Peter Hain was a man for whom I had a lot of respect in my youth.
He was the leader of the Young Liberals whilst I was a leading member of the Merionethshire Young Liberals in the early 1970's.
When my sisters had posters of David Bowie and Donny Osmond on their bedroom walls I had a poster of Peter Hain on mine!
I have nothing but respect for Peter's valiant fight against Apartheid in the 60's and 70's, he was a national and an international hero, but despite his opposition to apartheid, Peter's political legacy seems to have been heavily influenced by SA apartheid PM Balthazar Johannes Vorster's mantra that opposing him was the same as supporting his opponents.
In true Vorster style Mr Hain claims that all votes against his party, be they from Plaid, Greens, Lib Dems, Communists, the SWP, Christian Voice, even supporters of birthday parties or Christmas parties are all closet evil Tories – any party, other than the Labour Party is the Evil Tory Party!
As a former supporter and one who use to have a great deal of respect for you, Peter, please don't transfer that sort of South African politics to Wales – we don't need it, we dont want it!
Leading member of the Merionethshire Young Liberals, eh? Who was the other one?
ReplyDeleteA lad called Gwyn something, I can't remember his surname; I believe that he is a solicitor somewhere on north Wales coast now. Although it might be hard to believe today, in the 1970's the Liberal party was fairly strong in Merioneth and was probably seen by the sitting Labour MP as a bigger threat than Plaid at the time.
ReplyDeleteGwynn Lloyd-Jones from Prestatyn?
ReplyDeleteMight be, I honestly don't remember his surname. One of us was chair and one of us was secretary, but I can't remember which one of us was which – it was a very long time ago. I suspect that I see Gwyn in the aisles of Tesco, Llandudno Junction, every now and again, and we do that embarrassing nod that means I think that I know who you are but I'm not sure enough to ask thing. I joined Plaid in 1979 as a result of the local Liberals not supporting party policy in favour of devolution and then lost touch with many of my Young Liberal colleagues, including Gwyn and Peter Hain.
ReplyDeleteHain's claim is by no means unique to him within Labour in Wales, whether Old or New. Their narrative (I do hate that term) in Wales has been to divide Wales politically into "Labour" and "not Labour". It's mainly for campagining convenince since it's easier not to have to deal with the nuances of different opponents and to deal with others as "non-Labour". It's a crude "us and them" type approach - or "Labour good, others bad"
ReplyDeleteHain is a crude and tribal politician. Any party other than Labour is, in his mind, self evidently bad. People get turned off by politicians like that. He's out of touch with the way things are going in this country. A bit of humility would be a good idea.
ReplyDeleteHain typifies everything that is wrong with Wales. Wolves dressed as sheep masquerading as our friends when in truth they are the real enemies of every man, woman and child in Wales.
ReplyDeleteEvery Labour politician takes their orders from UK Labour, 74% of their MPs represent English constituencies. Even if they wanted to stand up for Wales it would be political suicide for them. They have more MPs in London than in the whole of Wales. Which is why Hain handed our water over to them in 2006 and is recently calling for better links in England for Welsh people to use English airports.
Welsh nationalists need to declare war on Labour, I'm not a Plaid member but they are the only ones who can offer us any hope.
Tribal voting is a curse in Wales. The voters of Neath and Port Talbot are obviously not as discerning as those of Putney who twice rejected Peter Hain at the ballot box. Hain got ahead because he was an ambitious political opportunist. His fearless fight against apartheid was waged from the comfort and safety of Britain. No Robben Island for our hero.
ReplyDeleteThe man you're thinking of is Gwyn Griffiths from Towyn, who now works for the Labour Party in Cardiff Bay
ReplyDelete