Reform UK leader Nigel Farage campaigning in Wales. Credit: Reform UK / YouTube
Welsh Reform labelled a “retirement home for failed Conservatives”.
The majority of Reform UK’s shadow cabinet in Wales is made up of former Conservative Party politicians, including its leader, chief whip, and shadow economy minister, DeSmog can reveal.
Nigel Farage’s radical right-wing party – which campaigns against climate policies and supports dramatically increased fossil fuel production – became the second largest group in the Senedd following elections on 7 May.
Reform has presented itself as an outsider force and an alternative to the established parties.
However, DeSmog’s analysis finds that almost two thirds (64.2 percent) of Reform’s shadow cabinet posts in Wales are held by individuals who have previously served or stood for the Tories.
That amounts to nine out of Reform’s 14 shadow cabinet members, and includes Reform’s leader in Wales, Dan Thomas, who was Conservative leader of Barnet Council in London before defecting to Farage’s party in June last year.
It also includes the party’s chief whip, Llŷr Powell, a former Tory council candidate, and shadow economy minister Jason O’Connell, a former Tory councillor.
In total, 12 of Reform’s 34 Senedd members are former Conservative politicians – amounting to 35 percent of the party’s representation in the assembly.
A spokesperson for the Wales Green Party said: “In the election campaign, Reform presented themselves as an insurgent anti-establishment party, but it’s looking more like they’re just a retirement home for failed Conservatives.”
Reform’s central party is also replete with ex-Tories. Six of Reform’s eight members of UK Parliament defected from the Conservatives, five while they were serving MPs. This includes Robert Jenrick, a former Tory minister and Reform’s current economic spokesperson, and former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman, both of whom defected in January.
Of the remaining two – Farage and his deputy Richard Tice – the latter is a former Tory party member and donor.
In Scotland, at least four of Reform’s members of the Scottish Parliament are former Tory politicians, including Max Bannerman in the Highlands and Islands, Thomas Kerr and Kim Schmulian in Glasgow, and Graham Simpson in Central Scot and Lothians West.
Reform’s biggest donor, Thailand-based crypto and jet fuel billionaire Christopher Harborne, was previously a donor to the Conservative Party, giving £1.5 million between 2018 and 2022.
Harborne has donated £22 million to Reform, and gave Farage a £5 million gift in 2024 prior to him reclaiming the Reform leadership and standing for Parliament. Farage did not declare this sum when he was elected as an MP, and it is now the subject of a parliamentary standards investigation.
The Roster
Llŷr Powell, Reform’s chief whip and business manager in Wales, was a Conservative Party candidate for local government in 2022, and supportedKemi Badenoch for Tory leader the same year.
Powell, who was Reform’s unsuccessful candidate in the October 2025 Caerphilly Senedd by-election, used to work for Nathan Gill, the party’s former Welsh leader. Gill is currently serving a 10 and a half year prison sentence for accepting bribes from an agent of the Russian government during his time as a Member of European Parliament (MEP) for the Brexit Party (Reform’s forerunner).
Powell has said he didn’t work for Gill when he committed these offences, and had no knowledge of his crimes, but has refused to say the exact dates when he served under Farage’s former MEP.
James Evans, Reform’s shadow minister for health, prevention and sport, was elected as the Senedd member for Brecon and Radnorshire in 2021 as a Conservative. Before that, he served in Welsh local government as a Tory.
Laura Anne Jones, Reform’s shadow minister for food, farming and rural affairs, was previously a Conservative Senedd member for South Wales East.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Welsh leader Dan Thomas campaigning in Wales.
Credit: Reform UK / YouTube
Sarah Cooper-Lesadd, the party’s shadow minister for children, young people and skills, was a Conservative candidate for Coventry East in the 2024 general election. From 2022 to 2024 she was also a parliamentary assistant to Vicky Ford, Tory MP for Chelmsford.
Louise Emery, Reform’s shadow minister for culture, tourism and hospitality, was elected in 2017 and 2022 as a Conservative councillor in Conwy.
Francesca O’Brien, shadow minister for local government, housing and planning, was a Tory councillor for the Mumbles elected in 2017.
Adrian Mason, Reform’s shadow Counsel General and shadow minister for the constitution, was a Tory council candidate in Wales in 2017.
