From punk to politics - the making of new Reform Wales leader Helen Jenner

Helen Jenner, the new leader of Reform Wales, got a taster session for the top job on Tuesday, with a confident performance quizzing Plaid Cymru First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth in the Senedd.

The Bangor Conwy Môn MS took over after her predecessor Dan Thomas quit as leader following an arrest on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour.

As an ex-teacher, Jenner reckons she has no fears appearing before politicians in Cardiff Bay.

Over the summer she told the BBC Walescast podcast it was "nothing compared to year 11 last lesson on a Friday".

"You can't get a more discerning audience than a class of teenagers," she said.

There's a smattering of showbiz glitz in Jenner's background.

She taught English at the Brit School for the performing arts in south London, where Adele and Amy Winehouse studied.

Her pupils included Britain's Got Talent semi-finalist Harrison Pettman.

Reform not suspending former leader arrested on suspicion of assault, says chief whip

Reform defector reveals she voted Remain in Brexit vote and wants Welsh independence

Born in Neath, where her mother is from, Jenner moved to Anglesey aged two where she learned Welsh at school.

She studied English literature at Bangor University.

With bright, pink hair, she was more focused on singing in a "very punk, rocky type" band called The Mephs, short for Mephistophelean Engines of Pleasure.

It is not, one suspects, the sort of name dreamt up by someone planning a future career in Welsh politics. Indeed, she says politics was not something she was into then.

"My dad banging on about the European Union constantly," she said.

Her father, who's from Liverpool, had joined UKIP. Then Jenner saw Nigel Farage on television.

"It was seeing him, and then watching his YouTube clips in the European Parliament and everything: I've never seen anybody so animated," said Jenner.

"I felt he was really principled and I suddenly thought 'oh, I actually care about politics now'."

She became a fellow UKIP member and stood for Nigel Farage's next party, the Brexit Party at the 2019 UK general election.

Married with two children, Jenner describes herself as a "proud British person" but "first and foremost" a "very proud Welsh person".

Reform is by far the biggest opposition party Cardiff Bay has seen, albeit with its seat tally dropping to 33 after a defection to Plaid Cymru last week.

After a tumultuous week for Reform, Jenner's first job is damage limitation.

Her second, longer-term task, is convincing Welsh voters that Reform is more than Nigel Farage's party in Wales and has the makings of the next Welsh government.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac buy Wrexham football pub

Helen Jenner unveiled by Nigel Farage as new leader of Reform in Wales

Illegal off-road vehicles to be seized on the spot as police warn of 'long walk home'