Plaid call in their fashion police

You know there's an election looming when Plaid Cymru put quails' eggs on the menu at their New Year "bring-a-candidate" party.

Several of Plaid's wannabe MPs spent yesterday in Westminster catching up on lines to take, being photographed with their political heroes in front of sloganeering backdrops and getting tips on how to handle the media (never say "no comment", apparently).

The candidates were handed a copyof Plaid's Campaign Handbook (£10 from its National Campaigns Unit). This includes election tips supplied by some of the party's leading lights past and present.

For media interviews, candidates are told: "Decide in advance what you want to say. If you have any questions about lines to take, contact the National Campaigns Unit before any interview.

"Stick to what you want to say and don't allow the interviewer to deviate you from your key messages. Repeat yourself using different language if necessary.

"Relax - You will almost certainly know more about your subject than the interviewer." (Hmmm....)

And if you've ever wondered what to wear when a BBC TV crew comes calling, here is the official Plaid line:

"Look smart - wear something appropriate for the occasion, don't wear something too trendy. If you are a man do not wear a tie that is much lighter in colour than your shirt. Don't wear shirts of blouses with elaborate patterns or with close lines."

To make the point, the front of the handbook features party leader Ieuan Wyn Jones wearing an open-necked shirt and denim jeans, jacket draped over right shoulder.

Definitely not too trendy, although my own fashion guru advises that men over 40 should be careful before wearing denim - something to do with Jeremy Clarkson and Tony Blair, apparently.

My own photograph shows the deputy First Minister wearing his Sunday best but if any of you do have photographs of Plaid figures wearing "something too trendy", do feel free to e-mail them to me.

The first XI

I do enjoy these surveys of politicians by politicians. The joys of percentages mean small numbers of people can appear as hugely significant masses of opinion.

So Edwina Hart is the "top performer" chosen by 25 per cent of the 30 people sampled by the pollsters (I make that eight).

Lower down the popularity chain, Nick Bourne, Ieuan Wyn Jones and Jocelyn Davies have the support of four per cent - if my maths is correct that means two AMs each rated them.

The consolation for Professor Bourne, Mr Jones and Ms Davies is that they are twice as popular as Nick Ramsay and Jenny Randerson, who were named by two per cent of those asked - I make that one AM each.

The consolation for Mr Ramsay and Mrs Randerson is that still makes them more popular than 49 other AMs, who didn't make the IPSOS-Mori first eleven.

Ieuan Who?

Er, don't mention this within earshot of the current Plaid Cymru leadership, but the party's parliamentary candidate in Montgomeryshire has revealed her own political heroes.

Asked to name the best Plaid Cymru leader, Heledd Fychan chose not to take the easy way out and name the man who led the party into government and is currently deputy First Minister (Ieuan Wyn Jones) or indeed her former boss at Westminster (parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd).

Answering questions on the Mars Hill website, Heledd Fychan says: "Best Plaid Cymru leader would have to be Dafydd Wigley. He's an amazing politician, and managed to connect with people in every corner of Wales in a way no other Plaid Cymru leader had ever succeeded before."

Q: Which political figure has been your greatest inspiration?
A: "Dafydd Wigley again. His charisma and ability to speak publicly is outstanding."

Going for gold?

Spotted at the venue for the London 2012 Olympics: Welsh Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones.

The Plaid Cymru leader made a hush-hush visit to see preparations for the sporting spectacular in east London yesterday.

Was the sports fan - and acquaintance of Olympic champions past - there to live the Olympic dream, to fantasise about entering the stadium at the head of the marathon to the roars of a capacity crowd or standing on the gold medal podium as God Save the Queen is played?

Er, probably not. According to Plaid's Westminster leader, Elfyn Llwyd, the deputy FM was there to store up "ammunition for later use".

Mr Llwyd believes promises that the London Olympics would benefit the whole of the UK have come to nothing and that the loss of lottery funding means some youngsters in Wales are actually discouraged from taking up sport.

Few Welsh companies have bid, let alone won some of the lucrative contracts on offer. Plaid feel the south-east of England will disproportionately benefit from the whole festival while the rest of us pay for it.

Or did the suggestion he was looking for ammunition mean Mr Jones was after a place in the shooting team?

Strings attached?

The strange political ceasefire over the financial crisis and the Government's rescue package announced today appears to be operating in parts of the Welsh Assembly too.

Here's the view of the Plaid Cymru leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones: "I do support the package. I understand the concerns of taxpayers...when there's so much public money being set aside for the banks. But I do think it's necessary because the economic situation is unsustainable, with share prices plummeting.

