Welsh Conservative Senedd leader Paul Davies misses group meeting
- Published
The Welsh Conservative assembly leader Paul Davies has missed a meeting of his own party group after a judge forced him to lift a Tory AM's suspension.
A court ordered last Friday that Nick Ramsay's suspension, made after he was arrested on New Year's Day and before he was released without charge, be lifted pending a full hearing.
Mr Davies stayed away from the meeting on legal advice, BBC Wales was told.
A spokesperson for the Welsh Conservatives declined to comment.
It is believed Mr Ramsay, who is suing Mr Davies, remains suspended from his party membership. The Conservatives have not confirmed this officially.
Mr Ramsay attended the group meeting on Tuesday, sources said.
Tory AMs were told that Mr Davies was not attending until the full court hearing takes place.
Mr Ramsay was suspended from the group and his party following the arrest on 1 January. Gwent Police said it had attended a "disturbance" at an address in Raglan, Monmouthshire.
Despite the Monmouth AM's release without charge, the suspension remained with limited updates as to why.
Statements initially said the suspension was being reviewed - later BBC Wales was told an investigation was taking place.
Mr Ramsay took Mr Davies to court last week, accusing him of breaking the party's constitution in suspending him.
Mr Davies's barrister, Richard Price, argued for an adjournment on the basis that they had less than 24 hours to prepare for the case.
But High Court judge Jonathan Russen ruled the group suspension should be lifted until the case is heard.
Nick Ramsay made an appearance in the Welsh Assembly on Tuesday afternoon
Analysis by BBC Wales political editor, Felicity Evans
It seems bizarre that the Conservative group leader is being advised to stay away from his own group's meetings, and it is.
I can't think of another occasion when a party group leader has been personally sued by an AM he suspended.
There is concern among some in the Welsh Conservative party that Mr Ramsay has chosen this very public route to pursue readmission.
Aside from party harmony, there's an assembly election coming next year.
Ideally the party should be riding the wave of last year's general election performance trying to maximise that momentum into next year's poll.
Instead their AMs face another couple of weeks of this impasse, pending the full court case and the potential of more internal party drama.
'We've got an election to fight'
One party figure raised concerns at the situation continuing, as campaigns loom for the next Senedd vote in May 2021.
"We need a resolution to this as soon as possible," the source said. "We've got an election to fight in just over a year.
"We need to be telling people how great the party is, not being distracted by internal problems."
The party figure said the Welsh Conservatives were in "uncharted territory" and there was a "challenging atmosphere" in the Senedd Tory group with "most members somewhat bemused at what's going on".
Another party source claimed said there was "massive concern" at the events of the last four and a half weeks.
"It's likely to build into a crescendo later this month," the source said. "If anyone is found to have behaved badly, there's going to be no tolerance of it within the party."
AMs in the assembly sit in party groups. It is unusual for a member to be part of a political group and not a member of the same party - although Mark Reckless was a Tory group member and not a Conservative from April 2017 until he joined the Brexit Party last year.
- Published3 February 2020
