Uh oh! Vaughan's back on Bournewatch!

Translation of Vaughan Roderick's latest Bournewatch instalmment: "reading between the lines"

Interesting.

Two Tory press statements have reached us this morning. There is no connection between them. There isn't. Not at all.

The first says that the opposition's cabinet members have voted unanimously to give Nick Bourne's leadership a vote of confidence. Before you ask, the "opposition cabinet" includes all of the group's members. Not one Tory has to slum it on the backbenches,

The second statement announces that the party are setting up a committee to draft new guidelines for the members regarding claiming expenses. As I said, no connection.

Where does that leave things? This is how I see the situation. I think the group's members have come to their senses regarding the damage the whole episode has caused their party and they also believe that forcing Nick Bourne to step down may make matters worse. There's also another factor. Even though there is opposition to Nick Bourne as leader that doesn't correspond to support for Jonathan Morgan as his successor. I have no doubt Jonathan Morgan would have sharpened his blade if he had the votes in his pocket.

So is Nick safe? Yes, for now, since his opponents don't have any more rubbish to throw at him. Will Nick lead his party into the 2011 election? I would bet a shilling that he won't...but the AM for Cardiff North's hopes of doing so are also uncertain. Darren Miller [sic?*] is the one who has all to play for.

*I think it's probably about time we found out how Darren actually spells his surname! This isn't the first time Vaughan has used an 'e'. Others - including our good selves here at PC - tend to use an 'a'. But what hope is there when Darren himself doesn't seem 100% sure**?!

Translation by Dewi Dau

**Update, 16th January: Glad to see the powers at be have looked at their site and have now finally decided that Darren does indeed favour the use of an 'a' in his surname! Anybody clicking on the link above will be unaware that there were conflicting versions of the politician's surname on that page...until somebody so rudely pointed it out.