Friday, December 11, 2009
The wrong winner
I had almost forgotten about this exchange at Rhodri Morgan's last First Minister's Question Time. It was a bit cruel to remind Rhodri Glyn Thomas of his faux pas in that way:
Rhodri Glyn Thomas: I, too, would like to echo the thanks for your contribution over the last decade and wish you well for the future both in the Assembly and, after that, in your retirement. Your contribution has been exceptionally important over the 10 years of devolution. As the most well-known figure in Welsh politics, will you make a commitment to play a prominent role in the referendum that will be held during the next year on the next step of devolution? Many of us think that your contribution would be extremely important in this referendum.
The First Minister: Thank you very much for your kind words. I was thinking of you last night when I was faced with the huge burden of opening the envelope and reading out the names of the three winners of the Welsh sports personality of the year competition. I was thinking 'I do not want to do the same thing as Rhodri Glyn’. Fortunately, the names had been written out very simply so that no-one could make any mistake in reading out the names of the winners in the correct order.
Rhodri Glyn Thomas: I, too, would like to echo the thanks for your contribution over the last decade and wish you well for the future both in the Assembly and, after that, in your retirement. Your contribution has been exceptionally important over the 10 years of devolution. As the most well-known figure in Welsh politics, will you make a commitment to play a prominent role in the referendum that will be held during the next year on the next step of devolution? Many of us think that your contribution would be extremely important in this referendum.
The First Minister: Thank you very much for your kind words. I was thinking of you last night when I was faced with the huge burden of opening the envelope and reading out the names of the three winners of the Welsh sports personality of the year competition. I was thinking 'I do not want to do the same thing as Rhodri Glyn’. Fortunately, the names had been written out very simply so that no-one could make any mistake in reading out the names of the winners in the correct order.
