Shadow home secretary Chris Philp failed to name the leader of the Welsh Conservatives despite being asked five times to do so during an interview.
The MP for Croydon South was answering questions from Christopher Hope, the political editor of GB News, on Sunday morning.
Mr Philp said the Conservative Party “fought” hard for votes in the Caerphilly by-election on Thursday, which saw Plaid Cymru sweep 47% of the vote and Reform UK take second place with 36%.
Welsh Labour’s candidate took 11% of the vote while the Welsh Conservatives received just 2%.
Mr Hope asked for Mr Philp’s reaction on the result, adding “do you know who your Welsh leader is in Wales?”
“We have obviously fought that by-election hard, disappointing result for the main parties – Plaid Cymru obviously won that and Reform did pretty well,” Mr Philp replied.
“We had a disappointing night because I think we’re still in a process of recovery and of renewal, and we’re going to keep working hard at that up and down the country.”
He described the Conservative Party conference as a “turning point”, with a number of new policies announced including leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (EHCR).
Mr Hope asked for the name of the leader of the Welsh Conservatives a further four times during the interview.
After the fourth time, Mr Hope told Mr Philp: “If you don’t know, you can say – who is the leader of the Welsh Tories?”
He then asked a fifth time, repeating: “If you don’t know, you can say, it’s totally fine”.
Mr Philp replied: “We’ve got a relatively new leader and I’m afraid, I’m afraid, I’m afraid the name escapes me.”
Mr Hope said: “He’s called Darren Millar and that does matter because the party is disappearing rapidly into the sand of a Welsh beach.”
Mr Millar, the Clwyd West MS, was elected as leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd in December last year.
He was first elected to the Welsh Parliament in May 2007 and re-elected in 2011, 2016 and 2021.
