Sunday 13 January 2008

Hain fights on

Some good news for the beleaguered/embattled/under-pressure (delete as applicable) Peter Hain: his arch critic has decided not to sit in judgement if and when the case against him is heard by parliament's standards committee.

Elfyn Llwyd, who now calls for Hain to resign with a regularity previously matched only by Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland, says he'll stand down from the committee while it considers Hain. (The first case of a juror nobbling himself?)

Llwyd says he offered to resign from the committee after he was criticised for misusing the communications allowance given to MPs - an offer that was rejected.

Plaid's Westminster leader appeared on The Politics Show in a four-party debate that became something of a partisan Plaid Cymru versus the rest battle.

Lib Dem Lembit Opik and Labour's Don Touhig both supported Hain, pending the inquiries that loom.

The Welsh Secretary, should he have been watching from behind the sofa chez Hain, will have been relieved to see the debate focus almost as much on a recent dismeanour by Plaid Cymru MPs as on the current Hain woes.

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