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1999 Welsh Conservatives leadership election

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1999 Welsh Conservatives leadership election
← 1998 11–18 August 1999 2011 →
 
Candidate Nick Bourne
Popular vote Unopposed
Leader before election

Rod Richards
Nick Bourne (acting)

 Elected Leader

Nick Bourne

The 1999 Welsh Conservatives leadership election took place to choose the leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales following the resignation of Rod Richards on 10 August 1999. Nominations closed on 18 August with Nick Bourne emerging as the only candidate and subsequently being elected unopposed as the party's new leader in the National Assembly.

Campaign

Nick Bourne put forward his nomination for the leadership to Conservative Central Office on 11 August 1999, thus opening the nominations process for any potential challengers.[1][2] According to a spokesman representing Bourne, five of the nine AMs in the Conservative Group had signed his nomination.[1] Henri Lloyd Davies, chair of the Welsh Conservative Party, announced that nominations would remain open for seven days.[3] Nominations had to be signed from at least three of the nine party AMs and submitted to the chief whip David TC Davies to be considered valid.[1] If only one candidate was nominated by the closure of nominations on 18 August, they had to have the support of at least two-thirds of party AMs before they could be elected unopposed as the new leader.[3]

Acccording to the South Wales Echo, Bourne was expected to be the only contender for the leadership, allowing him to be elected unopposed.[2] Bourne was described as the favourite to win the election by the South Wales Evening Post and, according to the Echo's political correspondent Richard Hazlewood, the nominations process was largely seen as just a formality to install Bourne as the official leader of the Welsh Conservative Group.[4][3] According to BBC News, Bourne had secured the support of most of the Conservative AMs by 16 August, not including Richards or his deputy David TC Davies.[5] On 13 August, Davies said he would support whoever was elected the new leader, but added that he felt "disappointed" by his colleagues for claiming that he was inexperienced.[6]

Results

After the closure of nominations on 18 August, Davies as chief whip announced that Bourne was the only person nominated for the leadership. He therefore declared that Bourne was elected unopposed as leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales.[7][8][9] Bourne praised Davies for his conduct during the election and gave him a new role as the member of the Welsh Conservative frontbench responsible for policy presentation.[9] Davies pledged to take the Labour administration to account and to focus his party in the assembly on issues relating to farming, the Welsh NHS and European aid. He also said the Conservatives would argue "for a distinctive Welsh policy ... on all sorts of issues".[8] He reshuffled the Conservative frontbench in the assembly on 25 August, removing Davies as deputy leader while making him the new environment spokesperson. Rod Richards was not given a post in Bourne's new frontbench team, making him the only Conservative AM to serve as a backbencher, though Bourne promised to appoint him to it at a later date once he was cleared of his allegations of assault.[10][11]

Legacy

Bourne continued to serve as the leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales until he lost his seat at the 2011 assembly election.[12][13] Now under the control of a more moderate, devolutionist faction, the Conservatives in Wales saw a significant change to their political strategy as compared to under Rod Richards, with Bourne working with the Welsh Conservatives' chief policy adviser David Melding to make the party more distinctly Welsh in identity and generally supportive of devolution.[14][15] The Welsh party gradually moderated its policies on issues such as education and health, rejecting the calls for private outsourcing made by the Conservatives in England and calling for increased investment in public services, and came to commit itself to a distinctly Welsh approach different to that of the party in England.[16][17] The next Welsh Conservatives leadership election would be held in 2011, with Andrew RT Davies elected to succeed Bourne as leader of the Welsh Conservative Group; he continued Bourne's strategy of making the party in Wales more supportive of devolution.[15][18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Bourne nominated for Welsh Tory leadership". BBC News. 11 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Leadership bid". South Wales Echo. 12 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Hazlewood, Richard (11 August 1999). "Bourne takes over after Tory leader Rod resigns". South Wales Echo. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Leadership fight starts". South Wales Evening Post. 12 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  5. ^ "Welsh Tories await leadership decision". BBC News. 16 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  6. ^ "'Disappointed' by comments". South Wales Echo. 13 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  7. ^ "A new era as Bourne named as Tory leader". South Wales Echo. 19 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b Hazlewood, Richard (19 August 1998). "Tory leader promises Labour hot times ahead". South Wales Echo. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  9. ^ a b "City man Nick is new Tory leader". South Wales Evening Post. 19 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Bourne snubs Richards in cabinet". BBC News. 25 August 1999. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  11. ^ Nifield, Phillip (25 August 1999). "New Welsh Tory leader's 'cabinet' reshuffle". South Wales Echo. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  12. ^ "Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne loses regional seat". BBC News Mid Wales. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  13. ^ Williamson, David (1 August 2013). "Former Welsh Conservative leader Nick Bourne among 30 new peers appointed to House of Lords". Wales Online. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  14. ^ Convery, Alan (15 July 2016). The territorial Conservative Party: Devolution and party change in Scotland and Wales. Manchester University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-5261-0054-2. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  15. ^ a b Livingstone, Tomos (30 March 2016). "Welsh Assembly election: Conservative devolution vision". BBC News. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  16. ^ Convery, Alan (2014). "Welsh Conservatism: The Unexpected Evolution" (PDF). British Politics Review. 9 (4). University of Edinbrugh: 10–11. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  17. ^ Greer, Scott L.; Rowland, David (2007). Devolving Policy, Diverging Values?: The Values of the United Kingdom's National Health Services (PDF). The Nuffield Trust. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-905030-29-3. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
  18. ^ Scully, Roger (27 June 2018). "What does Andrew RT Davies' resignation mean for Welsh Tories?". The Spectator. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
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