An open goal

There's either something really clever going on or Ms Hewitt and Mr Hoon's campaign is just what it seems.

Already other parties are reacting (Eric Pickles, Chairman of the Conservative Party, could hardly contain himself on Sky News this lunchtime).

For a Welsh angle, Elfyn Llwyd isn't impressed at all:

"This petty internal squabbling amongst Labour MPs only emphasises how out of touch they are.

"With Wales fighting a severe recession, and many people continuing to lose their jobs, Labour’s priorities today are unsavoury to say the least.

"Meanwhile the Tories seem to have arrogantly assumed that the election is a forgone conclusion while Wales still bears the deep scars of previous Conservative governments.

"There is little choice between the two parties and both have proved they are incapable of defending Wales. Brown’s leadership battle means very little to Welsh communities. This government should be getting on with tackling the precarious state of the economy."

While the Liberal Democrats take a similar line.

Danny Alexander MP says:

"Labour has given up any hope of winning this election and given up on governing the country.

"Labour MPs are now in a desperate scrabble to save their own seats and minimise their defeat.

"People have no reason to vote for a party that’s failed to deliver fairness, failed to fix the rotten political system and failed on the environment. The only party to vote for in the next election if you want a fairer society is the Liberal Democrats.

"The country doesn’t need a secret a ballot to get rid of Gordon Brown, it needs a General Election."

There's been some speculation that might be coming sooner rather than later but there's hardly been a flurry of support for this coup so far...

Dewi Tri

It’s as if they want to lose...

Today we have seen the Labour party once again going out of their way to shoot themselves squarely in the foot. Just when they were clawing their way back in the opinion polls, just when the bookies had been reducing the odds on a hung parliament, just when Conservative credentials were under fire and just when the air of competence was returning to the party they go and undermine it all by starting a mud-slinging session.

The move by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt to reopen the Labour leadership issue and put Gordon Brown’s position in doubt cannot be helpful to the party as a whole. Things for Labour have been getting better (very very slowly I admit,) even today Brown had the better of Cameron and Clegg in PMQ’s, but instead of starting to build momentum Brown is once again on the defensive focusing on his own position as opposed to attacking the other parties.

The Conservatives must be loving it. The former cabinet Ministers have done their work for them, now there will be wall to wall coverage of the possible Coup giving the Tories a chance to escape the heat that was coming their way after their Marriage Tax debacle. It also gives them more ammunition to throw at Brown in the lead up to an election. This proposed secret ballot weakens the Prime Minister, and therefore the Labour party, just months before an election.

I wonder what Hoon and Hewitt’s end game is? Who do they have in mind to take over? Given that the election will be won and lost on the economy who do they think is better placed than Gordon Brown to win the economic argument for them? The letter also says that a ballot would unify the party, but does such a ballot really create a sense of unity? Or more importantly portray a unified party to the country?

Whatever happens next the Labour party will now have to waste energy infighting rather than doing other things like tackling recession and trying to win an election.

I have just heard on BBC News 24 the first call for an early election I suspect there will be a lot more throughout the day.

Sometimes something’s in politics baffle you – this move at this time is one of them.

You can read the letter here, maybe you’ll understand how Hoon and Hewitt thought this would help the Labour Party.

Dewi Un

Devo-what?

Anything strike you as odd about the following statement from Martyn Jones MP for Clwyd South?

"I'm concerned about the number of people with long-term conditions in my constituency who may be choosing to go without vital medicines... Gordon Brown was right to promise free prescriptions for people with long-term conditions, but he must now follow through and implement this promise as soon as possible."

I think that Mr Jones may have misunderstood just a little whose responsibility it is to act on such issues, given that the Labour lead Welsh Assembly Government have already legislated on the matter!

Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t ‘free prescriptions’ one of Welsh Labour and the Welsh Assembly Governments marquee polices? Hasn’t Welsh Labour defended the policy over and over again, and lauded its success? Isn’t this a prime example of a WAG policy that appeals to the Labour grass roots and legitimises their claim to be the party of the people?

If so it seems a bit odd to me that Martyn Jones a Labour MP would have forgotten about it? Maybe he just simply misunderstood the current devolution settlement? He wouldn’t be the first and he probably won’t be the last.

Dewi Un

Remember the one about the vegetarian agriculture minister?

