Rhodri Gets Tough

So finally, at long last, after 8 years and one month into his job, Rhodri Morgan grows some cahoones. In an essay he wrote for a new book on Welsh politics the First Minister finally bites back at a few parts of the Labour Party that he has usually lain down before.

Firstly he launches a pretty damning critic of the Blair and Brown legacy. He ridicules Brown's attempts to convince us all that being British means tolerance and decency by pointing to New Labour's record of:

"bulging prisons, record incarceration of children, fortress-like asylum policies, and a progressive erosion of the distinction between ‘anti-social’ behaviour (where solutions ought to be sought primarily through social policy)and criminal conduct (which falls to be dealt with by the criminal justice system) provides an uncertain background of evidence.”

Damning stuff. He also criticises the attack on Iraq, something which he embarrassingly refused to do a few years back (when it actually mattered). But Rhodri isn't finished yet, he then turns to his own Welsh party.

Echoing views that Eluned Morgan and Carwyn Jones said in February's Welsh Labour Conference (but which they later backtracked on in the Western Mail letter page) Rhodri states that a big reason for Labour's collapse in West Wales (they do not hold an Assembly seat West of Swansea) was their public image of being anti-Welsh language. While Rhodri is careful enough to state that he doesn't believe his party is anti-Welsh language his admission that:

"it would be foolish to deny that, from time to time, strands in the party have acted in ways which have given it credibility"

is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Strands in the party? Now I wonder who he could possibly be talking about there?

It's very interesting to see Rhodri's admission that the Tories have managed to reposition themselves in front of Labour in the "pro-Welsh language" front. This would have been unimaginable only a few years ago, but there's no doubt that Welsh-speakers now feel that Labour is the party who opposes their quest for more rights not the Tories.

There are two reasons for this; yes the Tories, in the Assembly at least, have repositioned themselves well to the fore of Labour on this issue and, as Welsh-speaking Tories will always be quick to remind you, it was the Tories that (eventually) gave us the Welsh Language Act and S4C.

Perhaps more importantly though, they only have 3 Welsh MP's at the moment. So while Labour's numerous MP's lash out at the Welsh language from London, their Tory counterparts don't get much publicity when they do the same. So while the Tories in the Assembly have managed to redeem themselves to some extent, their MP's haven't - they're just being ignored. When, as is likely, the Tories find themselves with many additional Welsh MP's come the next election, it will be interesting to see if we'll still be thinking of them as pro-Welsh language?

So with the looming Cardiff v Westminster fight is about to begin over the Welsh Language LCO (believe me, the Housing LCO bickering is merely an undercard compared to the mess that the next one could cause) Rhodri has drawn a pretty big line in the sand. The question is what side of that line will the reminder of his party stand?

The Forgotten Earthquake

In all the hype and excitement of the American elections, even over here, we all seemed to have forgotten that the Glenrothes election is today. The count has started and the word that's spreading is that the SNP will turn the Labour 10,000 majority to a 1,000 majority of their own.

Labour are already trying to turn such a result into a "win", saying that the defeat would have been much worse a few months ago. Sorry but I can't buy that. While they may well have lost by a large amount a few months ago, losing a 10,000 majority is nothing close to a win, it's embarrassing.

Who knows though, the count is still young, Labour may well keep the seat.

Whichever way the result goes though, it won't have as much effect as we thought when the seat became vacant. This was supposed to be Brown's saviour or executioner. But with all the focus on Barck Obama's victory, Glenrothes has slipped from the front pages and, win or lose, won't have any substantial effect on Brown and Labour's ratngs.

Update: Rumours have now switched to say that Labour may hang on. Brown may well rue his decision to "bury" the poll by having it in the same week as the US election. If they are going to win it Labour could have done with having the by-election dominate the news instead of being ignored for weeks.

Martin, You Forgot Your Pen!

Wales' 40th best blogger (apparently) Martin Eaglestone has resigned as Labour prospective Parliamentary candidate for Arfon.

Martin states personal reasons for his resignation and having lost four elections in a row I guess that kind of thing does get personal. Arfon is, technically, a Labour seat. Although it has a Plaid Cymru sitting MP it's boundaries have been withdrawn to the extent that the seat is considered a very marginal Labour one.

