Thursday, March 23, 2006
A question of leadership
Interesting article in this morning's Western Mail suggesting that a coalition of the opposition parties might be led into Government by Dafydd Elis-Thomas after next May's elections. Whoever wrote this piece is obviously a big fan:
Another of Plaid's great assets - Dafydd Elis-Thomas - is essentially marginalised, partly because of his role as the Assembly's Presiding Officer. But his exclusion goes beyond that: he currently has little influence over the direction Plaid is taking, and is regarded almost with contempt by leading figures in the party. Instead of taking advantage of the statesmanlike skills of Elis-Thomas, a significant proportion of the party would rather he wasn't there. Many have never forgiven him for taking a peerage following his departure from the Commons in 1992, preferring to blank out from their minds the House of Lords' continuing crucial legislative role.
The Western Mail though needs to move on. Firstly, they promote Dafydd Wigley, now they are pushing forward another of Plaid's past Presidents for the top job. Do they not think that perhaps we should let the voters decide?
Another of Plaid's great assets - Dafydd Elis-Thomas - is essentially marginalised, partly because of his role as the Assembly's Presiding Officer. But his exclusion goes beyond that: he currently has little influence over the direction Plaid is taking, and is regarded almost with contempt by leading figures in the party. Instead of taking advantage of the statesmanlike skills of Elis-Thomas, a significant proportion of the party would rather he wasn't there. Many have never forgiven him for taking a peerage following his departure from the Commons in 1992, preferring to blank out from their minds the House of Lords' continuing crucial legislative role.
The Western Mail though needs to move on. Firstly, they promote Dafydd Wigley, now they are pushing forward another of Plaid's past Presidents for the top job. Do they not think that perhaps we should let the voters decide?