On Saturday Labour elected Christine Gwyther to be their candidate for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr in the general election. The former Assembly Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembroke has been out of frontline politics since 2007 and is now ready for her comeback.

An AM for 8 years she was controversially appointed minister for agriculture by Alun Michael despite the fact she was a vegetarian. With Wales being in the middle of a beef crisis at the time opposition parties and farming unions weren’t best pleased to say the least. When Rhodri took over the reins she was replaced by the now First Minister in waiting Carwyn Jones, ironically on the eve of the Royal Welsh show.

The selection of Gwyther shows that the Labour Party are beefing up their efforts in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr. Despite her sketchy record as minister for agriculture Christine Gwyther has been an elected politician for some time and is an experienced campaigner. The Labour party in the area must be hoping that they can take advantage of Adam Price’s decision to step down and the selection of an old head must be an attempt to counter Plaid’s candidate Jonathan Edwards.

It will be interesting what impact Chrisitne Gwyther will make in the seat, with a big majority to overturn is she simply a lame duck?

Dewi Un

UPDTAE 16:45

Having just spoken to a local Labour party insider it may well be that it was the lack of competition that swung the vote for Christine Gwyther and not some grand plan emphasising experience!

This is a voice mail message left by one of her competitors to a 19 year old brass band member who pulled out of a concert (granted it was in Lybia). It's quite infamous by now so you may remember it.

Andrew Davies - Jumped or Pushed?

Finance and Public Services Delivery Minister Andrew Davies has announced today that he is to stand down as an AM at the next Assembly Election. The man behind Edwina Harts campaign said that “it is time for me to have a greater balance and change of pace in my life and to seek out new challenges.”

The question we’re asking is did he jump before he was pushed? We know that Andrew Davies isn’t Carwyn Jones’ biggest fan, recently he described his role in the Cabinet as “semi-detached”. We also know that Carwyn will be looking to promote some of his supporters into the cabinet (Leighton Andrews anyone?) and so it may be that the prospect of being demoted to a backbench AM was something he didn’t fancy.

The news will also come as a bit of a kick in the teeth to Carwyn Jones who had been quite successful in pushing his theme of post election party unity. I wonder if this announcement will take some of the gloss off Tuesday’s events? In saying that, this does make his reshuffle a little easier, he can now claim that because Andrew Davies is stepping down in 2011 he had to replace him in the cabinet, and it therefore had nothing to do with their frosty relationship (but such a strategy could leave him in hot water because of Jane Davidson).

Today’s news offers a whole host of implications for the upcoming reshuffle and is likely to spawn several conspiracy theories, it could just be that Andrew Davies fancied a change!
His decision to step down has been on the cards for a while according to some, but others have been caught by surprise. As late as last night some Plaid Cymru sources had been telling the Western Mail that Carwyn Jones should keep Andrew Davies in the Cabinet. I doubt they’ll be saying that today. You can read more about that here.

Andrew Davies will leave behind a Swansea West constituency that is high on the Liberal Democrats hit list, which whilst not making everyone quake in fear should give the Labour party some cause for concern. The Liberals have steadily increased their council representation in Swansea and have a strong operation in the area.

The list of AMs stepping down at the next election is growing almost monthly, which means that whatever the outcome politically there will bve a host of new faces come 2011.

Dewi Un

P.S a quick plug: If you’re not already following us on Twitter you should be! Here’s the link take a look to see who broke the news first...

Get on with it!

Is anyone else getting a little tired of this continued posturing from Rhodri Morgan? Will he, wont he, will he, wont he, over and over again. From a purely selfish perspective I’m fed up of explaining to friends why he has yet to announce his departure date, “but I thought you said he was retiring?” Yes I did say that but...

Away from my selfish desire for closure surely Rhodri is now doing more harm than good? How can the Labour Party here in Wales start planning a coherent message for the electorate if they don’t know who will be at the helm? If they have a next step to take then they should surely hurry up and get on with it lest be caught mid step. I understand that Rhodri may not have wanted to Grandstand Gordon at the Conference so I will give him some leeway but my goodwill is fast running out.

There has been a lot of talk regarding who will take over the reigns – I won’t go into much depth about the likely candidates here (there will be plenty of time for that when he does eventually announce) – but none of them are what you would describe as household names.