Having been trounced in the first post-boundary change election (Assembly 2007) there was no way Martin Eaglestone was going to "retain" the seat for Labour. So what is Labour's plan? Have they found a heavyweight candidate and therefore forced Martin to step down? (Betty Williams will certainly have some free time come the next election, and she does have roots in the area) or will they now effectively concede the seat and pick an unknown young candidate to "train him up" for the next set of elections?

With Llais Gwynedd winning seats on the Council, do Labour think that their best option is to pick a sacrificial lamb and hope the anti-Plaid coalition called under the Llais Gwynedd banner will unseat Hywel Williams? I Doubt it, if Llais Gwynedd have a chance anywhere (and I don't think that they do mind) it would be Elfyn Llwyd they'd be targeting, not Hywel Williams.

Update: It is now apparent that Martin's decision to step down was, unusually for politics, purely personal. I hope you'll enjoy your life outside of politics Martin.

Wow, Thanks Big G!

So here's those brand spanking new promises made in Brown's big comeback speech, the things that will benefit all of us who have young kids or are old, poor or sick and make us all love Labour again...

1. Free drugs for cancer patients

2. Free universal check ups for over 40's

3. Free broadband vouchers for low-income families

4. Free nursery for 2 year olds

Anyone see the link?

Here's a hint. When Gordon said this:

"In April a Labour Britain will become the first country in the whole world to offer free universal check ups for everyone over 40."

he was very much lying.

The Times thought they'd spotted the link, but still managed to mess it up...

"Free universal check-ups for the over-40s? Extension of nursery places? No prescription charges for cancer patients? A commissioner for victims of crime? More children connected to the internet? All England and Wales only, I'm afraid."

I despair sometimes!

Huw Lewis Leadership Tactics Part 2

After his recent decision to learn Welsh, Huw Lewis has now swung his leadership campaign into Phase 2. He is quoted as saying: “

There won’t be any turning back of the clock. The coalition government is here to stay until 2011 – nobody should be saying or doing anything that might undermine that.”

What has changed the mind of the man who lost his place in Government because of his opposition to the Labour-Plaid pact? Well he'll probably need the support of one or two of those 62% of members who voted for the One Wales and the 96% of Trade Union affiliates who also voted yes!

Scotish Labour's Saviour?

Scottish Labour have chosen their new leader, the Chosen One is Iain Gray. Never heard of him? Me neither! The big question of course is how will he deal with Alex Salmond and will he be able to convince Scottish voters to vote Labour in the next general Election and, more importantly, to vote No if the SNP get their referendum. In both cases he'll have to outmaneuver the SNP and out-wit the media-savy Salmond. Can he do it? Here's Gray's most high profile TV spot to date, I'll let you make your own minds up.

Reality Bites

Wales Office Minister and Labour MP Huw Iranca-Davies gets the award for most bizarre attack of the day after he said this:

"I hope that after the heady nationalistic froth of Plaid Cymru’s conference, Ieuan Wyn will get back to reality. His comments this week have laid bare the soul of Plaid Cymru, and most people in Wales will not like what they have seen, as the nationalists lick their lips over the possibility of a Conservative government in Wales"

This is what Ieuan Wyn Jones said to anger Huw so much:

"The smart money is on probably the Tories winning the next general election, which I think would be bad news for Wales"

So what part of that is devoid of reality? Does Huw believe that the Tories are not odds-on to win the next election, or is he saying that Ieuan Wyn is deluded to think that the Tories winning would be "bad news for Wales"? Answers on a postcard.

Brown Bullied

As the new political season swings into action nothing seems to have changed down at number 10. Yesterday Brown was forced to sack one of his whips, Siobhain McDonagh, after she called for a leadership election. McDonagh would usually be seen as a Brown ally and not one of the "usual suspects" of rebel MP's. Today another government loyalist, Joan Ryan MP, makes the same call.

There needs to be 70 MP's calling for a leadership contest before Labour are duty bound to hold one. The way these calls have been staggered over the two days (with probably more to come over the next few days) it's likely that the contest calling MP's know they haven;t got the numbers yet but are hoping that one-by-one they're setting the ball rolling before Labour's conference.

Will Brown be Labour leader come the next election? I just don't know. Common sense tells me that Labour MP's must know that keeping Brown is like Turkeys voting for Christmas, but something is telling me that a leadership contest just won't happen, not now anyway.

