For a significant period of its electoral history, the Conservative Party in Wales was not one unified institution, instead several associations of the wider UK wide Conservative Party. A great deal of their success in the late 19th and early 20th centuries came from
borough constituencies which were largely enclaves of English voters within Wales. For much of their history, they were dominated by the party in England, even to the extent of supplying the Welsh Secretaries of State. It was after the establishment of the Assembly in 1999, which their members largely opposed, that they became more of a Welsh-orientated party. Their first leader, the former
Welsh Office Minister
Rod Richards, showed a combative style of politics against the Labour government. However Richards resigned shortly after the Assembly had become established in response to allegations of an assault, of which he was later cleared.
Nick Bourne, a law professor and former leader of the No campaign in the Welsh Assembly referendum, then became the leader, in an unopposed election. From 1999 to 2007, the party remained firmly in opposition in Wales, opposed to forming an alliance with other political parties. This changed after the indecisive
2007 election, when the Welsh Conservatives were briefly involved in coalition talks on a "rainbow coalition" with the
Welsh Liberal Democrats and
Plaid Cymru, which collapsed after the Liberal Democrats backed out. Plaid Cymru ruled itself out of joining the Conservatives in a coalition on an ideological basis. Plaid Cymru and
Labour eventually formed the government under the terms of their
One Wales agreement. As a result of the agreement, the Conservatives, the largest opposition party, became the Official Opposition in the Welsh Assembly. In the otherwise mainly successful Welsh Assembly elections of 2011, the long serving Welsh Conservative leader,
Nicholas Bourne (2000–2011) lost his regional list seat in Mid and West Wales. This was because the party secured a significant number of constituency seats, meaning they were not assigned any regional list seats. He had been the longest serving of the party political leaders in the Welsh Assembly. The Preseli Pembrokeshire Assembly Member
Paul Davies then became the Interim Leader whilst an election took place. The contest was between
Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central) and
Nick Ramsay (Monmouthshire). Andrew RT Davies won with some 53.1 per cent of the vote on a 49 per cent turnout of the party's Welsh membership. Also in the post-May 2011 Welsh Assembly elections period,
David Melding (South Wales Central) was elected as the Deputy Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly, the first time a Conservative had held this post. At the
2021 Senedd election, the Welsh Conservatives won eight constituency seats, taking
Vale of Clwyd from
Welsh Labour and
Brecon and Radnorshire from the
Welsh Liberal Democrats and 26.1 per cent of the constituency vote across Wales, their best constituency seats results since creation of the Senedd in 1999. In the
2022 Welsh local elections, the Conservatives lost half their councillors across Wales and lost control of
Monmouthshire County Council. The Welsh Conservatives have suffered from historically low polling ahead of the
next Senedd election. == Leadership ==