Former Tory head of London council appointed Reform leader in Wales

Dan Thomas unveiled by Nigel Farage at sold-out rally as party prepares for Senedd elections

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Dan Thomas, a former Conservative leader of Barnet council, has been announced by Nigel Farage as Reform UK’s leader in Wales, three months before Senedd elections in which the hard-right party could win the most seats in the country.

Farage received a standing ovation before he introduced Thomas at a sold-out rally of approximately 1,000 people at the International Convention Centre Wales, near Newport, on Thursday morning. Journalists were jeered and booed during the media conference.

Thomas led Barnet council between 2019 and 2022, when the north London council was seized by Labour, and defected to Farage’s Reform party last summer. He stood down in December as a councillor for Finchley Church End – long synonymous with Margaret Thatcher – to move back to his south Wales valleys home town, Blackwood.