Hat tip to Glyn Davies who commented on Siobhain McDonagh's calls yesterday by saying:

To this observer, it does not look like an isolated act. She's a whip, and they know a bit about tearoom chatter. I expect another grenade to be lobbed into the Brown Bunker tomorrow from behind another unexpected bush.

Well called Glyn!

Note: An anon corrects my spelling of Joan and a third Labour MP, George Howarth, calls for a leadership election.

Bye Betty Bach

Conwy MP Betty "Bach" Williams will retire at the next General Election, which answers one question which has been hanging around for a while. Due to boundary changes some of her previous seat had moved to the new Arfon constituency with the rest in the new Aberconwy constituency. Although both these new seats are nominally Labour, Betty had a big problem in that both are vulnerable come the next election.

Aberconwy, won by Plaid in the Assembly elections, will almost certainly be lost to the Tories and Guto Bebb. Betty would be facing a big struggle to "defend" that seat. She would have a much better chance in the Arfon seat as she is from that area and would get a strong personal vote. Unfortunately for her Martin Eaglestone seems to have a lock on every election that covers Caernarfon, even though he's lost more than anyone dare count! She was therefore left to defend, and probably lose, Aberconwy or to retire. At the age of 64 it's no shock that she chose the latter.

Crackpot Coup

I guess there's no choice but to comment on this story today. According to the Mule senior Labour figures are getting very concerned about the lack of quality candidates for Rhodri's job once he retires. According to one such source:

They all have fundamental weaknesses and would probably not be considered for major promotion if they were members of the UK Parliament.

So what do these unnamed mystery but oh so important figure want to do about it. Apparently their plan is to either give Neath AM Gwenda Thomas a peerage to vacate her seat or convince ill Clwyd South AM Karen Sinclair to retire. They would then parachute in disgraced ex-Secretary of State Peter Hain or MEP Eluned Morgan to those seats so that they can take control of the party.

Hmm...Hands up who thinks this is a cunning plan of Baldrick proportions?

Firstly there's no guarantee that Neath nor Clwyd South would be retained in a by-election. In both seats Labour's majority is less than 2,000 with Plaid Cymru knocking on Neath's door and the Tories on Clwyd South's. While you could argue that having Peter Hain as a candidate would boost their majority (he has 12,000 majority for the parliamentary seat) he would struggle being in the limelight of a by-election so soon after his resignation from the Cabinet. As the Mule's source rightly points out:

In the case of Neath the national press and bloggers would have a field day with Peter Hain.

You bet we would!

Secondly it seems that these so -called "senior sources" assume that if Peter Hain or Eluned Morgan entered the Assembly Labour's AM's would warmly accept them as new leaders. How naive an assumption is that? Do they not see that inserting a "London man/woman" because of an apparent "fundamental weakness" in the current AM's would piss off those AM's enough that they chose their own leader anyway? Do these people not remember Alun Michael's fate? (I'm sure they do, wouldn't be surprised if the ex-First Minister himself was one of the people thinking these thoughts)

Let's be honest though, this is a far-fetched plan probably thought up by one or two deluded fools over in London. It will never happen and the Mule knows that. Why do they even bother printing this stuff?

Alex and Maggie Sitting In a Tree

Scottish Labour is in uproar as Alex Salmond apparently praises Lady Thatcher in Total Politics magazine. With the Scottish First Minister going on radio to insist that he never did such a thing the Labour politicians are crowing:

Labour MSP John Park: The screech of the first minister going into reverse gear can't disguise the own goal he's scored with his praise of Thatcherism. He clearly realised that his off-the-cuff remarks have backfired.

Fellow Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm said: Alex Salmond should hang his head in shame.

So what did Alex Salmond say to put Thatcher on such a pedestal and turn his back on Scottish voters who were hurt by Thatcher?

One of the reasons Scotland didn't take to Lady Thatcher was because of that. We didn't mind the economic side so much. But we didn't like the social side at all.

Yes, massive praise that.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

Pippa posts over at Miss Wagstaff Presents about the story on the BBC and the Mule about the 5% rise in the number of prescriptions dispensed in Wales in the first year since Labour's free prescriptions policy. It seems that Pippa, along with opposition politicians, sees this as an indictment of the policy:

Miss Wagstaff: the Welsh Assembly Gimmick Government's main gimmick - in order to make it stand out from Westminster - isn't quite going to plan.

