يحاول ذهب - حر

How a leisure centre and a lads’ holiday led me to Nigel Farage

October 16, 2025

|

Western Mail

YOUR lads’ holiday to Magaluf being cut short because you worked too much overtime is an unusual reason to enter politics.

- JONATHAN MYERS

In fact of all the people I’ve ever asked how they've ended up in politics, it’s the first time that someone has ever told me it was because of an EU working directive.

‘The story, as Reform UK’s candidate in the Caerphilly by election Llyr Powell tells it, is that after leaving school at 16 he was working in Pontardawe leisure centre doing a range of jobs - from setting up the gyms for classes to parties and cleaning.

Around the time he turned 18 he wanted to go on his first holiday with friends to Magaluf and asked to work extra hours. By doing so, he not only caused issues with the local union and lost the shifts he needed but HMRC contacted him and said he would get the money back for that holiday the following April - long after the summer sun had been and gone.

“That made me a bit curious and I started looking into different politics and then I saw a chap on YouTube who I thought was hilarious!” said Mr Powell, who polls suggest is now one of the front runners to win the by-election on October 23, a week today.

“Sometimes he liked to throw a few comments around at the EU and questioned different things. He was talking about tax levels and it really intrigued me. So I went to see him live in the Liberty Stadium in Swansea and that man was Nigel Farage.”

At that point Mr Farage, now an MP, was campaigning for the 2014 European elections.

Fast forward 11 years and the pair’s journey remains intertwined. Now Mr Powell hopes to become the next Senedd member for Caerphilly and, in turn, the first elected Senedd politician for Mr Farage’s Reform UK.

He admits he wasn’t politically minded before that Swansea event and he is the first in his family to go into politics since his great-grandfather knocked on doors for Labour.

المزيد من القصص من Western Mail

Western Mail

Western Mail

Wilson future unclear as Silva looks to keep on-song Wales star

MARCO Silva hailed Harry Wilson as being in the form of his life - but admitted he could not guarantee his Fulham future - after the Wales international continued his superb run of form by inspiring an FA Cup comeback victory.

time to read

1 min

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

TOMMY GUNS FOR WALES SIX NATIONS SPOT

TOMMY

time to read

1 min

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

Man admits killing woman found lying between cars

A MAN has pleaded guilty to murdering a woman who was found dead lying between two cars having suffered \"multiple sharp-force injuries\".

time to read

1 mins

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

Western Mail

Dragons handed home advantage in fourth round

WREXHAM will face Ipswich Town in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

time to read

2 mins

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

Sexualised AI creations are 'weapons of abuse'

SEXUALISED images created by AI chatbot Grok are \"weapons of abuse\", Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has said, as she told MPs that creating non-consensual intimate images will become a criminal offence from this week.

time to read

2 mins

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

Western Mail

Illegal working raids and arrests hit record levels

THE UK Government last year made a record number of arrests with raids on illegal workers in Wales.

time to read

2 mins

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

MAKE TIME FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS TO BOOST WELLBEING

“OUR lives are overcrowded, overexcited, over-strained...

time to read

2 mins

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

Man who tried to stab his grandmother and neighbour to death jailed for 25 years

A MAN tried to stab two women to death during an horrific incident at his grandmother's house, a court has heard.

time to read

4 mins

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

Western Mail

US woman missing in UK 'likely' to be in Cardiff

AN AMERICAN woman who has been missing for months is likely to be in Cardiff, police have said.

time to read

1 min

January 13, 2026

Western Mail

Western Mail

Wife leads moving tributes to 'gentle giant' of Welsh rugby

TRIBUTES have been pouring in for a popular former Wales under-21s rugby player described by friends as a \"gentle giant\".

time to read

2 mins

January 13, 2026

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size