Martin Shipton seems to think that Adam Price's wish to be an AM will "inevitably puts a question mark over the future of former Heritage Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas, who represents the same Carmarthen East & Dinefwr constituency at the Assembly." Well, not really Martin.
Rhodri Glyn made a gaffe which led to him resigning as Heritage Minister, but lighting up in a pub hardly merits giving up a career in politics. Rhodri Glyn was elected to serve as Assembly Member for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr until 2011, and that's not likely to change.
However, Adam is a man who likes a challenge, and should there be an Assembly by-election in the next twelve months, well, Adam might fancy taken on Labour wherever in Wales the contest may be.
Oh, and Pen Blwydd Hapus, Adam.
A message to the government
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A tip of the horns to my peripatetic Greek chum for this...
"Gordon, if you're watching... Leave. Us. Alone." Class.
I have my own message for you, Gordo...
8 comments:
It would be a mistake for Adam to go too far outside his heartlands, or to be tempted out of them, because if he stands and is beaten it would be a terrible blow to Plaid.
So frankly Rhodders shoudl be prevailed on to leave gently, Adam shoudl take his place, a new dynamic young Plaid candidate stand for C E and D at Westminster, and Plaid will sweep the board with minimal trauma.
They can also while they're at it end the 1st place for women guaranteed seats, which means we end up with glorified student politicians instead of serious campaigners with high national recognition ratings.
Plaid needs people who can take on Huw Lewis and Leighton Andrews etc, unpleasant but effective campaigners, and not be a sinecure for lightweight student union hacks and hackettes.
So frankly Rhodders shoudl be prevailed on to leave gently, Adam shoudl take his place
That would be a politically cynical move. You also don't call a by-election willy nilly even in a supposedly safe seat as it doesn't do anything for the electorate's confidence in the party.
That's true, I agree entirely, it would be cynical, and of course what makes Plaid a better party than the others is that it doesn;t do shit like that, but frankly, Plaid has done stupider shit things (like get rid of Dafydd Wigley when he transparently didn;t want to end his career), and this might be one thing that dramatically helped the party.
The fact is that a number of Plaid AMs are not fit for purpose, and the party's leadership lacks any real national visibility.
We've seen what national visibility has done for Alex Salmond's SNP, and if we want to be in a position to hit Labour and the Tories hard then we'll need to think of ways of getting Price in. Not just him, but giving him the power to strategise in the assembly to more effect.
Plaid has made some serious errors of judgment with its lists and its leadership over the last 5 years, and I do not believe that any breakthrough is possible as the party is currently constituted in the assembly.
It boils down partly to our lack of professionalism and our belief that because we're right we'll win in the end.
I don't think there's any mention in the article of a by-election or of Rhodri resigning, it's more of a 2011 thing. Adam Price has said before that he wants to go to the Assembly as a CE&D AM, which clearly he can only do if and when Rhodri retires.
I can see Rhodri stepping down in 2011 and Adam fighting his seat, in fact I'd see it as a probability more than a possibility (although far from certain).
Plaid needs people who can take on Huw Lewis and Leighton Andrews etc
Leighton Andrews? ha ha!
Well, Leighton Andrews took back the Rhondda from Plaid and he and his team have managed to make it a safe Labour seat once again. I think the man is a political schemer of the most cynical kind, and has never been above dirty fighting, but he's knocked Plaid out of the Rhondda running for another generation.
That's what I meant, and I think we know it.
Adam Price would be the kind of AM that would strike fear into the hearts of Labour AMs, but he will damage his reputation if he continues to make remarks like running against Peter Hain in a by-election.
Plaid Cymru needs to grow out of student politics.
I don't think that Rhodri Glyn Thomas attended the Plaid Cymru conference, so maybe?
On the Rhondda, Plaid (re)gained more council seats in that constituency last May than anywhere except Ceredigion
I assumed you meant as an effective national politician, not just an effective local campaigner.
Huw Lewis, as much as I disagree with him, has the potential to be both, Leighton does not.
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