Lib Dem Jenny Randerson: The cost of this gimmick will be with Welsh patients for generations. While millionaires claim their free paracetamol, the health service will continue to be to stretched to provide life saving services.

Yes yes, good story, at least it is if you ignore the facts. This is the fifth year on the trot that the number of prescriptions rose. In the year before charges were abolished there was a 4% increase (see here). So how on earth is this increase an indictment of the Labour free prescriptions policy when similar increases occurred the previous four years?

Oh and Jenny, "welsh millionaires claim their free paracetamol"? Yeah, right, THAT'S what's eating up the budget!

Sunday Stupids

Two weird stories spotted today. Firstly this one in a Labour party blog. I haven't seen the story anywhere else so all I can give is the Labour slant on it but it seems that a newly elected Plaid Cymru councillor has failed to return his acknowledgment of office back in time and that there will therefore be a second by-election in Pentyrch (a Tory councillor resigned and another one voted in to replace him). Anyone know more about this one? Is the Plaid councillor just plain stupid or is there another reason?

Secondly, after the Post Office agreed a review of the decision to close a Post Office in the Rhymney Valley, Plaid's Andrew Nutt has this wonderful quote from Caerphilly MP Wayne David trying to take the credit:

"This is the stark truth. I only wish the Nationalists would put in half as much effort into fighting for local services as they do in attacking Labour MPs"

Now, let's skip over the fact that Wayne David somehow manages to attack Plaid MP's and criticise them for attacking Labour MP's in the same sentence and remember one thing:

Wayne David voted for the closure of Post Offices, as government whip he actually pressurised others to vote to close Post Offices with him. The Plaid MP's voted against the closures.

Hmm!

Lessons From 1997

I've just re-watched ITV's online highlights of the 1997 referendum result night and a few things struck me. (Warning: Very long and probably boring post. Maybe you should stop reading here!)

Firstly it is important to remember that before the ballot boxes were opened in 1997 everyone assumed that the Yes campaign had won easily. That's what the polls said, that's what the media said and that's what both the Yes and No campaign thought. You won't need my reminder that in truth the result was very close and that until the last two results came in (Gwynedd and Carmarthenshire) the Yes campaign had virtually conceded defeat. This is a lesson that a Yes campaign in a new referendum has to take heed of. While the few polls that we have show support for a Parliament, there is a hell of a lot of work to be done by supporters of devolution if Wales is to say Yes again. Even with every major political party on board the result is far from certain. Back in 1997 only the Tories and a few Labour members supported the No campaign, and this was at a time when the Tories were in tatters remember. One of the leaders of the campaign was a Labour Councillor (Carys something, my memory fails me), not in the least bit well known, not in the least bit charismatic and yet the No campaign came within less than 7,000 votes.

The second question that has to be asked is: Who on earth will run the No campaign this time round? The Electoral Commission gets to decide which No group is to be the "official" one they will be seriously hindered this time round by the fact that there will be no major party to start the campaign. Highlights of the 1997 count gave us Michael Ancram and Nick Bourne (how times have changed!) telling us how bad devolution would be - who will be the criticiser in chief this time round? It seems that the No campaign will have to be lead by Labour Welsh MP's who desperately tried to stop the One Wales Coalition and their Tory counterparts.

Surprisingly perhaps, such a situation may harm the No campaign more than in 1997, when the only MP I remember opposing the plans was Llew Smith (Yes, even Don Touhig was in favour). Back in 1997 there was no AM/MP divide because we didn't have any AM's. How will Welsh voters react to having their MP's on one side and AM's on the other? I can't answer that question but the only guide we currently have is the vote at Labour's Conference when the One Wales Coalition was supported by about 3.5/1 of Labour members, even though the majority of MP's opposed it. While there's no doubt that such a majority would not be repeated in the Tory voters it does show that, at least in Labour, people are more willing to listen to their AM's than MP's (obviously I am generalising here, there will be Labour MP's in support as well).

Another issue that the 1997 result highlighted was that Powys, where both Lib Dem seats were held at the time, voted heavily against the Assembly. While the Lib Dem party supported devolution in 1997 and will do so again in a future referendum, will they be able to carry their voters along this time? Honestly I'm not so sure. While Labour and Plaid have always had a "Welsh" wing in their parties, and the Tories have been working hard to develop one, I can't quite put my finger on the Lib Dems. I wouldn't be too surprised to see the Lib Dem areas, at least in Powys, rejecting further devolution against the wishes of their party.

