Nigel Farage has confirmed Reform UK’s new Welsh leader is Helen Jenner.
Ms Jenner, who has served as Wales’s deputy leader since April, is a former teacher and Senedd member for Bangor Conwy Mon.
Speaking from a press conference today, Mr Farage said: “Helen Jenner is now the leader of Reform in Wales, and the group leader in the Senedd. I’ve known Helen for many, many years. A determined campaigner, and I think she will do a very good job.”
Ms Jenner said: “I’m thrilled to have the support of my fantastic colleagues to lead Reform here in Wales.
“Back in May the voters gave us a clear mandate to smash the establishment and to bring common sense to Cardiff Bay.
“Week in, week out, that’s exactly what we’ve done, and we’re not going to stop until we get the real change Wales deserves.”
The announcement comes after Reform’s previous leader, Dan Thomas, was arrested last week.
Gwent Police said that a 45-year-old man from Aberbargoed, in Caerphilly, has been bailed pending further enquiries.
Nigel Farage Makes ‘Big Announcement’ as New Reform UK Leader in Wales Revealed
Nigel Farage has unveiled Helen Jenner as the new leader of Reform UK in Wales, making a significant announcement aimed at resetting the party’s position in the Senedd after a turbulent week.
Jenner, who previously served as Reform UK Wales’s deputy leader, was presented alongside Farage outside the Senedd in Cardiff on Monday.
Her appointment follows the sudden resignation of Dan Thomas, who stepped down last week after being arrested on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour. Thomas has said he did nothing wrong and was released on bail pending further inquiries.
The leadership change comes only months after Reform made major gains in the Welsh Parliament elections. The party emerged from the May Senedd election with a substantial group of elected members, positioning it as the second-largest party in the chamber.
The new leadership therefore faces the task of maintaining that momentum while attempting to put the recent controversy behind the party.
Helen Jenner takes charge
Jenner is the Member of the Senedd for Bangor Conwy Môn and had served as Reform UK’s deputy leader in Wales since April.
She was elected by members of Reform’s Senedd group after a contest with fellow MS Jason O’Connell.
The vote was close. According to reporting by The Guardian, Jenner won by 17 votes to 15 among the party’s 33 Senedd members.
That narrow result is an important detail surrounding the appointment.
Rather than being selected without opposition, Jenner emerged from an internal contest in which another member attracted significant support.
Jenner subsequently stressed that the existence of a leadership contest was normal in a democratic organisation and said she and O’Connell had agreed that whoever won would receive the other’s support.
Speaking after her appointment, Jenner said she was “thrilled” to take on the role and referred to the mandate Reform received from Welsh voters in May.
She said the party intended to continue challenging what she described as the political establishment in Cardiff Bay.
Farage backs the new leader
Farage appeared alongside Jenner for the announcement and gave her a strong public endorsement.
He said he had known her for many years and described her as a determined campaigner whom he trusted.
Farage also praised Thomas, saying he believed the former Welsh leader had been doing a “brilliant job” before his departure.
However, Farage acknowledged that Thomas’s position had become difficult to sustain following the police investigation.
He said it had become “pretty much untenable” for Thomas to continue as leader while dealing with the circumstances surrounding the arrest.
Farage characterised the leadership crisis as a temporary setback rather than a fundamental problem for Reform.
The Reform leader said the party would continue its work in Wales and described the episode as a “bump in the road”.
He also confirmed that a new deputy leader would be elected, with the vote scheduled for Tuesday morning.
What happened to Dan Thomas?
Thomas became Reform UK’s leader in Wales in February and played a prominent role during the party’s campaign for the Senedd election.
His resignation followed confirmation from Gwent Police that a 45-year-old man from the Aberbargoed area had been arrested on September 13 on suspicion of assault and engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour.
Police said he had been released on bail pending further inquiries.
Thomas subsequently announced that he was stepping down from the leadership position.
In his statement, he said he had been reported to police and had been released without charge. He maintained that he had done nothing wrong.
He also said he did not want the circumstances to distract from Reform’s work in the Senedd.
Thomas remains a member of the Welsh Parliament.
The police investigation is ongoing, meaning the allegations should not be treated as established facts.
A difficult week for Reform
The leadership change has taken place against the backdrop of another departure from the party.
Sarah Cooper-Lesadd, one of Reform UK’s newly elected Senedd members, defected to Plaid Cymru on the same day Thomas’s resignation became public.
Cooper-Lesadd criticised Reform’s approach to Welsh politics and said she believed the party was more focused on opposition and headlines than on governing Wales.
She subsequently described the organisation as chaotic in comments reported by the BBC and The Independent.
Her departure meant that Reform was dealing with both a leadership change and the loss of a Senedd member at almost exactly the same time.
Reform representatives have rejected the broader criticism and have continued to emphasise the size of their mandate from the May election.