Jason O’Connell, shadow minister for economy and transport, was briefly a Welsh Conservative councillor in 2018, having been elected as an independent.
Outside of the shadow cabinet, Reform Welsh Senedd members Iain McIntosh and Tom Montgomery were elected to local government in Wales as Conservatives in 2022, while Stephen Senior stood as a Tory in 2022 and 2023.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.
Heartland UK-Europe executive director Lois Perry speaking to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage on his GB News show. Credit: GB News / YouTube
Lois Perry, who helps to run Reform Friends of Israel, is one of the figures behind a new Heartland Institute branch in central Europe.
A close ally of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has helped to launch the central European offshoot of a U.S. climate denial group alongside far-right figures.
Lois Perry – executive director of Heartland UK-Europe – claimed on social media last week that she was “In Poland to launch [the] Heartland Institute Central Europe”.
The U.S.-based Heartland Institute has described itself as “the world’s most prominent think tank supporting scepticism about man-made climate change”, and has strong ties to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.
At the launch of the new branch in Warsaw on 13 May, Perry appeared alongside Mariusz Zagórski, a speechwriter for Poland’s former president Andrzej Duda of the national conservative Law and Justice Party. Zagórski, who will be the branch’s official representative, told DeSmog it would “propose solutions” on energy costs and “evaluate climate policy”.
The Heartland Institute’s U.S. president James Taylor was also in attendance. Taylor is a Trump ally who has dismissed what he calls the “mythical global warming crisis”.
They were joined by representatives from Law and Justice, the far-right Confederation Party, and unnamed “guests from the U.S., Great Britain, and Austria”. The event was hosted by the Stanczyk Club, a space co-owned by the influential conservative legal advocacy group Ordo Iuris, which campaigns to restrict LGBT and abortion rights, and has co-authored a plan to dismantle the EU.
As revealed by DeSmog, the Heartland Institute has been working with far-right parties in recent years to oppose EU climate legislation, while Farage helped to launch Heartland UK-Europe in December 2024. The group didn’t respond to DeSmog’s requests for comment but previously said that it “stands resolute in its mission to advance sound science, economic prosperity, and individual liberty”.
Perry – a former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader who ran the anti-net zero lobby group CAR26 – is the strategy director of Reform Friends of Israel, a group affiliated with the party that officially launched in February.
Perry has repeatedly claimed to be advising Reform on its climate and energy policy, and told a conservative Polish TV channel this week that she has an “unofficial but very close role” in the party. Perry has said it’s her “personal belief” that climate change “is happening” but “is not man made”. In reality, the world’s foremost climate science body, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has said that “it is a statement of fact, we cannot be any more certain; it is unequivocal and indisputable that humans are warming the planet”.
Raphaël Kergueno of Transparency International EU told DeSmog that the Heartland Institute’s growing presence in Europe was “emblematic” of “lobbying efforts in Brussels” from pro-Trump groups.
“This European Parliament mandate has seen a notable uptick in lobbying by MAGA-affiliated organisations, including by the Heartland Institute,” he said.
Kenneth Haar, a researcher and campaigner at the transparency watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory, added: “All over Europe we see climate policies under pressure from corporate interests, and from the political right. Views that were regarded as absurd and fringe only a few years ago are now part of the debate.”
Poland Plans
According to Zagórski, the keynote address at the Warsaw event was delivered by Szymon Sikorski of Kraków Agricultural University, who said that climate change is “not necessarily caused by humans”, but is the result of “more complex and long-term effects.”
Zagórski told DeSmog after the event that Heartland wants to do for Poland and central Europe what it does in the U.S. — draft energy policy for politicians.
“The Heartland Institute has been evaluating the availability of various energy sources in different U.S. states,” he said, pointing to a report adopted by lawmakers in Louisiana. Zagórski added: “We want to prepare similar reports for countries in our region, to propose such solutions to our decision-makers.”
Zagórski, who sits on the advisory board of Poland’s farmers’ union Solidarity, told DeSmog he would work closely with Perry in London and Heartland’s base in Chicago to create a political nucleus in Poland.
“Warsaw is a hub for many strong conservative groups, farmers’ unions, and organisations that criticise or perhaps evaluate climate policy,” he said – adding that the launch event proved that “Warsaw can be a hub from which these activities can be organised.”
