Lib Dems don't like Mondays

You may have noticed how MPs hit the headlines recently by apparently spending fewer days at Westminster - 139 - in a parliamentary year than for many a day.

I pondered the subject on a quiet day recently with a passing Tory backbencher who denied there was a secret agreement between the major parties to allow their MPs to campaign in their constituencies at the beginning and end of the week.

MPs are not the only professional politicians who use "constituency days" to further their (and their party's) re-election prospects.

Here's a Facebook entry for the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams, dated January 18:

The Mark in question is Mark Williams, Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion, whose own Facebook entries reveal Mondays spent trying to get re-elected.

I did ask him: "Shouldn't you have been at work?"

His reply: "A different kind of work, I hasten to add only part of Mondays."

Kirsty Williams spent Monday, January 25 campaigning in Builth, in her own constituency, which may have helped the election chances of the deputy leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, local MP Roger Williams.

Perhaps the events were part of a Williams family re-union, although so far as I know the three are not related.

Meeting people in the real world must be a good thing for politicians although perhaps describing it as "campaigning" is not the most tactful choice of words.

The Lib Dems do their sums

The Liberal Democrats, their leader told us yesterday, are going to treat the voters as grown-ups.

"All our figures," said the man in charge of their manifesto, "add up to the nearest penny".

Er, up to a point. I type hotfoot from a Lib Dem news conference at which the man who wants to be Secretary of State for Wales after the general election admitted he doesn't know what his party's policies mean for Welsh pounds, let alone pennies.

Roger Williams told us: "The politics of plenty have gone. We have got to be responsible."

So what, I wondered, would be the financial consequences of the Lib Dems' decision to scrap or delay several of their cherished policies in England?

"We are going to have to work that through, we haven't worked that out yet."

Would a Lib Dem government go ahead with the defence training academy at St Athan or scrap it, as suggested by deputy leader Vince Cable?

Roger Williams: "It isn't clear from what the Government has said whether the St Athan money is new money or money used for training. If it is new money, that is challenging."

Would a Lib Dem government go ahead with the electrification of the rail line between London and Swansea?

"We haven't got any plans to either postpone it or reject it."

Things will become clearer, possibly, later this week when Mr Williams meets Danny Alexander to discuss "Barnett consequentials" and other spending issues.

Yo Ho Ho

Best to eat before going to one of Peter Hain's Christmas parties if this parliamentary answer is any guide:

MR ROGER WILLIAMS (BRECON AND RADNORSHIRE): To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how many Christmas parties his Department plans to host in 2009; what has been budgeted for each such reception; what estimate he has made of the proportion of (a) lamb, (b) beef, (c) chicken, (d) pork, (e) turkey, (f) other meats, (g) vegetables, (h) fruit and (i) alcohol to be served at each such function which is produced in the UK; and if he will make a statement.

MR HAIN: I plan to host a Christmas reception in London and another in Cardiff this year. We will not be serving food, only snacks and drinks will be provided. I would estimate the cost of each reception to be around £250, although the final amount will not be known until after the events are held.

Roger Williams is not one of those MPs who looks short of a good meal, but it looks like he'll be going hungry on this occasion.

Facing facts or facing both ways?

More news from the Welsh Lib Dems here. The man who describes himself as the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Wales says it's time to face facts over spending.

Roger Williams says: "All politicians must face up to the fact that we will need to cut spending to reduce the deficit, and they need to start outlining what they would cut, rather than making tokenistic gestures, or avoiding the issue altogether.

"While Brown and Cameron are playing hide and seek over cuts, Vince Cable has outlined a set of serious proposals that would make a major impact on reducing our levels of debt. This is by no means the full list of what needs to be done, and more hard choices will have to be made in the run-up to the general election, but this is an important first step."

An important first step or a "rough, first attempt"? With the Lib Dems, you don't need to choose.

Lib Dems go back to the land

My first Lib Dem news conference of the year (the best things in life are worth waiting for). The theme: allotments.

The Lib Dems estimate as many as 100,000 people could be on waiting lists for allotments but suggest those waiting should not be put off growing their own.

Cardiff Central MP Jenny Willott admits to trying runner beans without much success but recommends spuds: "you can't really go wrong with potatoes".

Farmer Roger Williams, from Brecon and Radnorshire, offered his own take on the issue for MPs: "The problem is we don't have a second home allotment allowance".

(I think he was joking.)

"Can you really fix it for me to meet Lembit Opik?"

Alternative captions welcome.

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.

The cheek of it

So many fringe meetings, so little time. So many are the joys of the Lib Dem conference.

The odd gimmick creeps in amid the debates and fringe meetings about different forms of proportional representation.

Welsh Lib Dems Roger Williams and Eleanor Burnham donned cycling helmets to pedal along the seafront to make a point about cycle facilities.

The party's student wing is flogging its own version of Top Trumps - compare your MP's record to win.

Peter Black mugs and fridge magnets are for sale - the conference shop claims to have sold six or seven magnets. I forked out 65p for a Mike German one - you never know they may be worth more soon.

And tonight Lembit Opik will be the auctioneer at a fringe event where one of the lots going under the hammer is a signed Cheeky Girls album.

I'd bid myself but I'm saving up for the rarer unsigned version.