Booze row Senedd member Darren Millar back as Welsh Tory chief whip

Darren Millar had been chief whip of the Conservative Senedd group until January

A Member of the Senedd (MS) has been reappointed to a Welsh Tory front-bench role he quit following a row over drinking on Welsh Parliament premises.

The Conservative group confirmed Darren Millar had returned as chief whip following the Senedd election on May 6.

He had resigned from the job after he and three other MSs were seen drinking in early December on the parliamentary estate during a Covid pub alcohol ban.

Mr Millar said he was "delighted to be back on the front bench in the Senedd".

He added that he would "look forward to working with Andrew RT Davies and the rest of the Welsh Conservative team following our record election results on the 6th May".

Four MSs drank alcohol in the Welsh Parliament's tea room last December - Mr Millar, the then Tory group leader Paul Davies, Labour's Alun Davies and former Conservative MS Nick Ramsay.

Two investigations into the incident are yet to report publicly - one by the standards commissioner Douglas Bain, and another by Shared Regulatory Services (SRS) - a licensing body for Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend councils.

SRS's investigation is understood to be ongoing.

Clwyd West MS Mr Millar is also due to be reappointed as a member of the Senedd's business committee on Wednesday, a job he also stepped down from pending the inquiries.

Members of the business committee - an important cross-party body which agrees much of the Senedd's political activity - receive an extra salary of £9,154, taking their total annual pay to £76,803.

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Mr Millar quit the Conservative frontbench at the same time Paul Davies resigned as Welsh Tory group leader.

Andrew RT Davies took over as group leader, seeing the Conservatives win an increased number of seats at the Senedd election two weeks ago.

Mr Millar, Paul Davies and Alun Davies had all apologised for the incident.

At the time of his resignation Mr Millar said: "While I am advised that I did not breach coronavirus regulations I am very sorry for my actions, especially given the impact of the tough restrictions that people and businesses are enduring."

A spokesman for the Senedd Commissioner for Standards said he was prohibited from "disclosing any information about any complaint that may, or may not, have been received".