What's the Tory Plan B?
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
The Conservatives can hint all they like about ousting Labour in May and governing with Plaid - it will not happen. Frankly, it's more likely that Lembit Opik will become a Benedictine monk.
Too many Plaid AMs are 100% against ANY potential alliance with the Tories. The fallout over the budget was simply the final nail in the rainbow.
So what next? The Tories are in a strategic pickle. They won't go near Labour, and Plaid won't go near them. They're like the clever but socially excluded kid at school - when it's time to pick teams, they are left until last each time.
Will the injustice of it all prove too much? Will they flip and turn nasty again?
I doubt it. Tories are far too friendly these days (though I don't think they'll be inviting Ieuan Wyn Jones over for tea just yet).
Perhaps they'll form a united front with the Lib Dems. Plaid are hardly disguising the fact that they're cosying up to Labour (in part just to sever ties with the Tories), but this could be risky, given Labour's current lack of popularity. Despite this, Plaid are tetchy about being branded 'Labour's little helpers'. Pushing this line will harm the nationalists, but is that really what they want?
At the minute, the only party gaining from coalition speculation and squabbling among the parties is Labour - Tories' enemy number one. If there is a Plan B it must surely take account of that.
UPDATE: I see that Leighton Andrews is still pedalling the Plaid-Tory coalition line, saying "there is a continuing and real threat of Wales stumbling into a Tory-led coalition after May."
Labels: Labour, Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru, Rainbow Coalition, Tories, Welsh Assembly Election 2007
posted by Blamerbell @ 12:15 am,
1 Comments:
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At 1:01 pm,
Praguetory said...
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Interesting post, Blamerbell
