Congratulations Leanne

I would like to offer sincere congratulations to Leanne Wood on gaining the leadership of Plaid Cymru.

There is no secret in the fact that there are huge differences of opinion between my right of centre politics and Leanne's left wing politics.

I have berated Leanne's political stance on a regular basis since I started blogging; I don't expect that to change! The posts in which I have noted that Leanne and I disagree are the ones which have attracted the greatest number of comments by both those who support her and those who agree with me! That is Leanne's strength as a party leader; she is a politician who can spark fierce debate, a woman whose opinions attract a strong response be it in her favour or against her.

Too many of our current politicians are people who are too respectable and too moderate; people who are afraid to upset anyone; people who follow the crowd rather than challenge people to think about alternative routes.

According to the old cliché the only thing worse than people talking about you is people not talking about you. Unfortunately people have not talked much about Plaid, Independence or the alternatives to the political consensus recently!

Leanne is a woman who cannot "not be talked about", she is a lady whose views tend to create a fierce political debate.

As long as she isn't mesmerised by the importance of her new office or forced into compromise by party advisors too worried about rocking the boat, Leanne's uncompromising and clear views on all the important issues facing Wales will created interesting, sometimes heated, debates which will not only be beneficial to Plaid Cymru but will also be beneficial to Welsh politics in general.