John Rooney: Silenced by ‘supported status’ – the battle for local party democracy in Wales

John Rooney is currently a Conservative town councillor and was a North West Wales Federation executive officer until May. He was a Welsh Conservative Party Assessor for 2026 Senedd Election candidates, but stood down when the Federation was placed into Supported Status.

In Kemi Badenoch’s leadership launch speech in 2022 she said: “People are tired of being told one thing and seeing another. We need to be honest not just with voters but with our own members”. But recent events in the North West Wales Federation show that the Welsh Conservatives have ignored her comments, and done away with honesty and transparency.

On Monday, May 19th at 22.42pm Bernard Gentry, Welsh party chairman, informed by email all members of the North West Wales Federation that it was being put to into ‘supported status’ with immediate effect, and all the officers and executive members were summarily removed from their positions.

No justification or reasons were given for taking such a heavy handed step. It’s nearly two months since that email was sent, and the members have heard nothing other than requests to get out and campaign.

Kathryn Cracknell, the North Wales area chair, was appointed as board representative of the supported status team, charged with leading it and reporting back to the British board. So far she’s had no contact with the membership regarding the Federation’s conduct, its’ operation, or tackling the root causes that led to it being placed in supported status; it is thus hard to see what she could possibly report.

The most frustrating aspect of this is that no reason has been given for the initial decision, despite the question being asked of both Cracknell and Julian Ellacott, the Chairman of the National Convention. In an email sent to another Federation member, Cracknell mentions that a ‘confidential report’ had been given to the national board, who then decided to act. Who drafted this report is unknown, but it is another example of members being kept completely in the dark about information directly concerning them.

Another concerning point is that there will now be no Federation AGM until June 2026, which will be after the Senedd election in May. This is a tactic designed to avoid any scrutiny or accountability of the Federation executive by the members; it is not democratic, and borders on contempt for the volunteer activists who are the lifeblood of the Party’s campaigning.

There should have been an AGM held by the end of June this year, with at least 21 days’ notice given to members. There was therefore already suspicion that something was amiss when Harry Saville, the Federation chairman, had avoided setting a date ever since his election in January 2025. Saville resigned as chairman on April 27th this year, but the members informed neither at the time or since.

All this bears the imprint of Gentry. The Welsh chairman was elected by around 100 party members (out of several thousand in Wales), thereby denying the wider membership of having any say in the election of someone with significant influence. By virtue of that position he sits on the national party board, so it’s a fair assumption that he had a major hand in drafting and proposing the confidential report that led to its deciding to put the Federation into supported status.

I raised the matter by email with Darren Millar, the Leader of the Conservative Group in the Senedd. His response was that it was the national board’s decision. That may be true, but it’s inconceivable that the Welsh board, upon which Millar sits, did not discuss and approve the proposals which were taken to the national board for sign-off.

Members are eager to regain local accountability and rebuild the Federation so it is ready to fight next years’ Senedd election. One Federation member was so determined to see progress that he started a petition calling for supported status to be lifted, and gathered over 70 signatures. When Cracknell became aware of this, she emailed them and described the effort as ‘unacceptable and pointless’. Such casual indifference to member opinion has, naturally, poured petrol on the fire of discontent.

The national board, the Welsh board and in particular Gentry have to take responsibility for the consequences of their decision. Members are disengaged, with some leaving to join Reform UK, and only four people applied to be on the list of candidates for the Senedd seat of Bangor Conwy Môn, when there should have been up to seven shortlisted. Activists are volunteers and will not be treated as mindless automatons; it should come as no surprise that support for campaigning has collapsed.

We have now only nine full months left until the Senedd election, and the Welsh Conservatives should be gearing up with policies that will appeal to voters throughout Wales. Instead, the party machine is campaigning only against its own members, with predictable and dire consequences for our activist base.

There is a simple fix to all this. First, the hierarchy could have the decency to explain why it has suspended party democracy in North West Wales. Second, assuming they aren’t good reasons (or they would surely be happy enough to state them), rescind it so we can get on with the job of preparing for the elections.

If nothing changes, however, then the leadership’s preferred candidates in this huge geographical constituency will be campaigning alone.

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