Some present and correct

Readers of the Western Mail will have digested something of a spat in its letters column over the role of the main Welsh committee at Westminster.

The select committee on Welsh affairs chairman, Hywel Francis, has been defending his crew from criticism over its role in the devolved world.

The MPs say their committee has just completed "the busiest year in its history". Dr Francis has certainly been busy, attending 43 out of 44 meetings during the year.

The former Welsh Secretary, Alun Michael, managed 40 of the 44 meetings. Tory frontbencher David Jones made it to three quarters of committee gatherings.

Tory backbenchers were less regular attenders at the main Welsh forum for holding the Government to account. Monmouth MP David Davies made it to just five of the 44, an attendance record explained by diary clashes with his membership of the more prestigious Home Affairs Committee.

Mark Pritchard made it to 12 meetings. Labour MP Martyn Jones was present at nine gatherings.

The overall attendance record was 54.1 per cent, although it drops to below half if you take out Dr Francis and Mr Michael.

You can check out the scores for yourself here.

Planted questions

Another 41 Conservative MPs have signed cheques to repay expenses in David Cameron's latest exercise in transparency - or self-flagellation as some of the MPs might call it.

Among those to have reached for their chequebook, the Tory MP for Monmouth, David Davies, who can fairly claim to be a consistent questioner of the way our taxes are used.

He had the novel idea of setting up his own independent panel to vet his expenses. That panel queried two items - a council tax rebate and a claim for mortgage interest. The Tories' own independent scrutiny committee questioned a £12 invoice for a plant pot.

"I fully accept that these claims should not have been made and repaid them immiediately. To those who will inevitably suggest that I might have tried to do this to gain a financial benefit I think it only fair to point out that both the fees office and the independent panel have seen that I underclaimed on a number of items."

So David Davies will find himself £2,033.87 poorer and could be forgiven if he has second thoughts about setting up his own independent panel.

To add to his woes, he can't recall or trace the plant pot.

Whisky Galore

The way things have been going for Gordon Brown's Government, you could understand why its Ministers have been driven to drink.

The Ogmore MP Huw Irranca-Davies, a junior Environment Minister, billed us taxpayers £150 for a case of House of Commons whisky.

The whisky was intended as raffle prizes in his constituency. He'll now be paying back the cash after what he calls the indefensible error came to light with the publication of MPs' expenses.

David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, has been explaining how he used a family business to produce leaflets at a cost to the taxpayer of almost £2,000.

He says the work by Newport-based Burrow Heath was done at cost and neither he nor his family profited from the deal.

Other intriguing expense claims include the £100 Justice Minister David Hanson billed us to sponsor a Flint Town United football match. Let's hope local voters don't feel as sick as parrots after that one.

We're still working our way through the receipts. What's striking is how many MPs, having billed us for digital cameras, appear to have charged us hundreds of pounds for PR photos of themselves.

A moat point

One of the more creative responses to the expenses crisis is the idea from the Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies that an independent panel of individuals "above reproach" should vet his expenses.

Mr Davies suggested to a colleague of mine that I might be a suitable person to join the panel, even though I'm not a constituent.

I was briefly tempted by the prospect of rifling through an MP's receipts every now and again. I can well understand that the idea of a journalist vetting expenses may amuse some politicians.

Alas, I fear I shall have to decline - and not for the reason that he might seek reciprocal rights to check my own (rather modest) expenses.

I am, however, prepared to inspect Mr Davies's moat should he ever try to claim expenses for one.

I am filming away from Westminster for the next week, so blogging may be light to non-existent. I suspect one fewer hack around the place may cheer up MPs feeling (understandably) a bit down in the current atmosphere even if it reduces the opportunity for shooting the messenger.

Very select?

If you or I only turned up for work six days out of 10, questions would be asked by our employers.

But for MPs on select committees an absence rate of around 40 per cent is par for the course.

The eleven members of the select committee on Welsh affairs managed an overall attendance rate of 60.4 per cent last year, only slightly below the average for Commons committees.

The average disguises variations between MPs. One - the chair, Hywel Francis - went to all 42 meetings. He believes his committee is a hard-working one.

Three members attended fewer than half. David Davies, the Tory MP for Monmouth, went to just eight, largely due to his membership of the slightly more prestigious home affairs committee.

Other members and the number of meetings attended: Nia Griffith 18 out of 42, Sian James 23/42, David Jones 35/42, Martyn Jones 16/42, Alun Michael 31/40, Albert Owen 25/42, Mark Pritchard 19/34, Hywel Williams 28/42 and Mark Williams 30/42.

All MPs have other duties, of course, and the introduction of more "family-friendly" hours at Westminster has made it harder for backbenchers to pack everything into a contracted working week.

The committee plays a growing role scrutinising requests from the Welsh Assembly for more law-making powers, a role that has won it critics as well as friends.

MP on the run

Congratulations to David Davies MP (left), who won the MPs' Sport Relief mile at Westminster in the impressive time of 5 minutes 28 seconds.

