PLAID BRACED FOR DIFFICULT RYDER
Thursday, May 10, 2007

Plaid Cymru activists are plotting to remove the party's only list representative in North Wales to pave the way for Dafydd Wigley to return to the assembly. Despite polling over 50,000 votes on the regional list and taking four of the 13 seats available in the region, many were dissappointed by the way the campaign was conducted.

A former Plaid Cymru candidate who stood for election in a North Wales constituency on May 3rd has told this blog that Ms Ryder "will be asked by senior party members in North Wales to stand aside in favour of Wigley." The candidate, who did not wish to be named said: "If she chooses not to she may face an internal party investigation into her conduct in the period before the election and afterwards. It will be made clear to her she does not command the support of the party membership or of the senior activists she needs to be able to do her job properly."

The controversy centers upon what Ms Ryder is alleged to have told activists in Rhuthun, part of the marginal Clwyd West constituency. According to today's edition of Golwg, Plaid's candidate, Phil Edwards, said: "Four or five members of the Rhuthun branch have spoken to me since the election. They claim that Janet Ryder led them to believe that it would be more difficult to get Dafydd Wigley elected if they voted for me in Clwyd West."

Plaid's official line during the election campaign was to urge people to 'Vote Plaid Twice', but a number of people in North Wales have voiced concerns that Ms Ryder was only interested in protecting her own seat. Ms Ryder was the principal beneficiary of what is being called the 'Wigley effect', a swing to Plaid in North Wales attributed to the candidacy of Dafydd Wigley. Ironically, this secured Ms Ryder's return to the assembly, but it fell far short of the number of votes required to bring about the election of the former Plaid leader.

In a further twist, it appears that members of the Wigley camp are central to the plot to oust Ms Ryder, though there is no suggestion that he is implicated. If Ms Ryder were to stand down, however, as the second list candidate Mr Wigley would be set for a sensational return to frontline politics.

Ms Ryder declined to comment when Golwg contacted her before going to press.

Read more on this story along with the first of my columns in today's edition of GOLWG.

UPDATE: Tony Blair has announced that he is standing down as Prime Minister. Thank God Desperate Housewives was squeezed in last night before the inevitable colonisation of the airwaves.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 9:55 am, ,


Wigley or won't he?
Wednesday, April 25, 2007

I can't believe I've been writing this blog for six months without asking the question, what the hell is Dafydd Wigley playing at?

He is the nearest thing Wales has to a statesman. He was a consummate parliamentarian and continues to be respected across party political boundaries. And yet he is standing for election second on the North Wales regional list.

Now, at the moment Plaid have one list member in that region. To get another they'd have to do pretty poorly at constituency level. But in reality, they're in the hunt for two gains in North Wales: Aberconwy and Clwyd West. This would be great news for Plaid, but catastrophic for Dafydd Wigley who would be flung into the political wilderness (possibly accompanied by Janet Ryder).

So what's his game?

Well, apparently 'Dafydd's done his Maths', the implication being that he's got it all worked out because he is Dafydd Wigley and you absolutely have to trust that big boomy voice. I'm not convinced. Wigley is re-energised, that's for sure, but did he ever have his eyes on a political re-birth or was this always going to be a cameo appearance designed to give Plaid an election time lift? It is, perhaps, the political equivalent of taking one for the team - like the plucky midfielder who charges down a free kick only to get the ball lodged between his bollocks.

Dafydd Wigley is doing strange things to this election, not least because the list system makes psephology a whole lot of fun. Labour's Arfon candidate is reminding people to 'Vote Eaglestone Get Wigley', while the prospect of Plaid's leader losing his Ynys Mon seat to let Wigley in on the list would possibly even beat Rhodri Morgan's train journey as the most ironic moment of the campaign.

But I suspect that after all the hoo-ha on May 3rd not much will have changed. Except that Dafydd Wigley is likely to be holding his groin with some satisfaction, knowing that he hasn't let the team down.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:15 pm, ,


Top 5 campaign car crashes
Tuesday, April 17, 2007

It's election time, so politicians everywhere are creeping out of their hovels and stepping into dodgy tracksuits, bin bags, go-karts... anything to get a picture in the local rag. But some moments have just been plain bizarre, and there's still over two weeks to go!

1. Rhodri Morgan's 'ironic' train journey on the day South Wales' trains ground to a halt. Cue headlines: First Minister running out of steam etc.

2. Rhodri on yet another mode of transport. This time it's a boat. He's donned his life jacket and is off out on a little jolly with Tony Blair. Cue headlines: Labour's sinking ship, Labour in need of a lifeline etc. Worse still, Rhodders and Tony get off the boat and embark on a steep uphill struggle back to base. They might as well just write their own scripts.

3. Dafydd Wigley squeezes into a shellsuit for the first time since 1983. This is to make old people feel better about exercising. But it just makes them feel better about not exercising in the same place as Dafydd Wigley.

4. Labour's manifesto launch is a treasure hunt for kids in oversized t-shirts. More than a week later and nobody's told Lib Dem leader Mike German that the competition is over.

5. Plaid's Adam Price MP and Labour's Arfon candidate Martin Eaglestone have a very public tiff in a North Wales car park. 'Sign my contract'. 'No, you sign my contract'. 'I asked first'. 'He wot smelt it dealt it' etc. They are suddenly interrupted when an electronic wheelchair pulls up and gets stuck into the action. Eaglestone then becomes embroiled in a Ricky Gervaisesque exchange with a very stubborn Plaid supporting disabled person. There is no exit strategy.

I apologise for the lack of balance in this item. Labour win the innovative press call hands down so it's inevitable a few will go a bit wonky.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:02 am, ,


Who's doing Ieuan's maths?
Saturday, March 24, 2007

Nobody would pay for me to go to Caernarfon, so I'm afraid you'll have to go elsewhere for the big news on Plaid's conference. Like, for instance, Ieuan Wyn Jones' apparent inability to spell.

But some would doubt his aptitude for Maths too.

Right at the very end of his appearance on the BBC's Dragon's Eye on Thursday, Plaid's leader gave his prediction of the way North Wales will vote in May's election. He said:

We can win five seats in North Wales. Me as the First Minister elected from Anglesey (if the party does well in the rest of Wales) and Dafydd Wigley on the list aswell with Janet Ryder. I think this is an election where Plaid are going to make significant advances.

Significant indeed. That result would suggest a phenomenal collapse of the Labour vote. It would also suggest a big increase in the Plaid vote on the regional list at the expense of the other parties.

You can't fault Ieuan for his optimism. Plaid have said that from now on they're going to be positive about their politics. And apart from all the attack ads and negative soundbites, that's exactly what they're doing.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 1:36 pm, ,


Caption Competition #3
Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Helen Mary: 'That damn Dafydd Wigley got elected after all. Now I'll never be leader.'

Ieuan: 'Snout to be worried about. Look! Either we're hanging from the ceiling or that pig is off the ground.'

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posted by Blamerbell @ 12:45 pm, ,


Wobbly Wyn Jones
Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones didn't give his best performance on Good Morning Wales this morning. Perhaps it was the early start? Or perhaps it was BBC Political Editor Betsan Powys's somewhat rib niggling introduction? Ieuan will be hoping that correspondents attribute use of the 'wobbly' nickname in future - these things can stick and there's surely no room for a Wigley and a Wobbly at the top of the party.

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posted by Blamerbell @ 6:47 pm, ,