Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Labour candidate apologises for speaking his mind
The old joke about Labour politicians being told when to breath via a direct line to Peter Mandelson was always an outrageous exaggeration, but one does wonder sometimes especially when new examples of the party's control freakery surfaces.
The latest case of over-the-top manipulation is the row over Kenneth Skates, Labour’s lead North Wales regional candidate, who blogged on newstatesman.com that his party would lose two AMs tomorrow. Mr Skates has now emailed the magazine to ask if his contribution could be removed after he was contacted by party officials:
In a statement, he said, “What I’d hoped to be a rallying call against apathy and the dangers of low turnout was clearly misguided. I have spoken with many colleagues in the party here in North Wales and am deeply sorry for any upset I have caused them.
“Everybody with an interest in politics enjoys making predictions, but mine were wrong and this will be shown on Thursday.
“I fully deserve the ear bashing I’ve had from my friends in the party, with whom I’ve been working hard to secure Labour victories. Certainly, crystal-ball gazing is something I’ll be leaving to commentators from now on.”
If Labour lose enough constituency seats in North Wales of course, Mr. Skates could find himself in the Assembly. Let us hope that he finds his own voice by then and permits himself a degree of independence in how he uses it, without fear of Labour Central Office.
Meanwhile, I too have now submitted a blog entry to the New Statesman. I do not anticipate having to apologise for it or withdrawing any part of it.
The latest case of over-the-top manipulation is the row over Kenneth Skates, Labour’s lead North Wales regional candidate, who blogged on newstatesman.com that his party would lose two AMs tomorrow. Mr Skates has now emailed the magazine to ask if his contribution could be removed after he was contacted by party officials:
In a statement, he said, “What I’d hoped to be a rallying call against apathy and the dangers of low turnout was clearly misguided. I have spoken with many colleagues in the party here in North Wales and am deeply sorry for any upset I have caused them.
“Everybody with an interest in politics enjoys making predictions, but mine were wrong and this will be shown on Thursday.
“I fully deserve the ear bashing I’ve had from my friends in the party, with whom I’ve been working hard to secure Labour victories. Certainly, crystal-ball gazing is something I’ll be leaving to commentators from now on.”
If Labour lose enough constituency seats in North Wales of course, Mr. Skates could find himself in the Assembly. Let us hope that he finds his own voice by then and permits himself a degree of independence in how he uses it, without fear of Labour Central Office.
Meanwhile, I too have now submitted a blog entry to the New Statesman. I do not anticipate having to apologise for it or withdrawing any part of it.
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> If Labour lose enough constituency seats in North Wales
>of course, Mr. Skates could find himself in the Assembly.
Where, of course, he would be only a second-class AM who only pretends to represent his constituents, according to the Secretary of State and various Labour luminaries. ;-)
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>of course, Mr. Skates could find himself in the Assembly.
Where, of course, he would be only a second-class AM who only pretends to represent his constituents, according to the Secretary of State and various Labour luminaries. ;-)
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