Russell Ian George (born 27 April 1974) is a Welsh politician who has been the

Member of the Senedd A member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; ; , plural: ) is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituency, Senedd constituencies, a ...

(MS) for

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

since the 2011 election. He formerly sat as a member of the Welsh Conservative Party, but now sits as an independent, after being suspended from the Conservative party pending trial for serious gambling offences.

Background

Russell was born in

Welshpool Welshpool ( ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales, historically in the Historic counties of Wales, county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn. The c ...

and brought up in

. He attended

Birmingham City University Birmingham City University (abbrev. BCU) is a university in Birmingham, England. Initially established as the Birmingham College of Art with roots dating back to 1843, it was designated as a polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic in 1971 an ...

, achieving a BA in Information and Media Studies, and has lived in Montgomeryshire all his life. He owns a home entertainment business in Newtown called Fuze.

Political career

Powys County Council

In 2008 Russell was elected to

Powys County Council Powys County Council () is the local authority for Powys, one of the 22 principal areas of Wales. The council is based at County Hall in Llandrindod Wells. History The county of Powys was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act ...

to represent the Newtown Central ward. Following this, he was elected by the County Councils’ Welsh Conservative group to be one of its representatives on the council's executive management board a position he held until 2011. He stood down as a Councillor in 2017.

Senedd

Russell was elected to represent

in the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

(later Senedd) at the

2011 National Assembly for Wales election The 2011 National Assembly for Wales election was an election for the Senedd, National Assembly. The poll was held on 5 May 2011 and decided the incumbency for all the Assembly's seats. It was the fourth election for seats in the National Assemb ...

. He was elected with a majority of 2,324 votes. He was subsequently re-elected at the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

elections, with increased majorities. Following his election in 2011, Russell was appointed as the Shadow Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development by interim leader of the Welsh Conservatives

Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...

, a role which he retained when Andrew RT Davies took leadership shortly after. In 2014 he was assigned the Agriculture and Natural Resources portfolio. After the 2016 Senedd elections he was appointed Welsh Conservative spokesperson for Economy, transport and sport, and he also chaired the Assembly's Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee. This spokesperson role became a Shadow Ministry in 2017, when the Welsh Conservatives became the largest party, after Mark Reckless rejoined. In 2018, after Paul Davies took over the Welsh Conservative party he was again moved, this time to the Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Business, Economy, and Infrastructure, as well as the Shadow Minister for Mid Wales. He maintained this role until Davies stood down in 2021, after possible violations of Welsh COVID restrictions, at which point Andrew RT Davies returned as leader of the Welsh Conservatives, and reshuffled George back to the Shadow Economy and Transport brief, while maintaining the Mid Wales brief. This role ceased to be a shadow cabinet role in March of 2021, after

Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay (born 10 June 1975) is a British politician who served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Monmouth (Senedd constituency), Monmouth from 2007 to 2021. Originally a member of the Welsh Conservatives, he served as Shadow Minister of F ...

left the Welsh Conservatives, tying the Welsh Tories and

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

for seat totals, meaning there was no official opposition. After the 2021 election, George was again moved, this time to be Shadow Minister for Health. He left this post in April 2024, being briefly re-appointed as Shadow Minister for Mid Wales, before leaving this post in June 2024, pending an investigation by the Gambling Commission. George had been selected as the Conservative candidate for the Gwynedd Maldwyn constituency, but following being charged by the Gambling Commission, announced he would not contest the seat, and would leave the Senedd at the 2026 elections.

Gambling Commission Investigation

During the

2024 United Kingdom general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a lan ...

the UK Gambling Commission Investigation into possible illegal betting on the date of the election informed George he was under investigation. Leader of the Welsh Conservative Party Andrew RT Davies said George was "standing back" from the Shadow Cabinet in the Senedd pending the outcome of the investigation. On 14 April 2025, George along with his former parliamentarian colleague Craig Williams were charged with offences under the Gambling Act 2005 and are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday 13 June 2025. He has also been suspended from the

Welsh Conservatives The Welsh Conservatives (), also known as the Welsh Conservative Party (), is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At United Kingdom general elections, Westminster elections, it is ...

, and announced he would no longer be standing for re-election following the charges.

References

Footnotes

External links

Russell George
''Official website''
Senedd
''Profile on Senedd website''

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Russell 1974 births Living people People from Welshpool Conservative Party members of the Senedd Councillors in Wales Members of Powys County Council Wales AMs 2011–2016 Wales MSs 2016–2021 Wales MSs 2021–2026 Alumni of Birmingham City University