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January 20, 2021 - 5:11pm
For all the talk of a ‘devolution revolution’ from Paul Davies, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, he is not leading by example. Reports emerged last night that he and his top lieutenants were drinking alcohol in the Senedd before Christmas (allegedly until 2am), days after a ban on serving it in pubs took effect.
Davies is “profoundly sorry” but growing numbers of candidates and activists are calling on him to resign — angered not only by the breach of the ‘spirit’ of Covid restrictions, but incensed that their leader was enjoying himself with a Labour member in the ‘Cardiff Bay Bubble’ that growing numbers of Welsh Tories want to destroy.
As the former first minister Carwyn Jones pointed out, there’s the question of who gave the story to the press. Is this a coup attempt by those within the party who are hellbent on putting devo-scepticism at the top of the Welsh Conservative agenda?
The embarrassing episode has shone a spotlight on the future direction of the party, which is already at a crossroads on the question of devolution, four months ahead of the Senedd election.
Historically, Tories are not so welcome in Wales. The legacy of the British party still haunts parts of our nation vividly – especially the Valleys, where the impact of Margaret Thatcher’s confrontation with the mining industry is reflected in the poverty that plagues post-industrial towns. The Conservatives’ role in devolved Wales has been debated at length too. ‘Have we been anti-Welsh?’, asked David Melding in his now infamous 2005 essay. The question is just as relevant today as it was back then.
While most of the Conservative Party in Wales (as it was once known) opposed devolution, figures like Lords member Nick Bourne made a concerted effort to shift the party to a more ‘Welsh’ stance in the first decade of this century. Mr. Melding, the party’s policy guru and manifesto writer, even floated a potential re-name to Ymlaen (Welsh for ‘forward’).
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SubscribeI typed in a recent forum: “The Welsh Labour Party has one policy, independence. Plaid Cymru has one policy, independence. The Welsh Conservatives don’t stand for anything at all.”
I have recently sent emails to the Welsh Conservatives and have had no answer at all. Is there an organisation somewhere which actually does something?
In the past I have sent emails to Nia Griffiths(Labour) asking why Llanelli was in such a terrible state, despite having been a Labour seat for ever. For a while there was no answer and then an assistant suggested I should go to a meeting at 5pm one Friday, when I was working.
Today is perfect for Conservatives to take over but they need some imagination. Mark Drakeford’s vaccine gaffe is an opportunity. He will have to delay May’s election now because he must be unelectable at the moment.
In First Minister’s Question Time last week, Paul Davies asked about the lost opportunity which was British Volt. Drakeford’s answer was pathetic but Davies didn’t follow it up.
Wales needs ideas and jobs. Where are the discussion forums which the Conservatives should be leading? It is 36 years since Thatcher’s battle against the miners and I know people who would never, ever vote Tory. But they are dwindling slowly. I live in a really poor area and want to vote for somebody who will try to improve it. Drakeford’s answer is to manipulate the electorate by changing the voting age, brainwash the schoolchildren, get independence in about 15 years from now and begging money from the EU. Brilliant plan!!!
In a poll of Welsh voting intentions taken a few days ago, the Reform Party had already overtaken the Lib Dems. And this only a few days after the Reform Party had been approved by the Electoral Commission. It seems to me that Farage could easily wipe out the Tories in Wales, and that would probably be a very good thing. Not as good as wiping out the Labour Party in Wales, but still a good thing.
Yes, but to be provocative, does the Reform Party have the back-up to win the next election in May? This is quite small. Four months to the election and who will win? Where I live, in Llanelli constituency, people will probably just not vote. Who can capture the imagination to allow us to stop the slide? BTW, is the Reform Party the same as the Abolish The Welsh Assembly Party?
The Reform Party is the Brexit Party, renamed. In 2019 they won the EU election having only formed a few weeks previously, utterly destroying the Tories. Of course, they won’t be the largest party but they will take votes from most of the other parties and give some non-voters something to vote for.
If they can get to 5% after a few days, with limited publicity, it seems reasonably to assume that they will get to 10 or perhaps 15% in the election. One problem is that a lot of people who would naturally have voted for Reform will vote for Abolish. On the plus side, this does mean that the Welsh have two parties worth voting for, and that’s a first in my lifetime, anywhere in the UK.
Good. some of us have been voting “The Least of Two Evils” for too long now.
And what concrete policies does the Reform Party espouse? That might genuinely benefit people in such depressed places as Llanelli?
Welsh conservatives could be pro-capitalism- the number of people in Ceredigion that quietly support less regulation is substantial.
Totally agree. Another issue though is the difference between the North and South. I live in Carmarthenshire but we do have family in Anglesey. They don’t think about the same things as we do.
There are three major divides in Wales: North/South, industrial/rural and Welsh-speaking/monoglot English. These divisions make it very difficult for Plaid Cymru to find any unifying themes, thank God.
So what is all this about a Bacchanalian party in the Senedd and Alun Davies (Labour) getting the chop?
Buddies getting together.
Every Saturday we can see a recording of Welsh First Minister’s Question Time. Riveting viewing. The questions are very polite, like sheep in fact. You get the impression that everybody is cosy and there is no fight at all. The elections coming up in May are a foregone conclusion. This is a terrible waste of public money but they keep appealing to the pride of Welsh people. If you are proud to be Welsh, then you must be proud of the assembly. Yes, but only if it does something.
Just politicians doing all the things they have banned the rest of us from doing. Never forget just how evil and dishonest these people are.
Evil? Just a tad OTT.
Its looks even bleaker now that the gentleman pictured above has been forced to resign.
Guido fawkes suggests the various Davies’s were mixed up by the sky news report ??