"It's been challenging but we've come through it," said Reform's chief whip in the Senedd, Llŷr Powell, as he reflected on the past seven days. The week began with the party's leader in Wales being arrested on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour. Dan Thomas said he had been "released without charge" and had "done nothing wrong".
Confirmation of his arrest was swiftly followed by news of a Reform Senedd member's defection to Plaid Cymru. This is the story of how that "challenging" week unfolded. Politician who switched from Reform to Plaid 'lied about her beliefs', says Richard Tice Last Sunday morning, Thomas was at the BBC's offices in Cardiff to appear as a guest on the Politics Wales programme.
Later that day, he was arrested before being released on bail. Journalists got wind of the arrest on Monday evening, which is also when senior Reform figures in Wales began to find out. A few people at Reform HQ in London, including Nigel Farage, had already been told.
On Tuesday morning, Reform Members of the Senedd (MSs) gathered for their weekly group meeting. With the "rumour mill going wild" there was "confusion" within the group. Dan Thomas was not present, and the MSs were not given the full picture, but they were warned that the party faced "a tough few days".
It was soon announced that Thomas would not take his usual spot in the chamber for First Minister's Questions and would be replaced by his deputy, Helen Jenner. At that point Reform said his absence was due to "personal reasons". But as time went on it became clear that the story was about to break.
A legal letter sent to media organisations by a Reform barrister would not be enough to block the reporting of Thomas's arrest. BBC Wales and others had secured confirmation that Thomas had been arrested and so the party needed to act. That's when Thomas sent a WhatsApp message to his party's MSs explaining the situation.
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