Roderick Richards (12 March 1947 – 13 July 2019) was a British politician. He was a
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
before joining UKIP in 2013. He was the Conservative
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Clwyd North West, in Wales, from 1992 to 1997, when he lost his seat in the
Labour Party landslide. He was also the first Leader of the
Welsh Conservatives
The Welsh Conservatives ( cy, Ceidwadwyr Cymreig) is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At Westminster elections, it is the second most popular political party in Wales, having obtained the second-large ...
in 1999, after being elected as an
Assembly Member Assembly Member or AM may refer to:
* A Member of the London Assembly (2000–pres.)
*A Member of the Tobago House of Assembly (1980–pres.)
Defunct titles
* A Member of the National Assembly for Wales (1999–2020), now Member of th ...
for
North Wales
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, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
.
Early life
Richards was born in
Llanelli
Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...
to Ivor George Richards and Lizzie Jane Richards (née Evans). Welsh-speaking Richards was educated at
Llandovery College
, image = Llandovery College (geograph 5927072).jpg
, image_size =
, motto = Gwell Dysg Na Golud( here areno riches better than learning)
, established =
, closed =
, type = Independent day and bo ...
and at Swansea University where he gained a first class honours degree in economics and statistics. On 22 September 1969 he began training as a Royal Marines Officer. He failed to complete training and therefore was never commissioned in to the Corps. Contrary to various published CVs he never served in Northern Ireland as a
Royal Marines
The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
officer. He served on the intelligence staff of the
Ministry of Defence
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
, and worked as an economic forecaster.
Richards, at one point, worked for
MI-6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligen ...
Richards first rose to public prominence in the 1980s as a Welsh-language newsreader for
BBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...
.
Political career
UK Parliament
He first tried to enter parliament at the
1987 general election, when he stood unsuccessfully for the
Carmarthen
Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...
seat, giving up his job with the BBC to do so. He was unsuccessful again two years later at
a by-election for the
Vale of Glamorgan
The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol C ...
, again giving up his work as a broadcaster, but at the
1992 general election he was elected as MP for the former parliamentary seat of Clwyd North West. During
John Major
Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...
's government he was appointed
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
in the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...
in 1993 and
Welsh Office
The Welsh Office ( cy, Swyddfa Gymreig) was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State f ...
junior minister in 1994, but was forced to resign in 1996 when news of an extra-marital affair surfaced.
He made several attempted Parliamentary comebacks, but failed to secure the nomination for
Clwyd West ahead of the
May 2001 general election, and was reported to be looking at several 'safe' conservative seats in England.
National Assembly for Wales
Although defeated in his constituency seat during the first
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 ...
elections in 1999, he was elected to the new body as lead candidate on the Conservatives' regional top-up list. He was elected the Welsh Conservative Party Leader in a ballot of Welsh party members defeating
Nick Bourne
Nicholas Henry Bourne, Baron Bourne of Aberystwyth (born 1 January 1952) is a Conservative Party politician who served as Leader of the Welsh Conservative Party and Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales from August 1999 until May 2011.
...
,
who was then widely known in the media to be
William Hague
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
's first choice for the job. Richards stood down as leader after he was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on a young woman.
Bourne was then appointed leader by Hague. Richards was cleared of assault in June 2000.
Richards had the party whip withdrawn from him following his decision to abstain rather than vote with his fellow Conservatives against the Assembly's budget at the end of 1999. He continued to sit in the Assembly, as an 'Independent Conservative' until September 2002 when he resigned as an
Assembly Member Assembly Member or AM may refer to:
* A Member of the London Assembly (2000–pres.)
*A Member of the Tobago House of Assembly (1980–pres.)
Defunct titles
* A Member of the National Assembly for Wales (1999–2020), now Member of th ...
(AM) due to problems with alcohol.
Richards and his successor,
Nick Bourne
Nicholas Henry Bourne, Baron Bourne of Aberystwyth (born 1 January 1952) is a Conservative Party politician who served as Leader of the Welsh Conservative Party and Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales from August 1999 until May 2011.
...
were known for hating one another. In one interview, Richards said he would consider opposing Bourne if the latter stood for Police Commissioner. When Bourne lost his seat in the
2011 Assembly election, Rod Richards was quoted in the Western Mail saying, "It has been a great week, bin Laden on Sunday Bourne on Friday." Osama bin Laden had been killed by American special forces in the days before polling day.
Once Bourne had been appointed party leader by William Hague, he refused to give Richards a portfolio in his 25 August reshuffle, leaving him as the only Welsh Conservative backbencher.
Richards stated, "We are perfectly happy to continue to promote the Welsh language. But we will not discriminate against those Welsh people who don't speak Welsh, or indeed anyone else who comes to live in Wales"; and, on Plaid Cymru, "They are an anti-British party. They reject everything that is British: our history, our values, our great achievements, our language, indeed the very existence of our British family. ... They want Wales out of the United Kingdom and into a federal European state. They want separation from England so that Wales can be ruled by Brussels."
Defection to UKIP
In July 2013, Richards defected 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 p ...
, after becoming "disillusioned with mainstream parties". He refused to be drawn on whether he wanted to seek UKIP's candidacy in the 2014 European Parliament election. Its then current MEP for Wales,
John Bufton
John Andreas Bufton (born 31 August 1962 in Llanidloes) is a former UK Independence Party (UKIP) Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales, from 2009 to 2014, when he stood down.
Early life
Bufton was educated at Elan Village Primary Sc ...
, stood down in June 2014, being replaced by
Nathan Gill
Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British politician, who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 2014 to J ...
.
Personal life
Richards was married to a psychologist, Liz, until their divorce, after revelations in June 1996 of his extra-marital affair. The couple had three children.
In 1999, while Welsh Conservative leader, Richards was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on a young woman but was acquitted after trial.
At the
High Court in London in February 2003, Richards was declared
bankrupt
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...
with debts estimated at more than £300,000, which he linked to alcoholism.
It was reported on 17 April 2008 that Richards had been arrested in connection with an alleged assault on a Conservative party worker. He was later released after receiving a caution from police. Richards became angry when the councillor, who was canvassing door-to-door, told him he hadn't been sent promotional literature as he was already listed as a prominent party member. When later asked about the incident, Richards said that he gave the young councillor, who was "half his age and twice his size", a "clip around the ear" for "being cheeky". He attributed the incident to lack of sleep.
He died of cancer on 13 July 2019 at the age of 72.
References
Offices held
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Rod
1947 births
2019 deaths
Leaders of political parties in Wales
Conservative Party members of the Senedd
Independent members of the Senedd
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies
People from Llanelli
UK MPs 1992–1997
Wales AMs 1999–2003
People educated at Llandovery College
Alumni of Swansea University
Royal Marines officers
Alumni of Aberystwyth University
UK Independence Party politicians
Welsh-speaking politicians
Deaths from cancer in Wales