Emily Price
Reform’s disgraced former Welsh leader has defended his party over racist comments caught on camera, claiming similar investigations into Labour, Plaid Cymru and the Greens would uncover “anti-white racism and antisemitism”.
In a post to social media on Friday (October 16) Casnewydd Islwyn Member of the Senedd Dan Thomas wrote: “We all know that anti-white racism and antisemitism would be revealed by undercover investigations of Plaid, Labour and the Greens.
“The media have no interest in exposing their left-wing friends.”
Thomas resigned as the leader of Reform’s Senedd group in September after he was arrested on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour.
The 45-year-old was not suspended from the party, but returned to Reform’s backbenches in the Senedd after Gwent Police bailed him pending further enquiries.
Thomas maintains he has “done nothing wrong”.
The Reform MS’s defence of his party comes as segments from an ITV News investigation due to air on Sunday revealed that councillors and candidates within Reform UK had used racist, violent and sexist language.
Teaser clips released by ITV on Wednesday (October 14) exposed former Reform Wales Senedd caseworker Martin Roberts referring to Black people as “d**kies” and “four-door saloon, c**n”.
Roberts was Reform UK’s fourth-placed candidate in Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr at the May 7 Senedd election but failed to secure a seat in Wales’ Parliament.
He was later handed a taxpayer funded role working as a caseworker for Reform’s Jason O’Connell.
Roberts is understood to have since left the role, although O’Connell has not confirmed when his employment ended.
A Welsh Labour source said: “The racist language exposed in ITV’s investigation is utterly appalling and has no place in Welsh politics.
“Martin Roberts was not some fringe activist. He was a Reform branch official, selected as a Senedd candidate and subsequently employed by Reform MS Jason O’Connell.
“The people of Wales deserve clear answers from Reform’s leadership – of which Dan Thomas is no longer a part.
“Simply dismissing this as another ‘bad apple’ is not good enough.”
ITV’s year-long probe also exposed Reform councillors making racist and misogynistic remarks, including one branding Asian homeowners “parasites” and another describing Black children as “animals”.
Reform has insisted there is “no room for racism” in its ranks, while the party’s leader Nigel Farage claimed the journalistic probe was carried out “because the establishment frankly want us out of the picture”.
On Thursday (October 17), ITV News released further clips ahead of its documentary release, including footage showing Runcorn and Helsby MP Sarah Pochin saying Reform UK is chauvinistic.
One of ITV’s undercover reporters was able to secure a job working with Reform’s Director of Communications Ed Sumner.
Footage showed Sumner had privately condemned a controversial party candidate as “clearly a racist” and clashed with leader Nigel Farage over how the situation was handled.
The comms lead perviously worked as an advisor to Reform MS Laura Anne Jones when she was still a Welsh Conservative politician.
While working with the Tories, Sumner sent several offensive internal WhatsApp messages that were later obtained and published by Nation.Cymru.
The messages showed he had heavily criticised London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display, complaining that it focused too much on “immigration, diversity and gays.”
He was also caught making derogatory remarks about the late Mohammad Asghar, the first Muslim Senedd member, and his daughter Natasha Asghar, who is a serving Welsh Conservative MS.
Sumner was also caught up in an investigation into Jones’ expenses claims.
Text messages leaked from her phone showed Jones telling a staff member: “When doing petrol thing – always make more than I did – add in stuff please OK.”
Another message sent by Jones instructed a staff member to “ask others/Ed” on how to “blag” a mileage claim.
South Wales Police initially opened a fraud investigation into the MS’s travel expenses, but later closed the case after concluding there was no evidence of fraudulent activity.
In late 2025, Jones was banned from the Senedd chamber for 14 days after a standards investigation concluded she had used a racial slur in a WhatsApp message.
Though Sumner’s name was officially redacted in the Senedd report, Nation.Cymru named him as one of the recipients of the offensive message.
In response, a barrister working for Reform UK issued legal threats, demanding we delete his name from our coverage.
Nation.Cymru refused, and the National Union of Journalists Wales Executive Council strongly condemned the legal threats as an attempt to “bully” the press.
The post Disgraced former Reform Wales leader defends party over ITV probe appeared first on Nation.Cymru.