Brexit Party AM declares Masonic membership
Posted by admin978 on May 11, 2020 · Leave a Comment
David Rowlands
David Rowlands, a Brexit Party member of the Welsh Assembly (now officially known as the Senedd), and Robin Swann, former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and now a Stormont MLA and Health Minister of Northern Ireland, are the only two parliamentarians in the UK to declare their membership of Freemasonry.
The new grand secretary of the United Grand Lodge of England has recently given numerous press interviews, indicating plans “to take the organisation into the 21st century”.
On its inception the Welsh Assembly not only insisted that members had to declare any Masonic affiliation – they even made it a criminal offence to fail to do so.
A senior Welsh Freemason complained at the time: “We had the ridiculous situation that, as a freemason, if I wanted to become an AM, I would have to declare my membership. But a member of the Ku Klux Klan or Meibion Glyndwr would be all right.”
The original regulations were changed after a Human Rights Act challenge, and failure to comply is no longer a criminal offence, but the Welsh Assembly (unlike the House of Commons) still requires members to register membership of any “private societies”.
David Rowlands was elected for UKIP in 2016 as an Assembly member for South Wales East: he later defected to the Brexit Party.
Robin Swann was leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2017 to 2019 and is MLA for Antrim North. He is the only Stormont member to declare himself a Freemason and is a prominent member of the Orange Order and Royal Black Preceptory.
