Lt-Gen Jonathon Riley to stand for UKIP in Mid & West Wales

Lieutenant General Jonathon Riley late of the Royal Welch Fusiliers has been announced as UKIP’s top candidate for Mid & West Wales for the Senedd Election.  

Lt-Gen Riley and Howard Lillyman, a former skilled tradesman in the car industry and latterly employed in Oxford University’s Chemistry Department, top the list for the Mid & Wales Region. They are joined by Pembrokeshire County Councillor, Paul Dowson, and Ken Rees in fourth on the regional list.  

General Riley served in the British Army for 40 years, including multiple tours of active service in Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan. During these years he commanded the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers from 1994 to 1996 and was later Colonel of the Regiment. He has lived in the area for the last 17 years. 

Commenting on the announcement today, Jonathon Riley said: 

“I am delighted to be selected as the UKIP candidate for Mid & West Wales for the Senedd Election. Wales has so much to offer Britain and the world, but it is held back by a distant and unaccountable political class in Cardiff Bay, some of whom have lived off the taxpayer’s purse since the Senedd’s creation in 1999.  

“During my 40 years in the British Army, I was proud to serve alongside men and women who were committed to this country. They believed in Britain. They believed in, and fought for, liberty. The same cannot be said for our politicians in Westminster and, in particular, the Senedd.  

“Senedd politicians, through lack of real conviction themselves, side with those who have a deep loathing for our country and the freedoms it represents. When the Senedd knelt in solidarity with the self-proclaimed Marxist group, Black Lives Matter, UKIP remained standing.  

“Ordinary patriotic Brits are sick of careerist politicians who sniff the direction of the political wind before saying anything. They are sick of being preached at by an out of touch mainstream media, which simply repeats the establishment narrative. They are sick of being ordered to stay locked down at home, unable to see their families, run their businesses or simply go about their normal lives, while BLM protestors are free to roam our cities and vandalise the Cenotaph.   

“It is time for a reality check. A vote for UKIP is a vote to look again at whether we need the Senedd, to end homelessness, especially among veterans, by 2025, to defend Welsh heritage from cultural vandals and restore our precious and hard-won liberties, stolen by Welsh Labour’s relentless lockdowns. People, not politicians, must take back control of our lives – for the sake of liberties, our families and our livelihoods.