David T. C. Davies
David Thomas Charles Davies is a British politician who was Secretary of State for Wales from 2022 to 2024. He was the Member of Parliament for Monmouth from 2005 to 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he chaired the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from 2010 to 2019. Davies also served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Wales from 2019 to 2022, and as Member of the Welsh Assembly for Monmouth from 1999 to 2007.
A vocal critic of the European Union, he supported Brexit in the 2016 membership referendum. Having previously questioned the scientific evidence for the role of human factors in global warming, Davies said in 2019 that he supported the UK government's intention to become carbon neutral by 2050 and that he fully accepted the link between carbon dioxide and climate change.
Early life and education
Davies was born on 27 July 1970 in Newham, London, to Peter and Kathleen Davies. A great-grandfather was German and Jewish. He was educated at Clytha School and Bassaleg School in Newport, Wales. After leaving school in 1988 he worked for the British Steel Corporation and served with the Territorial Army. He worked for his family in their shipping company, Burrow Heath Ltd, before entering politics.Political career
Pre-Assembly Career
He unsuccessfully contested the seat of Bridgend at the 1997 general election, finishing in second place 15,248 votes behind Win Griffiths.Just Say No Campaign
As an opponent of the concept of a new Welsh assembly, Davies helped to set up the 'No' campaign in the devolution referendum, and being frequently quoted as a spokesperson or 'prominent member' for the campaign throughout the devolution campaign and referendum.Welsh Assembly
First Assembly
Davies gained a higher profile and decided to run as the Conservative candidate for Monmouth. At the inaugural 1999 Welsh Assembly Election he was elected to the National Assembly for Wales. He was the only Conservative member to win on a constituency ballot. He became the deputy leader of the Welsh Conservatives and Chief Whip under Rod Richards.In August 1999, Rod Richards stood down as leader of the Conservative Group in the Assembly to contest charges of grievous bodily harm made against him. He insisted that this would be temporary, and that Davies, as his deputy, would stand in until the matter was resolved. Davies stood in the role for a total of 5 days, between 5 and 10 August, before the Assembly Conservative group elected to appoint Nick Bourne as the group's temporary leader, over Davies. Later that month, Bourne would reshuffle the Welsh Conservative's frontbench roles. Davies retained his role as Chief Whip in this reshuffle, as well as being handed the portfolio for Environment, Transport and Planning.
In 2000, Davies was investigated by the Independent Adviser on Standards of Conduct for misusing Assembly stationary to invite people to see a display he had put together in the Assembly to oppose to repeal of Section 28. The case was dismissed shortly after.
In November 2000, Davies' retained his responsibilities for Environment and Transport, but lost his responsibilities for local government and planning, with these going to colleague William Graham.
In August 2001, Davies made a statement clarifying that Edgar Griffin, father of British National Party founder Nick Griffin was no longer a member of the Conservative Party's welsh campaign team, which Davies had helped to recruit.
Davies supported Iain Duncan Smith in the 2001 Conservative Party leadership election.
In November 2001, Davies was reshuffled away from the role of Chief Whip for the Welsh Conservatives, instead being placed on the Welsh Assembly's economic development committee.
Davies was consistently critical of attempts to grant more powers to the Welsh Assembly, publishing a leaflet in 2002 which stated "Only one in four people voted for devolution in the referendum, so it would be grossly unfair to turn the Assembly into a Parliament by stealth. I believe no further powers should be given to the Welsh Assembly without a further referendum, and that referendum should also include a question, 'Should we get rid of the Assembly altogether'?" He did so after fellow Conservative AM David Melding asked First Minister Rhodri Morgan if he believed the assembly should be granted primary legislative powers.
Second Assembly
Davies was re-elected at the 2003 National Assembly election, and was again the only member of the Welsh Conservatives elected on a constituency ballot, and received the largest vote of any candidate in Wales. He was appointed as the Welsh Conservative Education spokesperson by Nicke Bourne shortly after. He was also handed the role as Conservative Equal Opportunities spokesperson, and placed on the Assembly's Equal Opportunities Committee.Shortly after, Davies spotted attempted to hold a Wales-specific referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty, using Section 36 of the Government of Wales Act 1998, which said "The Assembly may hold a poll in Wales or any part or parts of Wales for the purpose of ascertaining the views of those polled about whether or how any of the Assembly's functions should be exercised." First Minister Rhodri Morgan described the attempt as " contrary to all British precedent" while Wales Secretary Peter Hain described it as "outrageous hypocrisy" - stating that Conservative governments had not held referendums on any European treaties.