"And it's not only a problem for us here in Britain...it's a problem that's affecting people all over the world. And it came to the point, where the Government in Westminster had to react in this way and I do hope this will help the situation on the stock markets, and will encourage banks to lend to each other."

Plaid's Treasury spokesman, Adam Price, has a slightly different take on things, suggesting political hostilities have yet to be suspended throughout Westminster. (Some people may find it refreshing that some MPs are still asking awkward questions):

"By calling for the restructuring of the entire banking sector the Government is tacitly admitting a systemic failure at the heart of banking caused partly by poor regulation, partly by the recklessness of the bankers themselves. But how do you restructure when the Government says it doesn't want to run the banks, won't put anyone on the Board, will leave the management intact and won't even place a real cap on executive pay?"

"The taxpayer is now the biggest sleeping partner in economic history. The Government says there are strings attached to this bailout but in reality they are so weak and so few that the Government's credibility, and that of the entire financial system, are hanging by a thread."

UPDATE: Plaid have been in touch to say that IWJ agrees with Adam Price's analysis. "No split". Perhaps he ran out of time during his Radio Cymru interview this morning to offer similar criticisms on air.

Floats like a butterfly......

Good news for Plaid Cymru: their leader is a new entry in a Telegraph list of the top 100 lefties in the UK.

Ieuan Wyn Jones comes in at number 83 - four ahead of Neil Kinnock in a list compiled by Iain Dale and the Labour historian Brian Brivati.

Admittedly, the Telegraph does spell Mr Jones's first name incorrectly but the citation says: "His attacks on Labour for having lost its way ring true in a Wales that has benefited from devolution and Labour governments but often not as much as the Scots seem to have done."

All this and a trip to the Ryder Cup as well, where the deputy First Minister was among those who gathered to meet Muhammad Ali.

"He's a global icon, someone who's always been a hero of mine......" said the former World Champion.

(the old ones are always the best.....)

Impressionable politicians

"Politicians want more power" must be up there with "Tour cyclist fails drugs test" as among the more predictable headlines of the summer.

Perhaps it's testimony to the accuracy of the Ipsos MORI survey that the results were as expected - 80 per cent of Welsh Assembly Members want Scottish Parliament-style powers.

The results of the "most impressive AM" were less predictable, perhaps because most of the 36 AMs interviewed refused to give a preference. The "don't knows" totalled 58 per cent - only 15 named AMs.

Of those who did, 17 per cent opted for Health Minister Edwina Hart, 13 per cent for Plaid Housing Minister Jocelyn Davies and 12 per cent for Tory Jonathan Morgan.

Before Mrs Hart starts ordering telephone lines for her leadership campaign, she might care to glance at the raw figures (the percentages are weighted to make the sample more representative).

She was the choice of 6 AMs; 5 AMs mentioned Jocelyn Davies, 4 Jonathan Morgan, and 2 Ieuan Wyn Jones, Nick Bourne and David Melding.

Among UK politicians, Alex Salmond and Adam Price fared well, helped by a disproportionately high number of "don't knows" among Labour AMs curiously reluctant to endorse Gordon Brown.

The representative sample of 36 AMs were interviewed face-to-face last September and October although the results have only just been published.

On the right track?

Fans of coalition government will be thrilled to see that Labour MPs and AMs are now sending out publicity photos of themselves alongside a wall plaque commemorating the efforts of the Plaid Cymru leader.

The plaque unveiled by Ieuan Wyn Jones (whose job title takes up three lines of wall space) commemorates the launch of the first direct train from Wrexham to London.

Mr Lucas (centre) was a passenger on board the train and turned up in good time for Defence Questions in the Commons this afternoon.

Seven years are a long time in politics

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones (2001):

"Paul Murphy is clearly out of touch with the growing feeling in Wales, and within his own party in the National Assembly. Those of us who have to work within the current settlement see its obvious flaws and a growing number of Labour AMs are coming out to support a law-making Parliament, because they are frustrated at the Assembly's failure to deliver in key policy areas. Paul Murphy and the 'dinosaur tendency' in the Labour Party are being left behind in this debate.?

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones (2008):

"I welcome Paul Murphy's appointment and look forward to working with him. His role will be pivotal in steering the Welsh Assembly Government's bids for the right to legislate through Westminster and in working with us to deliver the One Wales programme of Government."

Look on the bright side

Whose analysis of the Welsh economy is this?

"A very vibrant local labour market, boasting levels of unemployment and employment that are amongst the best witnessed for a generation."

And this?

"In any dynamic economy jobs are lost as well as created - what is important here in Wales is that we continue to create far more jobs than we lose. To focus only on the losses and company closures rather than on the new jobs and company expansions that are being created paints a false picture of the Welsh economy, and serves only to talk Wales down when in reality we continue to punch above our weight."

