Seneddwr has a bitch post about Alun Davies AM. I don't like bitch posts - politics is about policies rather than personalities.
I don't agree with much of Alun's political viewpoint, but he is one of the most charismatic orators that I have ever heard.
I have heard the big guns of Plaid speak in conference, but only Alun has ever made me have to pretend that a fly got in my eye because I was too macho to admit that I had been reduced to tears.
In Plaid in the late 80's early 90's the debate about the ambitious young turks usually cantered on wither Ashley Drake or Alun Davies would be that generation's eventual party leader, most said Alun. Adam was never part of the equation (Ashley seems to have disappeared).
Alun has made his mark in the Assembly in the few weeks that he has been there, he may not have pleased everybody - but everybody now knows who he is - which is more than you can say about most of the new intake (and many of those who have been there for the whole eight years).
Sadly Alun will never be the leader of Plaid, but I would be very much surprised if he doesn’t become the leader of the Labour Party eventually, and if electoral things go his way a very, very popular First Minister.
If that happens I won't let him forget what he said that bought tears to my eyes. Alun spoke of his grandfather's love of Wales and his deathbed regret that he wasn't dying in a Free Wales. I don't know about you, said Alun, with passion but I don't want to die a British subject.
I still don't want to die a British subject, Alun, I hope that you don't either!
supposing he gets re-elected...
ReplyDeleteHmmm.... Plaid infiltrators in Labour & Conservatives, Labour infiltrators in Plaid.... Things are getting confusing
ReplyDeleteHe certainly needs to find a safe Labour seat and considering the number of Labour non-entities he deserves one
ReplyDeleteMOF - Your assertion that Alun Davies will one day lead the Labour Party is, with all the good will in the world, completely absurd. He is, almost to a woman and man, reviled by fellow AMs and party activists.
ReplyDeleteYou also mention in your post that don't like "bitch-posts". Fair enough - they're an acquired taste, I guess. I would merely say in response that I don't much like people who have turned political expediency into an art form and elevated rude and obnoxious behaviour to nausea-inducing heights. Truth be told, I'm not really a fan of hagiographies of said people either.
One minute you're sidling up to the Tories, the next minue you're praising one of the most obnoxious men in Wales.
ReplyDeleteAlun Davies is a man whose principles are such that he can lobby for nuclear power and tobacco as well as other multinationals and still call himself a socialist with no sense of irony.
He sneaked in under the wire because of Labour's catastrophic election results - I have no doubt he will disappear in four years' time back to the lobbying circuit.
What a pathetic response Hafod. You can't change history, Alun was the hope for the future when he was a member of Plaid. He was good enough to be elected to senior office in Plaid in the 1990's. Whatever strengths he had as a member of Plaid he still has now (and those strengths can still be seen in his contributions in the Bay). Whatever weakness's he has as a member of the Labour Party he also had when he was a leading light in Plaid.
ReplyDeleteI didn't agree with Alun's socialism when he was in Plaid, I don't agree with it now that he's out of Plaid.
I think that Alun is a treacherous little shit for changing from Plaid to Labour.
The point of my post was that for Commonweal or King - a good swordsman is a good swordsman Alun was a good swordsman in Plaid, changing party allegiance won't have blunted his sword. Ufortunately!
Your comments about Alun Davies show basically that you really haven't got a clue about the Labour party in Wales. He has as much chance of becoming Leader of the Labour party as Wales has of becoming an independent state. As for the safe Labour seat forget it. He is stuck with a list seat. Whether he returns in 2011 depends on Labour results in the first past the post constituencies in Mid and West Wales . He only has a higher profile than other new members because there are so few Labour AMs who speak Welsh. As a result he automatically becomes Labour's voice for the Welsh media. Most Labour voters in the English speaking areas wouldn't know him from Adam.
ReplyDeleteShw mai Alwyn! Ashley Drake here.
ReplyDeleteYour blog was e-mailed to me this morning. Shocked to see my name mentioned.
I escaped the clutches of the political world about 10 years ago. The fact that I am happily married with two wonderful children confirms that my decision was the correct one. I have been a publisher for many years and currently work as Director of the University of Wales Press in Cardiff.
I am also amazed that anyone thought that I could be or wanted to be the leader of Plaid. I never entertained that prospect. I was an orgainser/fixer and not a figurehead.
Cofion Gorau