Obviously, just as in 1997, Plaid would expect to have the unwavering support of their voters for devolution. One interesting sidenote from the 1997 campaign was that Plaid did not immediately voice their support when the referendum was announced. their spin at the time was that they didn't think it was enough and might campaign against it. From what people have said since it seems that this was a conscious ploy by Dafydd Wigley to distance Plaid from the proposals so that they wouldn't "taint" it in the eyes of Labour voters who, in 1979, had seen devolution as Plaid's desire not their own party's. The effect of this can be seen when you review the 1997 count night, there is a thousand and one references, by both sides, to "the government's proposals" and "Labour's plans".

Whatever the result across Wales in a new referendum one place where I would expect a big change is Cardiff. The capital voted overwhelmingly against devolution in 1997 but I cannot see the same happening again. In the last 12 years Cardiff has really grown into its role as the Capital of Wales and I'd be surprised if it voted against again.

One final note: When we talk of the Assembly these days, more specifically about the Labour group, we always plant Huw Lewis and Leighton Andrews together as the "anti-devolution" side who think more like Labour's MP's than AM's. When Huw lewis opposed the Labour-Plaid coalition and then lost his place in Government a lot of people commented on how Leighton had kept quiet even though he surely opposed the coalition. Back in 1997 Leighton Andrews was one of the main organisers of the Yes campaign and was interviewed fro the Yes HQ throughout the night. While his hatred of the Nationalists is well-known, have people been a bit hasty in placing him in the anti-devolution camp?

What Dissalusions You?

I've noted in the past that one of the things that angers me most about politics is the fact that so many politicians devote their time to attacking other parties and scoring petty political points instead of actually debating things that will actually help us.

While welcoming Brother Tecwyn I mentioned Huw Lewis and this had me thinking again about the changes we can expect when Rhodri Morgan retires. There was a lot of talk last year of the Unionist v Devolutionist battle within Labour, with many placing Huw in the former camp along with most MP's, with Carwyn Jones in the latter camp. While Carwyn is odds on to win the prize there's no doubt that Huw Lewis has plenty of support. The consequences of a Carwyn victory is pretty easy to predict - business as usual as Carwyn is very much a Rhodri man. But what if Huw wins? What becomes of the One Wales Government? Can Plaid stay in cahoots with a party led to a man who, rightly or wrongly, is considered to be more of a Don Touhig/Llew Smith character than a Rhodri Morgan type?

This reminded me of a Hansard transcript I came across a while back. It dates back to 2002. While it was 6 years ago the names of those speaking will be familiar to you all - I think I'm correct in saying that all but 2 of them remain MP's. It's of a debate on Racism and Welsh Politics and is led by Llew Smith, Wayne David and Don Touhig. Have a guess how many times they mention racism against black, asian or muslim people and how long they preferred to spend playing party politics? Check it out.

Labour's Welsh Fraud

Was it really just a couple of weeks ago that Welsh Labour launched their "Get Back the Welsh Speaking Vote" crusade? i distinctly remember Rhodri Morgan taking a whistle stop tour of the land the Welshies call home and I'm sure I remember spending an evening reading up on the Cymdeithas Cledwyn (Labour's Welsh Speaking group) report on how Labour could shed their image of being "anti-Welsh".

What better place to try and repair the bridges than the National Eisteddfod - the annual hub of Welsh speakers. If they want to convince us who speak the language that they're listening then surely handing out copies of the Cledwyn report on the Maes would be a great way to start?

Nope, while the Lib Dems, the Tories and Plaid Cymru pitched up their tents our main party of government was nowhere to be seen. Maybe they just forgot to send in the application form, or maybe since the One Wales Government came into power Labour and Plaid have merged and nobody bothered to notice!

Anyway, I'm home from the Eisteddfod and ready to go!

(P.S. Yep, the title to this post is WAY too overcooked, but after a week away I was in the mood to ham things up!)

Scottish Review

So what does today's "off the scale" result in Glasgow East actually mean?