Yep, you've guessed it - that's the leader of Plaid Cymru talking in his new role as deputy First Minister. I've no idea who Ieuan Wyn Jones could be talking about when he refers to those who "talk Wales down when in reality we continue to punch above our weight" and paint a false picture of the Welsh economy.

Here's one analysis from a prophet of doom: "And while the richer areas of Britain are flourishing the Welsh economy is struggling. Hundreds of manufacturing jobs are being lost every month - in the north, south, east and west. Farmers are living in poverty. Our young people are being forced out of their communities to find work."

What a remarkable turnaround in the economy since those dark days of five years ago forced the Plaid leader to make such a gloomy assessment.

Slap in the face for Plaid

My colleagues at Sky have put together one of the must-have accessories of the conference season - political Top Trumps.

These cards feature leading politicos from British parties, rating them for categories such as looks, majority, parliamentary skills and charisma.

Lembit Opik will be chuffed to learn that he features - although slightly less pleased to see that his rating for "looks" is 33 - the same as Menzies Campell.

At least he beats William Hague (25) in that department although Hague's parliamentary skills do score highly.

Most senior UK politicians do figure, although Peter Hain has been strangely excluded. He is doubtless "relaxed" about it.

SNP leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond does feature, although there is no place for his Plaid Cymru counterpart Ieuan Wyn Jones, despite his recent promotion to the role of deputy First Minister.

This could well see the first autumnal surge in the Elfynometer and must surely be immediately denounced as either a snub or a slap in the face to Wales.

If it's any consolation, Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan is also overlooked. It's a cruel world.

The hands of history

Here's living proof that Plaid Cymru have indeed travelled on an extraordinary journey.

Years ago hacks like me would mischievously suggest that the party's vocabulary was confined to condemning the regular "slap in the face for Wales" and the occasional "snub to Wales."

No more. In a change of emphasis likely to produce the first ever negative result on my Elfynometer, Plaid have changed their tune under the leadership of Ieuan Wyn Jones, the first Government Minister in the party's 82-year history.

Here's his July 7 analysis of the coalition deal with Labour: "A historic moment in the life of our party, in the life of our politics and the life of our nation".

He said: "Our historic decision today to back the One Wales document will, we believe, deliver a stable government for Wales."

Four days later, accepting the deputy First Minister's job in the Welsh Assembly, he said:
"This is a historic statement for us as a Party and for me personally".

In case we missed the point, he added: "The historic ‘One Wales’ document between Plaid Cymru and Labour offers a new hope for the people of Wales."

On July 16, he stood in for Rhodri Morgan at a British-Irish Council meeting in Stormont. After much thought, Mr Jones decided that the meeting had been, to coin a phrase, "historic".

Today, four Plaid Cymru Ministers including Mr Jones were appointed to the Welsh Assembly Government. The Jones verdict? "This is indeed an historic occasion".

Let's hope the first non-historic day in office, and there may yet be one, doesn't leave Mr Jones lost for words.

A government of all the talents

Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones is likely to be appointed deputy First Minister tomorrow - a remarkable development in Welsh politics.

He'll join Rhodri Morgan's cabinet and is unlikely to run out of things to talk about with his new colleagues.

Back in March, Mr Jones described Mr Morgan's administration as one that "is devoid of ideas and has run out of steam. Across all policy fields we are witnessing an administration that is happy to meander from crisis to crisis."

Rhodri Glyn Thomas may join the cabinet. This is his view of his probable new colleagues, expressed as recently as May 31: "We have here the same old tired faces; it is unlikely this cabinet will contain renewed ambition for Wales to go with the new powers of the Assembly." Presumably life will change once Mr Thomas's youthful, fresh visage joins the "same old tired faces" around the cabinet table.

And this is the assessment of Plaid president Dafydd Iwan on his party's new coalition partners:
“The real choice facing the people of Wales on May the 3rd is a straight choice between a weak, narrow minded, and centralist Labour Party which has run out of steam; or a forward looking Plaid with a vision to build a modern and successful nation."

Having denounced "8 years of incompetence by Labour in Cardiff", Mr Iwan called for "an end to twenty-eight years of right wing rule.”

Here's a headline from an Adam Price press release in February: "Plaid Accuse Labour of Basing Election Campaign on Lies, Smear and Innuendo."

One of the consequences of Plaid's move into government is that the Conservatives become the official opposition, with their leader Nick Bourne netting a 40k pay rise in the process.
Judging by the above material he won't have to work too hard for his money.

Ieuan Wyn Jones told reporters today that he didn't expect there to be a full cabinet meeting before the autumn.

Perhaps that's just as well.