Andrew RT Davies: Senedd Tory leader must go, says ex-Boris Johnson aide

“I’ll be blunt and say that I think the Welsh Conservative Party in the Senedd needs new leadership, a sense of purpose and a real sense of ambition about why they’re there,” Mr Harri told the programme.

“They’re not there to draw a pay cheque, they’re there to offer an alternative to what has so far been a one party state for the whole period of devolution.”

He observed that the first “big test” for the new UK Tory leader, due to be named in November, would be elections to the Senedd and Scottish Parliament in 2026.

Mr Harri said he hoped the six leadership contenders would focus “very sharply” on this reality “over the next few weeks”.

Last month Mr Davies said he did not feel his position was under threat, after criticism of his remarks on halal meat and inappropriate language from one of his Senedd members.

He had also been criticised by one of his predecessors, Lord Nick Bourne, for a social media post in which he asked whether the Senedd should be abolished.

Mr Davies said he had simply been seeking to engage with the public at an agricultural show, and also clarified that abolishing the Welsh Parliament was neither his nor his party’s position.

At the time some Tory Senedd members privately expressed concerns about Mr Davies’s social media posts.

One said they were increasingly “difficult to defend” and that if things continued as they were his position would be “untenable”.