UK Parliament

He first tried to enter parliament at the 1987 general election, when he stood unsuccessfully for the Carmarthen seat, giving up his job with the BBC to do so. He was unsuccessful again two years later at a by-election for the Vale of Glamorgan, again giving up his work as a broadcaster, but at the 1992 general election he was elected as MP for the former parliamentary seat of Clwyd North West. During John Major's government he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1993 and Welsh Office junior minister in 1994, but was forced to resign in 1996 when news of an extra-marital affair surfaced.^[1]

He made several attempted Parliamentary comebacks, but failed to secure the nomination for Clwyd West ahead of the May 2001 general election,^[3] and was reported to be looking at several 'safe' conservative seats in England.^[4]

National Assembly for Wales

Although defeated in his constituency seat during the first Welsh Assembly elections in 1999, he was elected to the new body as lead candidate on the Conservatives' regional top-up list. He was elected the Welsh Conservative Party Leader in a ballot of Welsh party members defeating Nick Bourne,^[1] who was then widely known in the media to be William Hague's first choice for the job. Richards stood down as leader after he was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on a young woman.^[1] Bourne was then appointed leader by Hague. Richards was cleared of assault in June 2000.

Richards had the party whip withdrawn from him following his decision to abstain rather than vote with his fellow Conservatives against the Assembly's budget at the end of 1999. He continued to sit in the Assembly, as an 'Independent Conservative' until September 2002 when he resigned as an Assembly Member (AM) due to problems with alcohol.^[5]

Richards and his successor, Nick Bourne were known for hating one another. In one interview, Richards said he would consider opposing Bourne if the latter stood for Police Commissioner.^[6] When Bourne lost his seat in the 2011 Assembly election, Rod Richards was quoted in the Western Mail saying, "It has been a great week, bin Laden on Sunday Bourne on Friday." Osama bin Laden had been killed by American special forces in the days before polling day.^[7]

Once Bourne had been appointed party leader by William Hague, he refused to give Richards a portfolio in his 25 August reshuffle, leaving him as the only Welsh Conservative backbencher.^[8] Richards stated, "We are perfectly happy to continue to promote the Welsh language. But we will not discriminate against those Welsh people who don't speak Welsh, or indeed anyone else who comes to live in Wales"; and, on Plaid Cymru, "They are an anti-British party. They reject everything that is British: our history, our values, our great achievements, our language, indeed the very existence of our British family. ... They want Wales out of the United Kingdom and into a federal European state. They want separation from England so that Wales can be ruled by Brussels."^[2]

Defection to UKIP

In July 2013, Richards defected to UKIP, after becoming "disillusioned with mainstream parties". He refused to be drawn on whether he wanted to seek UKIP's candidacy in the 2014 European Parliament election. Its then current MEP for Wales, John Bufton, stood down in June 2014, being replaced by Nathan Gill.^[7][9]