The former Tory MP Neil Hamilton has been ousted as leader of the Ukip group at the Welsh assembly after an often controversial two years at the helm.
Hamilton was chosen as leader in 2016 when Ukip made eye-catching gains at the assembly elections, winning seven seats. He promised to use his experience as a minister in Westminster to give Ukip maximum impact at the assembly and shake up the Senedd, the assembly building on Cardiff Bay.
In recent weeks, tension has grown in the group after Ukip AM Michelle Brown was excluded from the Welsh assembly without pay for a week over a racial slur she made against a Labour MP.
Hamilton resisted the suspension, accusing assembly members of trying to police each other’s private lives, and he called on Labour to root out racists and antisemites in its own party.
Hamilton is replaced by Caroline Jones, an assembly member for south-west Wales.
Jones said the change of leader had followed a democratic vote in the group: “We intend to be a cohesive team and all members of the group are welcome to remain. As always, the group will be focusing on the issues affecting Wales.
“We are part of Ukip as a party and intend to continue to build our membership in Wales and support the people who elected us.”
Soon after taking over, Hamilton caused headlines by backing the Plaid Cymru leader, Leanne Wood, as candidate for first minister when Labour did not win a majority at the election. An unprecedented deadlock followed until talks between Plaid and Labour led to the latter forming a government.
Hamilton was back in the headlines again when he called Wood and Liberal Democrat AM Kirsty Williams “political concubines” in the first minister’s harem.
More recently, he has fiercely criticised the first minister over his handling of the case of former minister Carl Sargeant, who killed himself after being sacked.
While a Tory MP, Hamilton faced allegations that he took cash for asking parliamentary questions, which he has always denied.
He was born near Blackwood in south Wales, but was MP for Tatton in Cheshire from 1983 to 1997 and his Welsh credentials have been questioned. In an impromptu quiz on the BBC, he did not know that the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers come from Blackwood.