The Monmouth Tory backbencher finished ahead of his rivals despite learning of the event only two days ago.

"It was good fun and it's all about raising money for a good cause," he told me.

"It will also convince some people that not all MPs spend their lunchtimes quaffing champagne and eating three-course meals."

Davies was in second place for most of the race but managed to overhaul the frontrunner to cross the line first in St James's Park.

The aim, he says, is to persuade others to take part in Sport Relief on Sunday, March 16.

Knighthood to see you.....

Early day motions are parliamentary graffiti, a chance for MPs to sound off on the Commons order paper on the big issues of the day.

More than two dozen backbenchers, including Roger Williams and David Davies from Wales, have signed one of these motions today calling for Bruce Forsyth to be knighted.

(He is already a CBE, one step down, although that doesn't have the same cachet as Sir Brucie).

The man himself may wear a rather dodgy syrup, his jokes are older and cheesier than he is but you have to admit anyone who can entertain family audiences across generations probably deserves whatever gongs are going.

Off the rails

Today's Western Mail has an interesting feature on favourite childhood toys.

Two politicians feature - both Conservatives, Nick Bourne AM and David Davies MP.

Both say their favourite childhood toy was a train set.

Nick Bourne says it reflects his lifelong passion for trains and railway travel.

David Davies is perhaps more revealing: "I liked setting up crashes on it. I was a destructive little boy....

"I got fed up with it when I was about 15 and I started to take bits of it to the second hand shop for money to spend on less wholesome activities."

Little wonder perhaps that David Davies grew up to be a Conservative MP when he was already privatising his train set at the age of 15.

Snub to Wales?

Gordon Brown is in Davos today at the World Economic Forum - a chance to tick off another "cities I've visited" on the tripadvisor section of his Facebook profile.

Switzerland today, India and China last week, Iraq before Christmas, Scotland for the four-hour summer holiday, Lisbon for that brief Treaty signing, Kabul to rally the troops, Washington, Gloucestershire for the floods.

Have I left anywhere out? Possibly. There's one corner of the UK that the PM who stresses Britishness has yet to visit during his 7 months in the job.

Monmouth Tory MP David Davies has been thinking along similar lines - here's his parliamentary question and the Prime Minister's reply.

David Davies: To ask the Prime Minister on how many occasions he has visited (a) Wales, (b) Scotland, (c) Liverpool and (d) London since his appointment.

Gordon Brown: A list of my UK visits will be published in the usual way following the end of the financial year.

The financial year ends at the beginning of April, by when Mr Brown may have found time to visit Wales. Despite the departure of Peter Hain, the PM is still expected at the Welsh Labour conference in Llandudno next month.

Tory cats and pigeons

Preseli Pembrokeshire MP Stephen Crabb has set the cat among the Tory pigeons with this attack on devolution.

His views are shared by the Monmouth MP David Davies, leaving Conwy's David Jones as the sole pro-devolution Welsh Conservative voice in the Commons (and I think he might quibble with that description).

Whatever you think of Stephen Crabb's views, there are some interesting thoughts there on the nature of devolved politics:

"Devolution has created a politics which is based overwhelmingly around calls for greater public expenditure and freebies for various sections of the population......in the absence of any mechanism to ensure a line of accountability between Welsh taxes and Welsh expenditure, all Assembly politicians are incentivised to ramp-up calls for greater spending in Wales."

That applies across all parties, so there is limited meaningful debate on the size of the state in Wales. Perhaps Ron Davies has succeeded in creating "inclusive politics" after all.

BBC Scandal

The Daily Mail has unearthed a major scandal that is set to rock Britain to its foundations.

Apparently a couple of BBC reporters have been spotted wearing jeans on TV. Questions would be asked in Parliament if MPs were not on holiday, sorry in recess.

Monmouth Tory MP David Davies has overcome his natural reticence to see his name in the tabloids to offer the Mail his verdict.

"I certainly wouldn't turn up to a broadcaster looking like I have come off a beach," he said after Richard Watson and David Shukman were revealed as the guilty men.

"T-shirts and jeans would be fine if they were on Blue Peter but these are programmes that pride themselves as the country's top current affairs and news programmes.

"A suit would be more appropriate. I was brought up in the Seventies - but personally I think you have got to dress for the occasion and that means smart clothes for TV."

He speculated whether reporters would soon be seen reporting on royal occasions "wearing tracksuits, bling and a baseball cap".

Personally, I've never worn jeans on TV and my wardrobe is a little short on bling and baseball caps. Perhaps William Hague would lend me one.

I think Davies has missed the point. The image of denim has taken a knock in recent years, a blow attributed by fashion experts to their popularity with middle-aged men such as Tony Blair and Jeremy Clarkson.

The real crime is apparently wearing jeans too late into middle age.

Some style gurus believe that 42 is the latest age at which denims should be worn.

At the age of 43, I should probably declare an interest.