The party has also pointed to the work being carried out by its Senedd group.
Jenner’s background
The new leader brings a different background to the role.
Jenner was born in Neath and raised on Anglesey. She later attended university in Bangor and worked as a teacher for around 15 years.
She is also a fluent Welsh speaker.
Since entering the Senedd, she has served as Reform UK’s Shadow Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language.
Her constituency, Bangor Conwy Môn, is in north Wales and includes areas represented by Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth.
Before joining Reform, Jenner was involved with the Brexit Party and UKIP.
That places her within the wider political movement associated with Farage, but her experience in education also gives her a specific policy background as she takes over the leadership of the Senedd group.
Reform’s position in the Senedd
The leadership change comes at a particularly important point for Reform in Wales.
The party made substantial gains in the May Senedd election and became the second-largest group in the Welsh Parliament.
That result gave Reform a much larger platform from which to challenge Welsh Labour and the Welsh Government.
The party has used issues including immigration, taxation, public services and political reform as part of its wider political message.
Jenner will now have to coordinate the party’s elected members and maintain its position as the principal opposition force behind the largest governing party.
That task may prove challenging because the group’s internal leadership contest demonstrated that there are different preferences within the Senedd team.
The 17-15 vote between Jenner and O’Connell was close enough to show that the new leader will need to build cooperation within the group as well as attack the policies of rival parties.
Responses from Labour and Plaid Cymru
Welsh Labour has used the leadership turmoil to question Reform’s stability.
A Labour spokesperson argued that the resignation of Thomas and Cooper-Lesadd’s defection, alongside departures from Reform council groups in England, raised questions about the party’s ability to provide stable political leadership.
Labour also said that people in Wales were facing practical challenges and needed political leadership focused on their priorities.
Plaid Cymru was similarly critical.
MS Rebeca Phillips accused Reform of being focused on its relationship with Westminster rather than Welsh political priorities.
Those statements represent the views of Reform’s political opponents and are part of the wider competition between the parties in the Senedd.
Reform has responded by maintaining that it has a mandate from Welsh voters and intends to continue challenging the established parties.
Farage’s wider ambitions
The significance of the appointment goes beyond the immediate leadership question.
Farage has been attempting to expand Reform UK’s presence throughout Britain, including in Wales.
The party’s success in the Senedd election gave Reform an opportunity to build an established political organisation in the country rather than operating primarily through Westminster campaigns.
That creates a strategic challenge for Farage.
A growing Welsh organisation can provide Reform with elected representatives and a permanent political presence.
But leadership disputes, defections and internal disagreements can undermine that development if they become persistent.
The appointment of Jenner is therefore intended to provide continuity following the sudden departure of Thomas.
Her previous role as deputy leader may also make the transition easier because she is already familiar with the Senedd group and its operations.
The next test
The immediate test for Jenner will be whether she can unite Reform’s Senedd members and concentrate attention on policy rather than the events surrounding her predecessor.
Her narrow leadership victory means internal unity will be particularly important.
The forthcoming election of a deputy leader will provide another indication of how the group is organising itself.
Jenner will also need to establish her public profile across Wales.
Although she has experience as a Senedd member and former deputy leader, becoming the head of a major political group brings considerably greater media and parliamentary responsibilities.
She will be expected to challenge the Welsh Government while presenting Reform as a credible political organisation.
A new chapter for Reform Wales
Farage’s announcement marks the beginning of a new chapter for Reform UK in Wales.
The party enters that chapter with a substantial electoral base but also with questions about internal stability.
Thomas remains a Senedd member and has maintained his innocence regarding the allegations that led to his arrest.
Cooper-Lesadd has left the party, while Jenner has narrowly defeated O’Connell to become its new leader.
Those events mean that her first priority is likely to be consolidation.
Farage has made clear that he wants the party to move forward rather than remain focused on the controversy.
Jenner has also signalled that she intends to continue Reform’s challenge to the political establishment.
The coming months will show how effectively she can translate that message into parliamentary activity.
For Reform, the stakes are significant. Its performance in May gave it a powerful position in Welsh politics, but maintaining that position requires more than electoral momentum.
It requires an organised parliamentary group, clear policy priorities and the ability to withstand internal disagreements.
Helen Jenner now has responsibility for providing that leadership.
For Farage, meanwhile, the appointment represents an attempt to stabilise Reform’s Welsh operation and move the party’s attention back towards the political issues that helped it gain support in the first place.
The new leader has already made clear that she intends to keep challenging the established political order in Cardiff Bay.
Her success will depend on whether Reform’s Welsh members can now work together under her leadership and turn their electoral gains into a sustained parliamentary presence.
The announcement outside the Senedd may therefore be only the beginning. The real test for Jenner and Reform UK will be what happens next inside the Welsh Parliament.