armed Forces, botching Brexit, losing control of our borders, spiralling welfare bills and betraying British farmers.
“And now in Wales, they’re even prepared to entertain deals with Plaid Cymru, a party that wants to break up the United Kingdom. They had 14 years to deliver. They failed. Spectacularly.
“Now they expect the British public to forget their record and believe another round of empty promises. The Conservatives aren’t the answer to Britain’s problems. They’re responsible for so many of them.
“They had their chance. They blew it. The Uniparty has failed. Britain deserves better. No going backwards. No more excuses. It’s time for Reform UK.”
The Welsh Conservative Senedd group office is understood to have been inundated with questions about several Reform UK Members, amid swirling rumours in Cardiff Bay that one of Nigel Farage’s MSs could be preparing to defect.
It comes amid anger among some Welsh Conservatives over questions on whether leader Darren Millar would consider taking in Reform MSs who previously abandoned the Tories.
A significant portion of Reform UK’s representation in the Senedd consists of former Conservatives, including high profile figures such as Sir Fynwy Torfaen MS Laura Ann Jones, former Welsh leader Dan Thomas and Gŵyr Abertawe MS Francesca O’Brien.
Some Welsh Conservative figures believe Millar should not allow any former Tories to rejoin his Senedd group.
35-year-old Evans was first elected to the Senedd in 2021 as a Welsh Conservative.
In November 2024, he denied rumours he was planning to jump ship to Reform UK, and had even stated in a message to a Nation.Cymru journalist that he thought the party’s output and policies were 99% “rubbish” and populist slogans.
However, in January 2026, Millar stripped Evans of the party whip and dismissed him from the Tory shadow cabinet after he admitted he had held talks with Reform UK about defecting.
Evans initially sat as an independent MS before officially joining Farage’s party.
After being re-elected to the Senedd for Reform UK in May, he was appointed shadow minister for health, prevention and sport by former party leader Dan Thomas.
This matched the health portfolio he previously held while with the Welsh Conservatives.
However, following Thomas’ arrest and subsequent return to the Reform Senedd group’s backbenches last month, new Welsh leader Helen Jenner did not give Evans a role on her front bench.
Evans said he would instead take up a new political role within the party, “helping to develop national policy across the DEFRA brief”.
It came after Evans revealed he had no plans to stand for re-election at the next Senedd election in 2030, stating he and his wife wanted to start a family and enjoy a private life instead.
The post Welsh Tories tight-lipped over claims Reform MS is preparing to defect appeared first on Nation.Cymru.