Tom Giffard is a Welsh

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician who has served as

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 the region of South Wales West since

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 ...

Background

Giffard is a second language Welsh speaker. He firstly became a Learning Support Assistant in a Welsh Language primary school. He then went on to complete his studies at

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

, receiving a BA in History and Politics.

Political Career

Upon his graduation, he then went on to work as a Community Liaison Officer within his region of South Wales West before organising campaigns and working with volunteers in both Swansea and Bridgend. Prior to his election as a Member of the Senedd for South Wales West, Tom held the position of Office Manager for Bridgend MP,

Jamie Wallis Katie Wallis (born Jamie Hamilton Wallis, 2 June 1984) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bridgend in Wales for one complete parliamentary term from the 2019 general election until choosing ...

, Britain's first transgender member of Parliament. Giffard was a councillor for

Brackla Brackla () is a large housing estate and community in the east of Bridgend in Bridgend County Borough, Wales. Along with the communities of Bridgend and Coychurch Lower, it makes up the town of Bridgend. At the 2001 census the community of Brac ...

Bridgend County Borough Council Bridgend County Borough Council () is the governing body for Bridgend County Borough, one of the principal areas of Wales. History Bridgend County Borough and its council came into effect from 1 April 1996, following the '' Local Government (W ...

from 2017 to 2022. He worked as the leader of the Conservative group on the council until his election to the Senedd in 2021. He replaced Suzy Davies at the top of the Conservatives' party list for the South Wales West electoral region, as she was not re-selected for the list. He was elected as a Conservative Member of the Senedd for South Wales West in 2021. Shortly after being elected he was appointed as Shadow Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport. He was reshuffled to be Shadow Minister for Education and the Welsh Language in April 2024. In June 2023, Giffard read a speech generated with

ChatGPT ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and released on November 30, 2022. It uses large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4o as well as other Multimodal learning, multimodal models to create human-like re ...

in the Senedd, celebrating Wales' win in the World Cup of Darts that year. He said to the BBC that he used it "to show just how advanced the technology is becoming". In July of the same year he was criticised by then

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford (born 19 September 1954) is a Welsh politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Finance since September 2024, having previously held the position from 2016 to 2018. He previously served as First Minister of Wales and L ...

for a 'colonial mentality' when he said that wales is "given £1.20 for every £1 spent in England" on the health service.

References

Living people Conservative Party members of the Senedd Wales MSs 2021–2026 People educated at Ysgol Tre-Gib 1991 births {{Wales-MS-stub