Fay Jones: How Brecon MP followed in her father's footsteps

Fay Jones has been MP for Brecon and Radnorshire since 2019.

It seems the 1996 year group at Cardiff's Llanishen High School had a knack for predicting their classmates' futures.

Most likely to be famous? They nominated Tom Cullen, who is now an actor whose credits include Downton Abbey.

Most likely to be a millionaire? John Tabatabai, who became a successful poker player.

Most likely to be prime minister? Fay Jones, now the Conservative MP for Brecon and Radnorshire.

"Oh, so I'm going to be PM? Alright, okay, cool… I couldn't imagine a more difficult job - which I do not want to do, to be clear," Jones insists with a wry smile.

In wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio Wales's Walescast podcast, she said her original plan was to study law - after watching "too many episodes of Ally McBeal" - rather than follow in her father Gwilym Jones' footsteps and become a politician.

Fay Jones's father was MP for Cardiff North from 1983 to 1997.

Jones remembers visiting her father in Parliament - he was a former Conservative MP for Cardiff North and junior minister in the Wales Office - but not much else.

She explained: "Dad lost his seat [in the 1997 election] when I was 11 and a half.

"But you know, he gave up a lot and it was really hard for him as a parent to young kids to leave all of that responsibility to my mum."

It would be more than 20 years until another member of the Jones household entered the House of Commons, when Jones won her seat in the 2019 general election.

She explains how much an MP's work has changed over those two decades: "It's completely different. [Dad] didn't have email, he didn't have social media, he based his office out of our house, he converted our garage.

"Everyone knew where we lived, and now I go to great lengths to hide my address."

Fay Jones as a young girl pictured with her mother Linda, father Gwilym and brother Grant.

Margaret Thatcher even visited their house when she was 18 months old.

"You would never have that now"," Jones said.

But some things have not changed - the job is as precarious as ever.

"It's always at the back of your mind. There can't be many jobs that you know you stand a good chance of losing, of it being taken away.

"I do think of [my dad] being 50 years old, having two children under 13, my mum wasn't working at the time… all of a sudden your household income is gone."

It is, however, her mother Linda Jones, a former magistrate who passed away last year, that she believes taught her more about politics.

"Mum was all about finding a way to help someone, finding a way to raise some money for somebody so that a cause could keep going", he said.

Fay Jones with her mother and father on the night she won her seat in 2019.

Walescast's conversation with Jones was recorded at the Royal Welsh Show, which she first attended with her parents when she "was about four or five years old."

Born and raised in Cardiff, there has been a big agricultural focus to Fay Jones' life since leaving university.

Her first job after graduating in French from King's College London was as a researcher for the then Prince Charles "on his natural environment agenda", which is when she "really got to learn about farming".

She added: "I didn't see him all that much. Every now and then, a phone call would come through and you would look at the phone and it would say 'HRH [His Royal Highness'] Study'.

"Your heart would stop and you'd think, 'Oh, God, I hope I know the answer to this question'."

The agricultural thread continued with an European focus - a stint at the UK government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as part of the negotiating team on the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, followed by a job for the National Farmers' Union while mainly based in Brussels.

In the 2016 Brexit referendum, she voted Remain on the basis of "better the devil you know" but would now "vote to Leave" the EU.

'There was always a risk things would go wrong'

Alongside every Conservative candidate in the 2019 general election, Jones committed to back Boris Johnson's Brexit deal having previously volunteered on his leadership campaign earlier that year.

"It never crossed my mind to back anybody else in 2019 - he was the right one and delivered that thumping result and there is much to give him credit for during the time that he was prime minister," she said.

"You knew that Boris was always going to be a character, that there was always risk with him, that things were always going to go wrong, but there was always the promise of great reward."

But she and so many of those same colleagues who backed Boris Johnson to enter Downing Street in 2019 would eventually call on him to leave Number 10.

Fay Jones backed Rishi Sunak's first unsuccessful attempt to become Conservative leader.

During the resulting Conservative leadership campaign, she backed Rishi Sunak, who lost his first attempt at running for the job.

Not interested in gloating publicly, she does concede "massive mistakes were made" during Liz Truss' very, very brief premiership.

Mistakes that have allowed Labour to open a pretty regular 20 point lead over the Conservatives in the opinion polls.

But Jones said she believes "the situation will look a lot different" by the time of the next election, which has to be held before the end of January 2025.

As a deputy whip in Rishi Sunak's government, she must have an insight as to when that election might be called?

Jones said she had no idea: "Honestly, as long as it's not November this year, I don't care. I'm getting married."

You can watch the interview on Walescast at 22:40 BST on Wednesday 2 August on BBC One Wales or on iPlayer.

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