Political cross-dressing

The season of goodwill may be officially over (although I like to think it continues 365 days a year on this blog) but the bonhomie generated by the Plaid/Labour coalition in Cardiff appears to extend to their comrades at Westminster.

Political anoraks will spot not only a Plaid Cymru MP but also several members of Peter Hain's staff, whose names I'll withhold to spare their blushes.

The photo, first published on Facebook, was taken at a London club called the Tranny Shack. I don't know it myself (being more familiar with Madame Jojo's)but they all seem to be having a good time.

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.

By royal appointment

Reshuffles are great fun for journalists, not so much fun for the victims.

Political correspondents work themselves up into a lather about who's up, who's down from a cast of characters barely known outside the Westminster or Cardiff Bay bubble.

We breathlessly report how someone you've never heard of has been sacked from a job you didn't realise he was doing until he was fired.

I do (almost) feel sorry for those Ministers who beaver away in unglamorous roles for years, making the news only when they are appointed and/or sacked.

Like me, you probably haven't been able to sleep for the excitement of waiting to hear Rhodri Morgan's new Labour/Plaid Cymru line-up in the Welsh Assembly.

Apparently, we won't get the names until they've been approved by the Queen. Welsh Ministers are now Ministers of the Crown, which means that, formally at least, they can't be appointed until Buckingham Palace signals its agreement.

Somehow I can't imagine Her Majesty pondering a list sent by Rhodri Morgan, checking it for balance and possible future coalition tensions, before sending it back with one or two alterations.

At Westminster, the Queen is often the last to hear reshuffle details which leak (sometimes inaccurately) in the run-up to changes, but the Assembly Government is playing it by the book in respecting the protocols introduced by the latest Government of Wales Act.

Apparently we won't get the names until they've been rubber-stamped by the Palace. Devolution may or may not have weakened the Union but it certainly seems to have strengthened the monarchy's role in Wales.

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.

Thought provoking

Some provocative thoughts on what Welsh MPs do these days from a refugee from Peter Hain's Wales Office.

http://thebrazencars.blogspot.com/2007/07/strange-bedfellows-v-with-friends-like.html

The former Wales Office Minister, Don Touhig, for whom Andrew Neilson once acted as spokesman, gives his views on the potential coalition here - www.epolitx.com/mp3

I'm not giving too much away when I reveal that the words"suicide" and "trap" feature in the interview.

A leaked memo (are there any other sort?) suggests Conwy MP Betty Williams has also suggested she's less than keen on a deal with Plaid.

We had hoped to interview her on Good Evening Wales but her office said she was unable to travel to our studio opposite Parliament because it looks as if it's going to rain. (Her office did offer a telephone interview but most radio stations prefer broadcast quality).

The next 72 hours will be billed as momentous ones in the history of 21st century Wales.

I'll be taking a few days off to catch up with the Tour de France and run the Regents Park 10k but you can satisfy your appetite for coalition shenanigans at www.bbc.co.uk/walesnews.

Rainbows keep falling on my head

The clunking great fist appeared a little shaky at times as Gordon Brown enjoyed a nervous first question time as Prime Minister.

At one stage he even explained that he'd only been in the job five days - a remark that did little to win sympathy from his opponents.

Some commentators scored it a draw, I'd probably give it to David Cameron on points as he appeared to wrongfoot the new PM on the Government's failure to ban an extremist group it had promised to outlaw two years ago.

Welsh Questions preceded it and was an altogether quieter affair, as you might expect from parliamentary questions to Ministers with very few executive responsibilities.

Huw Irranca-Davies made a solid debut in his new role as Peter Hain's deputy. Half the questions appeared to be taken up by tributes to those leaving the stage (Nick Ainger, Lord Roberts of Conwy), congratulations for those staying put (Cheryl Gillan, Peter Hain) and those sort of moving on (Lembit Opik, Peter Hain).

Tory Stephen Crabb did disrupt the cosiness by pointing out that Peter Hain had previously ruled out a Plaid-Labour coalition to run the Welsh Assembly Government.

Remember this from March 1 when he was asked about the prospect of a deal with Plaid? "I'm ruling it out. There is no prospect of that at all. This is a matter for Rhodri Morgan and his fellow Welsh Labour Assembly Members. But I don't think Welsh Labour would accept that."

Hmmmmm.....

Stephen Crabb used a question to Mr Hain today to denounce the "grubby deal" between Labour and Plaid.

Presumably the deal done between his own party in the Assembly, with Plaid and the Liberal Democrats was squeaky clean and not at all grubby.

The three Welsh Tory MPs were not impressed by the deal struck by their Assembly leader Nick Bourne in Cardiff Bay, although Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan did tell us today: "It was a shame that what had appeared to be a good deal on the rainbow alliance was rejected by one of the other parties."