Whilst having dinner at Pizza Express last Friday (the dough balls there are exquisite) I tried a little social experiment. How many people around the table had ever heard of Huw, Carwyn and Edwina? The answer: not many, and those sharing the dough balls are good examples of the type of voters that all the parties target election time: floating voters, who care more about policy than politics. These are the type of voters that swing elections – you know your ‘Middle England’ voters -the ones that turned to Labour in 1997.

Now if they wouldn’t know Edwina / Huw / Carwyn even if they came up and slapped them in the face then Labour needs to do something. One option is to get the whole leadership election over and done with and then stick the winners face on every magazine / TV show / newspaper going and start building a public persona.

My point therefore, the longer Rhodri holds on the more damaging for Labour because the less time his successor will have before GE day. If polls are to be believed then people are turning away from Labour – having an anonymous leader here in Wales is not likely to get them back.

Thoughts?

Side note: My table at Pizza Express was a mixed bag. I was the youngest there by about 8 years. The rest were teachers, community workers, television assistant directors and a student (plus a two year old). And they were struggling to find a relevance to my question when there are other more important things going on in their respective lives. Winning back hearts and minds it seems will be difficult for every party.

Dewi Un

ReActing well to the recession?

Just a quick post whilst I’m tucking away a chicken Caesar sandwich in Terra Nova. Some good news for Wales; unemployment is falling here in stark contrast to the rest of Britain where it is rising. Rhodri Morgan has said that this good sign shows that the Welsh economy is resisting the pressures of the recession and is encouraged by the progress shown. Cheryl Gillan on the other hand is urging caution - let's not get overexcited is her message.

These figures must be good news for Welsh Labour and may offer them a glimmer of hope for all the elections coming their way in the next few years. If these trends continue then they can legitimately claim that they have saved Welsh jobs (through their policies like ProAct and ReAct) and will surely therefore gain a degree of respect and popularity with a large proportion of the electorate.

All of Welsh Labour must have every possible finger crossed that these figures are not just a flash in the pan, at the moment it looks like these figures and their continued success is Welsh Labour’s only weapon in the face of electoral disaster.

Dewi Un

Another one bites the dust

I think there must be something in the water. Politicians left right and centre are either resigning, retiring or ‘spending more time with the family’ be it in the European Parliament, Westminster or down the Bay.

The latest from the Senedd; Dr Brian Gibbons former minister for health and current local government and social justice minister has told his Aberavon constituency that he intends to step down at the next Assembly elections.

The Labour party must now know how the Liberal Democrats felt after hearing about Mick Bates; Brian Gibbons has been in the Assembly since 1999 and has been a minister for nine years - he will undoubtedly be missed by the party in Wales.

The AM for Aberavon says that he wants to return to his previous life as a GP and do some travelling before retiring completely.

As with all political retirements questions will be asked as to whether or not Dr Gibbons knows something we don’t and is therefore making his decision based on a possible Labour massacre at the next Assembly elections and over the coming years.

It is also the case with political retirements that intrigue over the successor is rife, how well does Eluned Morgan know the Aberavon area I wonder? I also wonder if Alun Davies is gutted that he announced his plans so soon?

The political scene in the bay will undergo a quiet transformation in 2011 regardless of the results – what with Rhodri Morgan, Mick Bates and Brian Gibbons departing. All senior AMs with good reputations down the bay, so who’s next I wonder?

Thoughts on the other runners and riders for early retirement / spending more time for the family / switching profession:

2/1 – Rhodri Glyn Thomas (Westminster bound)

3/1 – Gwenda Thomas

7/1 – Irene James

7/1 – Karen Sinclair

10 /1– William Graham

25/1 – Lord Ellis – Thomas

50/1 – Mike German

Who do you think?

Dewi Un

P.S I must confess i'm not a betting expert...

Lisa Stevens tweets Politics Cymru

And so onto our third and final Twitterview of the week (because the Tories never got back to us). This lunchtime the three Dewis took over the Prifysgol Aberystwyth University stall on the Eisteddfod maes to twitterview Labour's Lisa Stevens. She's second on the party's list of European candidates.

The whole event attracted plenty of attention - not least from chair of the All Wales Convention, Sir Emyr Jones Parry who seemed most impressed by this unusual concept!

