David Davies (Welsh Politician) - Political Career

Political Career

He unsuccessfully contested the safe Labour seat of Bridgend at the 1997 general election but finished in second place some 15,248 votes behind the sitting Labour MP Win Griffiths. As an opponent of the Welsh assembly who helped to set up the 'No' campaign in the devolution referendum, Davies gained a higher profile and was selected as Conservative candidate for Monmouth. At the inaugural 1999 Welsh Assembly Election he won election to the National Assembly for Wales there.

He was elected at the 2005 general election as member of the House of Commons for Monmouth, the same seat he holds in the Welsh Assembly. He defeated the sitting Labour MP Huw Edwards by 4,527 votes, and remains the MP for the constituency. On 18 May 2005 he made his maiden speech as an MP, using it to give a history of his constituency from Geoffrey of Monmouth forwards. In parliament he joined the Welsh Affairs Select Committee on his election.

Davies is President of the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association

As his name sounds the same as David Davis, a candidate in the 2005 Conservative leadership contest, confusion could occur between the two in Westminster. Therefore, David Davies is referred to in the House of Commons in Westminster as David T.C. Davies. This has caused opposition MPs to refer to him in jest as Top Cat, a cartoon character who shares the same initials, T.C.. This confusion may have led to a mistake when the National Black Police Association invited Davies to speak at a conference in 2008; some sources suggest they this was a mistake and that they meant to invite his more prominent near-namesake, although the NBPA spokesman said that Davies had been invited because of his role on the Commons home affairs committee. The Monmouth MP attracted criticism with a speech condemning the NBPA's race-based membership policy. The text of the speech on his website states that Keith Vaz asked him to attend the meeting after Vaz was unable to fulfil the engagement himself.

Davies has said "I support the sentiments of Better Off Out" which campaigns for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.

Davies is sceptical of the theory of man-made global warming, and was criticised in January 2010 for referring to some communities as "having barbaric views on women". He has claimed that the Labour party think he is a Nazi.

Davies, when referring to Active members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban living in this country and not being deported because of concerns about their human rights, said that if something horrible happens to them if they are sent home 'Personally I would have thought that would be a bonus rather than a reason for not sending them back'

During a phone-in during the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2, Davies told a member of the public that she should join the BNP after she suggested it be a requirement for public servants in Wales to understand Welsh. On his web page, he states his opinion 'that people who come to this country should learn English and be expected to work and to fit in with our rules, culture and traditions'.

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