For Labour, there's not much of a debate. It's a disaster, totally unmitigated. There can be no positive spin on it. Is it the death knell of Gordon Brown? Could be, but it will be a very long knell - he's going nowhere until 2010. Although battered and bruised at the moment, Labour aren't stupid. They know that there is no chance in hell that the voters would accept a third Prime Minister in one term. having one "un-elected" Premier hurt them, having another one would be suicide. There's also the fact of course that no-one can think of a credible alternative to Brown.

Which leaves Labour in a bit of a limbo. Brown will plod along until the autumn, the try and regain the initiative in the Autumn. Barring some miracle he'll fight an election as late as possible (2010) and lose. Prime Minister Cameron it will be.

The harder question is what does the result mean for the Union? Most of the newspapers and media have gone out of their way to stress that this was not a vote on independence and in that they are correct. This was a fight on the economy and on governments' records.

What I find harder to agree with however is that this was just another by-election shock, only newsworthy because of the size of the old majority. This election was not a run of the mill by-election. This cannot be explained away as a mid-term protest against the government. For the first time ever in UK politics this was an election not between government and opposition, but between government and government.

By voting for the SNP the people of Glasgow weren't telling Labour they'd rather have SNP running the show in London, they were telling the London government that at the moment they preferred the Scottish government. This ws not merely a protest vote against the UK government, it was also a confidence vote in Holyrood's government. And that's why this election, although not fought on constitutional matters, does have some real significance to that debate.

In a way it is a clear indication to the SNP that their decision to hold off an independence referendum until they'd served a (nearly) full term is vindicated. Any debate/argument/campaign between the SNP and Labour are no longer seen as a Scottish spat, it's seen as Scotland vs London. With every such conflicts, 2010 seems set to be more and more unsettling for the Union.

Self-deluder of the day is Tory Underground who believes that by winning by only 365 votes "the results were bad for the SNP"!

The Nightmare Continues

John Mason, SNP - 11,277
Margaret Curran, Labour - 10,912

Waw. Poor Brown.

Spot the Difference

New Labour's campaign in Glasgow East has received a timely boost with an IBM poll putting them 15 points up on the SNP. Even with some analysts casting doubt on the figures it's still good news for them. So what better way for Labour to protect this lead than to place their feet firmly in their mouths.

Here's an article that appeared on their candidate's blog recently:


It didn't take long for someone to point out that there was no way on earth that man was a 97 years old! What miracle anti-aging cream do they use in Glasgow East these days? The article states that he "doesn't look a day past 70" - well why should he, you see it turns out that Mr McGuiness, while also being a prominent Labour activist that got an MBE for his work, is just 67. Easy mistake to make right. Someone must have just turned the 6 upside down - no big deal. But the article states that Mr McGuiness fought in WWII - a true war hero supporting Labour. Now that's perfectly plausible for a 97 year old, but for a 67 year old? He'd have been 6 years old when WWII ended!

Guido ran the story and very soon the Labour machine had changed its website. Here's what it looks like now. As you can see Mr George McGuiness has been replaced by Mr John Hipson , and a new picture thrown in to boot.


The article is now headed "We owe it to John Hipson to vote...", Perhaps a more suitable headline would be "We owe it to John Hipson to remember who he is... "!

Knifedge Councils

While David Davis' stroll to re-election takes the headlines in the London papers today, Wales had two Council by-elections yesterday, both in Councils with a very tight balance between those in control and the opposition.

In the Rheidiol ward of Aberystwyth Ceredigion Plaid Cymru gained a seat from the Lib Dems. This was a strong Lib Dem seat which was won just two months ago with 46% of the vote. The Lib Dems were hit with the resignation of their councillor after he was cautioned by the Police, and Plaid took advantage.

The result leaves Ceredigion Council on a knifedge. Plaid have 20 seats, Lib Dem and the Independents 21 seats with 1 Labour Councillor.

There will be no change in the running of the Council, but the Lib Dem/Independents must be hoping to God that none of their Councillors has to step down during the next 4 years!

The other election was in West Risca in Caerphilly. The seat was vacant after the long serving Labour councillor died within days of the election. Labour held the seat comfortably yesterday, and this brings them back to 31 councillors, the same as Plaid. Plaid remain in control of the Council due to support from 2 of the 9 independents.

One of those two independents is Ron Davies. Rumours of a switch to Plaid have been circulating long before he joined their government in Caerphilly. His appearance at Plaid's One Wales Government anniversary party this week will do nothing to quell those rumours!