Who is Reform UK's Welsh leader Dan Thomas?

Dan Thomas has suddenly burst onto the political scene in Wales, after being chosen by Nigel Farage as Reform UK's Welsh leader at the Senedd election.

Opinion polls have consistently indicated Reform is on track to win large numbers of seats on 7 May, and this is the party's candidate to be Wales's next first minister in just three months' time.

We will be seeing a lot of Thomas between now and 7 May - he will be the face of the party in television debates, interviews and so on.

In his first appearance as leader at a Reform rally in Newport with Farage, Thomas said he was originally from Blackwood - "born and raised in the Welsh valleys, where my family lived for generations".

Both his grandfather and great grandfather were miners, he said, and he had "fond memories" of growing up in Wales - but left when he became an adult because "good opportunities" there were "few and far between".

He worked in financial services in London and became a councillor, and later Conservative leader, at Barnet council in the north of the capital.

During this time Thomas stood for the Conservatives in the Islwyn constituency at the 2010 and 2017 general elections, coming second to Labour's Chris Evans on both occasions.

Thomas then led Barnet council from 2019 to 2022, eventually becoming opposition leader after Labour won the local election there until May 2024.

In June 2025 Thomas defected from the Conservatives to Reform, and at the end of the year resigned from the council.

Local media quoted him saying he moved away from Barnet so that he and his wife could raise their young sons in the countryside and live closer to their families in south Wales.

At the Reform rally, Thomas said: "After 27 years, I'm back home raising two young boys in the Valleys so they can enjoy the same beautiful Welsh countryside that I played in as a child.

"I've come back to where I belong."

Asked on Thursday how in touch he was with events in Wales, Thomas said he had "kept abreast of Welsh politics", had family and friends in Wales and was "very informed" about the country's political scene.

Explaining why he chose Thomas, Farage called him "decent" and "respectable".

"He tells a story of someone who had to go away and loves Wales so much he wants his own children to grow up in a similar environment to what he grew up in."

But he said that "above all, I picked him because he is battle hardened and he has been in the front line before of running budgets and many other things".

Farage enjoyed announcing his surprise choice to head Reform as its Senedd election campaign gathers pace.

He will be hoping the party's new Welsh leader will give Reform extra potency as it seeks to pull off a far bigger surprise on 7 May.

In February, BBC Wales is holding a live debate in Aberystwyth with a panel of politicians ahead of the Senedd election. Click below to apply to be in the audience.