Speaking at the launch, Tomasz Sakiewicz, the head of right-wing Polish broadcaster TV Republika said: “For years, I’ve been advocating for the creation of think tanks, as they have them in the U.S.” – adding that the Heartland Institute could “inspire” Poland with “certain blueprints” modelled on America.
Farage, Perry, and Heartland
In September 2024, Farage spoke at a fundraiser for the Heartland Institute in Chicago, where he called for the group to set up a branch “across the Pond”.
Three months later, the Reform leader was the star speaker at the launch of Heartland UK-Europe in London. Perry, who reportedly first met Farage on his GB News show, was appointed its executive director.
At Reform’s annual conference in September 2025, at which Heartland hosted an event on energy policy, Perry told Politico that she had “held conversations with policymakers within Reform” and was advising the party.
Farage also joined Heartland at a gathering in January this year at a Mayfair club, with attendees including former Conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Reform, which is leading UK-wide polls and won 14 councils in this month’s local elections, campaigns to scrap climate policies and dramatically increase the UK’s fossil fuel production.
The Heartland Institute, which was founded in 1984 and originally worked with tobacco giant Philip Morris to deny the harms caused by smoking, received at least $676,000 (around £500,800) between 1998 and 2007 from U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil.
Heartland previously told DeSmog that its “support comes from a diverse array of individuals and organisations who share our vision for a freer, more prosperous world.”
Heartland UK-Europe executive director Lois Perry speaking on Polish podcast 13 Piętro in May 2026.
Credit: 13 Piętro / YouTube
As DeSmog revealed, Reform has received £24 million from donors with fossil fuel interests – more than two thirds of its total income since being founded in 2019.
A number of senior Reform figures deny the scientifically established contribution of carbon dioxide to climate change. Farage himself has claimed it’s “absolutely nuts” for CO2 to be considered a pollutant.
On her recent trip to Poland, Perry promoted Reform’s political agenda. In an interview with 13 Piętro, a podcast on TV Republika – an outlet close to the Law and Justice Party – Perry described net zero as “the deliberate de-industrialisation of the United Kingdom”, adding: “We’re going to abolish it on day one. No more subsidies, no more net zero.”
Perry added: “I did a conference recently with a bunch of woke net zero fanatics. And I stood up and said, ‘I advise Nigel Farage on all net zero policy, and I advise all of you guys to go think about getting another job, because the money is being switched off.’”
Reform was contacted for comment.
MAGA World
Perry has also claimed that the Heartland Institute “has been extremely influential in helping to shape policy at the highest level” in the Trump administration.
In May, she and Taylor attended CPAC events in Hungary and Poland alongside key Trump supporters – including Kristi Noem, the U.S. government’s then head of Homeland Security.
Taylor claimed that he “met with some very influential people at the top of the Law and Justice party” during CPAC Poland, while Perry said they “made some extraordinary progress in Poland and Hungary and some massive connections”.
Poland’s current President Karol Nawrocki, a Law and Justice Party ally who was elected last May, is a Trump supporter and earlier this month floated the idea of a national referendum on the EU’s climate policies.
In May 2025, days before Poland’s presidential election, Trump’s allies gathered at CPAC Poland to rally support for Nawrocki. Noem used the event to promise U.S. military assistance if Nawrocki won the vote.
However, last week, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth unexpectedly cancelled a planned deployment of 4,000 troops to the country.
The U.S. State Department is reportedly seeking to fund ideological allies in Europe, while Trump acolytes have campaigned across the continent in support of far-right parties.
However, they lost an ally with the defeat of Viktor Orbán in last month’s Hungarian elections, despite U.S. Vice President JD Vance campaigning for the now former Hungarian prime minister ahead of the vote.
Orbán’s government had significant ties to Reform, with senior figure Matthew Goodwin receiving direct funds from the Hungarian state, and Reform politicians including Farage publicly praising Orbán’s regime as a model for the UK.
“The recent change in government in Hungary has made it much more difficult to launch alt-right initiatives in that country today,” said political and disinformation analyst Anna Mierzynska. “That is why they are trying in Poland.”
