'Most sane people would run a mile' from politics

Former Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams with her husband, Richard

Most "sane people would run a mile" from a career in politics, Wales' former Liberal Democrat leader has said.

Kirsty Williams said the online abuse she and other politicians had received was "unforgivable", and it was this level of trolling that forced her to leave politics.

Speaking to politician Lee Waters - who has said he will step down next year - on the Fifth Floor podcast, she said the way she was targeted "badly" affected her children.

She added that when she told them about her new role as chairwoman of the Cardiff and Vale health board, her daughters told her "don't do it, we can't go through this again".

"I didn't realise how badly it affected my family," she said, adding that once news of her new role was made public the "pack" were back online "telling everybody what a terrible person I am".

Williams said that being a politician was "no worse or better than many other jobs that people do".

"Most sane people would run a mile from putting themselves into that environment," she said, referring to the level of criticism received.

"I'm worried that it's baked in now. People who go for that job accept that this is how they're going to have to live their lives.

"It's not pleasant."

She was speaking to Waters, who was Welsh Labour's former deputy minister for climate change and who previously received "insults and abuse" for the introduction of the 20mph law.

Kirsty Williams was speaking to politician Lee Waters, who said he received "insults and abuse" for the introduction of the 20mph law

Williams feared the wrong type of person would be able to sustain a life in politics because "you have to have a certain kind of personality" to put up with abuse.

"And I'm not convinced that the people who can put up with that, and ignore it, are perhaps not the people that you need in the political environment getting things done," she said.

She described that as "probably the greatest threat to liberal democracy".

Williams previously raised these concerns in 2021, saying that abuse was getting "worse and worse" for women in politics.

Labour MP Ruth Jones told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that women being abused online "goes with the job" in politics, adding that politicians have to "discern what are real threats".

On social media, in response to Williams' comments, Conservative MS Sam Kurtz, whose office had been targeted by vandals previously, said: "This job is a privilege, and with it come sacrifices. But if good people are driven away by vile rhetoric, we have a real problem.

"When did we lose the art of disagreeing agreeably?"