In September 2003, it was announced that Davies had been selected to run as the Conservative candidate for Monmouth at the 2005 General Election. At the time he stated he had no intention to stand down as Assembly member for the constituency.
In February 2004, Davies described the Commission for Racial Equality as "one of the best recruiting sergeants the BNP could ever have" on television. He further described the CRE's as having "coined the phrase institutional racism" "because they could not actually pin down any particular examples of racist behaviour." He further described the commission itself as institutionally racist. The CRE's Wales Commissioner Cherry Short described Davies as '"living in cloud cuckoo land" if he believed their work assisted racists.
In April 2004, Davies was removed as Welsh Conservative Equal Opportunities Spokesperson, after he walked out of, and subsequently resigned from, the Assembly's Equal Opportunities Committee. He had reportedly asked a representative of Stonewall "I wonder why you feel a homosexual who is attacked has more rights in the eyes of the law than an elderly lady or an elderly man?", among other questions, after the charity had presented its annual report to the committee. Stonewall representative Derek Walker responded by saying "We don't think any crime against an older person should be treated in a lesser way. Our survey shows it is a big issue in Wales and across the country. We have asked it to be prioritised in the same way racial crime is." Social Justice Minister Edwina Hart had described his remarks as "offensive", at which point Davies reportedly left, describing the committee as "a total waste of time" and said "I simply can't go on". He was replaced as Equal Opportunities Spokesperson by Mark Isherwood.
Election to the UK Parliament and Dual Mandate
He was elected at the 2005 general election as member of the House of Commons for Monmouth, the seat he held in the Welsh Assembly. He defeated the sitting Labour MP Huw Edwards by 4,527 votes, and remained the MP for the constituency until the July 2024 election. On 18 May 2005 he made his maiden speech giving a history of his constituency from Geoffrey of Monmouth onwards. After his election to the UK parliament, his role as Welsh Conservative Spokesperson on Education in the Assembly was re-assigned to William Graham. He had previously announced his intention to stand down as Assembly Member for Monmouth at the 2007 Welsh Assembly election. The Conservatives retained the Monmouth seat, at that election with Nick Ramsay being elected.UK Parliamentary career
Once elected to Parliament he joined the Welsh Affairs Select Committee on his election. After the 2015 general election, he was returned unopposed the chairmanship of the committee.In 2008, Davies criticised the National Black Police Association's race-based membership policy for not allowing white people interested in fighting racism to become full members and suggesting that they themselves could be guilty of racism.
In 2013 Davies voted against the Cameron–Clegg coalition government on the issue of British military intervention in the Syrian civil war.
During the trial of fellow Welsh MP Nigel Evans, Davies gave evidence of his character, stating that Evans liked a drink and became jovial when intoxicated, unlike some people who have a dark side. Evans was Davies' best man at his 2003 wedding. In May 2013, Davies said of Evans: "He's been a good friend of mine for a lot of years. I am stunned by these allegations and find them impossible to believe." Evans was acquitted of sexual assaults in April 2014.
In June 2015, Davies strongly criticised the planning and organisation of the first Velothon Wales event to be run in Wales which passed through his Monmouth constituency, arguing that business losses should be compensated for.
In July 2024, Davies contested the Monmouthshire constituency. He lost, with Labour's Catherine Fookes winning by 3,338 votes.
Expenses
In 2009 The Daily Telegraph reported that Davies had claimed £2,000 of taxpayers' money and paid it to his family's haulage firm. Davies defended his actions in an interview, denying any wrongdoing and explaining to BBC Wales that his family's firm had been paid to provide postage and produce publicity material at short notice for the annual Monmouth show, that they had not profited, and that he had subsequently used a specialist company in London for the production of such material where the costs were significantly higher.In May of the same year, Davies became the first member of the Commons to voluntarily make his expense claims public. They were scrutinised by an independent panel which he had assembled and it emerged that Davies had claimed £475 for furniture for his London apartment, in addition to the monies paid to his family firm.