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Nigel Farage has claimed that ‘foreign state actors’, most likely serving Moscow, accessed his phone. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images
Anna Turley gives Reform leader 24 hours to report Russian hacking claim in ‘public and national interest’
The Labour chair has given Nigel Farage 24 hours to report to security services the claim that his phone was hacked by Russia-linked actors or the party will do it for him.
In a letter to the Reform UK leader, Anna Turley said it was “in the public and national interest” to ensure that a suspected overseas hack of a senior politician’s phone by a hostile state was properly investigated.
A Reform spokesperson said the incident had been reported to “the relevant authorities”, without saying who these were.
In her letter, Turley asked Farage, who has largely avoided media scrutiny in recent weeks, to set out why Harborne gave him the money, in the run-up to the 2024 general election. Farage initially said the sum was intended to pay for his security, but later characterised it as a reward for his campaigning on Brexit.
…
On Monday, Ciaran Martin, the former head of the National Cyber Security Centre, called Farage’s version of events “an entirely unsubstantiated claim and one without any merit”, saying it would be difficult to conclude the involvement of Russia based on the examination of a phone.
Martin said given the seriousness of the matter, Farage should formally report what happened to the authorities.
Nigel Farage claims the Guardian’s revelation of the donation from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne was the result off a Russian ‘hack-and-leak’ operation. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Reuters
Ciaran Martin says Reform UK leader’s allegation over Guardian report on £5m gift ‘entirely unsubstantiated’
Nigel Farage’s claim that a Russian hack was behind a Guardian report on the £5m gift he received from a crypto billionaire has been described as “without any merit” by a former head of the National Cyber Security Centre.
Ciaran Martin, founding chief executive of the agency, which is part of GCHQ, said Farage’s allegation, if true, would have major implications for UK policy towards Russia but that the Reform UK leader had yet to provide “a shred of evidence”.
It is understood that Farage is yet to ask the NCSC to investigate his apparent belief that the Guardian’s revelation of the multimillion-pound donation by crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne was the result of a Russian “hack-and-leak” operation.
Martin said such an operation by the Kremlin would amount to an “unprecedentedly aggressive intervention” into Britain’s democracy and that Farage should both contact the NCSC to investigate and make public the technical evidence he has for his claim.
Martin said: “An aspiring prime minister has essentially claimed that Russia has launched an unprecedentedly aggressive intervention – a malicious intervention – in British politics, and he’s not produced a shred of evidence to support that claim.
“He’s made a serious foreign policy and national security allegation which if true would have massive implications for British policy towards Russia.
…
A spokesperson for the Guardian described Farage’s claim as “an attempt to deflect attention from legitimate scrutiny of his financial affairs”. They added: “Nigel Farage is once again hiding behind a baseless attack on the media rather than facing up to scrutiny from journalists and politicians.”
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Funeral ceremonies held at Al-Shifa Hospital for two Palestinians killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia Refugee Camp despite the ceasefire in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on May 24, 2026. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]
Five Palestinians, including three members of the same family, were killed and five others injured in fresh Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Sunday amid daily violations of an ongoing ceasefire, medical sources said.
One of the Palestinians was killed by Israeli gunfire in the center of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza and his body was transferred to Al-Shifa Hospital in western Gaza City, the sources told Anadolu.
A couple and their child were also killed, and three others were wounded in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the sources added.
In a separate incident, the sources said a child died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike that targeted a police headquarters in northwestern Gaza on Saturday.
In northern Gaza, a Palestinian fisherman was moderately injured after Israeli naval forces fired shells and machine-gun fire at fishing boats off the coast of Gaza City, according to the sources.
Another Palestinian was injured by shrapnel from a shell fired by Israeli forces on the beach in the Al-Sudaniya area, northwest of the enclave.
In a related development, the Israeli army carried out demolition operations targeting buildings and facilities in northern Gaza. Local sources reported hearing a large explosion resulting from the demolitions.
In Khan Younis in southern Gaza, Israeli forces also carried out similar demolition operations east of the city, accompanied by gunfire and artillery shelling near Bani Suheila roundabout, according to the local sources.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 880 people have been killed and more than 2,645 others injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire was announced on Oct. 10, 2025.
The agreement was meant to halt Israel’s two-year war that killed more than 72,000 people, most of them women and children, injured over 172,000 since October 2023, and caused massive destruction affecting 90% of civilian infrastructure.
Nigel Farage objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
