Caroline Yvonne Jones (born 1 April 1955) is a Welsh politician who was a

Member of the Senedd A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd ...

(MS) for South Wales West from

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

. A former leader of the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

(UKIP) in the Senedd, Jones served as a UKIP Senedd Member from 2016 to 2018 when she left the party to sit as an independent. In May 2019 she joined the newly formed Brexit Party group in the Senedd. She later became independent again after disagreements with the party on its newly adopted anti-devolution policy. She joined the

Independent Alliance for Reform The Independent Alliance for Reform ( cy, Y Gynghrair Annibynnol dros Ddiwygio) was a political group in the Senedd. It was founded in October 2020, and had three members. The party was dissolved in 2021 when all three of its Senedd Members lost ...

group in October 2020.

Education

She was educated at

Y Pant School Y Pant School () is an 11–18 mixed, English-medium community comprehensive secondary school and sixth form in Talbot Green, Pontyclun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. History Since the original school was built, two main buildings have been a ...

and Glamorgan College of Education.

Political career

Jones first stood for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

at the

2010 UK general election The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom unde ...

. In 2012 Jones stood as a Conservative for

South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner The South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner is the police and crime commissioner, an elected official tasked with setting out the way crime is tackled by South Wales Police in the " South Wales region" defined by the police force as the seve ...

. Her café in

Porthcawl Porthcawl (, ) is a town and community on the south coast of Wales in the county borough of Bridgend, west of the capital city, Cardiff and southeast of Swansea. Historically part of Glamorgan and situated on a low limestone headland on the So ...

was vandalised during the campaign and Jones pledged to donate 10% of her PCC salary to organisations dealing with victims of crime and crime prevention if elected. The perpetrators of the crime were never caught and it emerged that the CCTV camera protecting the shop was pointed the other way.

Defection to UKIP

Jones defected from the Conservatives to

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest pa ...

in 2013 and in the 2015 general election she stood for the party for the UK Parliamentary constituency of

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge ...

. Jones voted for Neil Hamilton to be the leader of UKIP in the

Welsh Assembly The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...

. After

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...

declared his intention to stand down, Jones wrote a letter along with other members of the assembly urging

Paul Nuttall Paul Andrew Nuttall (born 30 November 1976) is a British politician who served as Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2016 to 2017. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009 as a UK Independence Party (UKIP) candidate, and ...

to stand in the

September 2016 UK Independence Party leadership election September is the ninth month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, the third of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the fourth of five months to have a length of fewer than 31 days. September in the Northern H ...

. Jones is a member of the Assembly's Health, Social Care and Sport committee.

UKIP National Assembly Group Leader

Jones replaced Hamilton as leader of UKIP in the National Assembly on the 17 May 2018 following a vote by the UKIP group. On 10 August 2018, Jones lost the group leadership finishing last in the 2018 UKIP Wales leadership election in a three-way contest. Gareth Bennett won the contest and replaced her as group leader.

Leaves UKIP to sit as an independent

On 12 September 2018, Jones announced that she was leaving the United Kingdom Independence Party citing her reasons as the party moving "to a more far-right position" under

Gerard Batten Gerard Joseph Batten (born 27 March 1954) is a British politician who served as the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2018 to 2019. He was a founding member of the party in 1993, and served as a Member of the European Parliament ( ...

and a leadership election that was "shambolic from beginning to end". She also said that she was a victim of

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...

claiming that she was once told to "shut up" at a meeting. UKIP Group Leader Gareth Bennett admitted that she was told this by a participant, but that "it had nothing to do with her gender". UKIP Wales Leader Neil Hamilton called on Jones to resign her regional list seat and allow another UKIP member to become an AM, which she refused to do. Party Leader Gerard Batten described her statement as "politically correct twaddle to disguise the fact that Mrs Jones is politically ineffective..."

Joins the Brexit Party

On 15 May 2019, Jones along with three other Assembly Members joined the

Brexit Party Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...

Leaves Brexit Party to sit as an independent

On 18 August 2020, Jones released a statement stating that she had quit the Brexit Party's Senedd Group to sit as an Independent member due to its newly adopted anti-devolution stance. On 4 September she announced that she would stand in the

2021 Senedd election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

as an independent candidate for the Bridgend constituency. In mid October 2020 she formed a new group in the Senedd, the

, together with fellow MSs David Rowlands and

Mandy Jones Amanda Ellen "Mandy" Jones is a British former racing cyclist born in 1962 who won the women's world road race championship in 1982. Biography Jones joined the West Pennine Road Club to ride on Sunday outings. She rode her first race in 1974 ...

. Jones stood as an Independent candidate for the Bridgend constituency seat and again stood on the South Wales West regional list, during the

; she was unsuccessful in getting re-elected to the Senedd.

Controversy

In 2004, while working as a prison officer at

HM Prison Parc HM Prison Parc (Welsh: ) is a Category B men's private prison and Young Offenders Institution in Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, Wales. Parc Prison is operated by G4S, and is the only privately operated prison in Wales. History The site was previously ...

, Jones opened a sexual discrimination case against the prison. It was alleged that a colleague of Jones had spread rumours that she had worked as a lap dancer prior to her employment at the prison and that a campaign of intimidation was set against her to force her out. Jones subsequently lost her case. In May 2018 it was revealed that Jones had failed to declare the employment of husband Alun Williams in her office on her

register of interests A Register of Interests is a record kept, usually by a government body, of financial interests of its members. The register documents interests which may potentially unethically or unlawfully influence members' official duties. The term is in us ...

. Jones described it as "an oversight" that would be corrected. In June 2018 Jones was taken to court by former UKIP Chief of Staff Robin Hunter-Clarke for the wrongful termination of his contract. The judge ruled that she could not grant interim relief because it was unclear who Mr Hunter-Clarke's employer was at the time of the sacking. Court proceedings are set to recommence in August 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Caroline 1955 births Living people Alumni of the University of Glamorgan UK Independence Party members of the Senedd Brexit Party members of the Senedd Female members of the Senedd Wales MSs 2016–2021 Place of birth missing (living people) Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates UK Independence Party parliamentary candidates Welsh women activists Welsh feminists