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All nine members of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales Five votes needed to win | ||||||||||
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The 1999 Welsh Conservatives leadership election was held in August 1999 to elect the leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly for Wales. The election was triggered by the resignation of Rod Richards after the Welsh Conservative Party failed to endorse his appointment of David TC Davies as acting leader after Richards was charged for inflicting grievous bodily harm, which he was later cleared of in 2000. Nick Bourne, who the party had appointed as acting leader in Davies' place, was elected unopposed as the new leader of the Welsh Conservative Group in the National Assembly as the only candidate nominated for the leadership by group members.
Richards, seen as the more radical candidate, had defeated Bourne, seen as the more moderate candidate, at the previous leadership election in 1998. After Richards was charged for inflicting grievous bodily harm in August 1999, he stood down temporarily as leader and appointed Davies, who was seen as his protégé, as acting leader on 5 August. This appointment was overruled by a meeting of senior party figures with the other, more moderate group members on 10 August, with Bourne elected as acting leader of the group in Davies' place. Richards then resigned permanently, with Bourne elected unopposed as the new leader on 18 August. As leader, he moved the Welsh Conservative Party in a more moderate direction, changing its stance to accept devolution and developing a distinctly Welsh approach for the party. The next leadership election would be held in 2011 after he lost his seat at the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election. His successor Andrew RT Davies continued his strategy of making the party more supportive of devolution but also adopted a more populist approach as leader.
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