Here's how the conversation went:

The Dewis are at the Eisteddfod for our third and final Twitterview coming up at 12 with @Lisa_Stevens. Any more questions anyone?about 6 hours ago from web

Lisa will be with us shortly! In the meantime - thanks to Aberystwyth University for letting us use their computer on the Maes!about 6 hours ago from web

Politics_Cymru@Lisa_Stevens Hi Lisa, are you there? Thanks for taking part! How's your campaign going?about 6 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru hello all! Ready for my first 'twitterview'about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens How's the campaign going?about 6 hours ago from web in reply to Lisa_Stevens

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru very well thanks - and the sun is shining!!about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens Isn't it lovely? Since we're at the Urdd Eisteddfod why do you think young people aren't interested in European politics?about 5 hours ago from web in reply to Lisa_Stevens

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru I think many are actually interested in the issues - but just put-off by the 'yah-boo' macho style of politics...about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens Isn't that just Westminster politics? How aware are they of what the EP is doing?about 5 hours ago from web in reply to Lisa_Stevens

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru Yes it largely is, but Westminster dominates the media and so perceptions. Also why young not aware of EP!about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru@Lisa_Stevens What about the wider public, are they interested in what you're doing?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru they're interested in jobs, the environment, rights at work... and often surprised how Europe has delivered for them on theseabout 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens from @Marcuswarner, how will you work together with the other Welsh MEPs on these issues?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru @MarcusWarner the EP is all about cooperation and achieving consensus - across Party lines and national lines tooabout 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens So what's made you want to stand?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru because I believe working through Europe is vital to tackling the challenges Wales faces - on jobs, environment, security...about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru and because we need more young voices too!about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens And what has Labour achieved in Europe so far?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru billions of Euro-funding for Wales, improved righs for workers, environmental protection, slashing mobile roaming costs...about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens "Plaid has demanded that the two current Welsh Labour MEPs publish their expenses". Would you publish yours?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru all Labour candidates pledge to publish expenses and receipts every six months and we're calling on other parties to do alsoabout 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens Turnout's a big worry for this election. Will it be less than 40% do you think?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru It's very difficult to say. I'm working hard to get as many voters out as possibe!about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens But if it is low, will Labour be hit hardest?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru Again, it's very hard to say! We are focusing on getting our message out - only Labour delivers for Wales in Europeabout 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens If you're not elected, it will be the first time in a long time Labour have lost a pop. vote in Wales. What will that mean?about 5 hours ago from web

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru I think we'll have to deal with the meaning of any outcome if it happens! I'm out campaigning to ensure we do win 2 seats!about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Politics_Cymru @Lisa_Stevens Well thanks for your time Lisa! Do you think this has been a success? Will we be seeing more ‘Twitterviews’ in the future?

Lisa_Stevens@Politics_Cymru thank you! I think it's great new way to communicate! Enjoy the Urdd...about 5 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Thanks to @europlaid, @alanbp and @Lisa_Stevens for taking part in this week's historic twitterviews! Diolch yn fawr!about 5 hours ago from web

Y Tri Dewi

Dewi Tri visits Labour Conference

So this weekend saw the final episode in the spring party conference series as Labour members from far and wide gathered in Swansea's Brangwyn Hall.

Eventually Politics Cymru was allowed entry and we are grateful to the Labour staff for allowing Dewi Tri to attend yesterday's events at such short notice. As many of you already know, due to security concerns - and, it must be said, our own sluggishness in applying for accreditation (how dare us assume that Labour would be as accommodating as the other parties!) - we were barred entry on Friday and Saturday.

But we are nothing if not persistent here at PC HQ and we gladly packed Dewi Tri off to the final day of conference where he bumped into Secretary of State for Wales, Paul Murphy.

In a wide-ranging interview the Minister was quizzed on the language LCO, Europe and Cardiff's relationship with Westminster.



Dewi also had a chat with Carwyn Jones and asked what values Rhodri Morgan's successor would need to bring to the table (he's very subtle is Dewi Tri!).



And last but not least, here's an interview with Leighton Veale, one of Labour's candidates for the European elections.



So plenty of fighting talk from all three Labour representatives but what are your thoughts on what each one had to say? Did Paul Murphy's response to Dewi Tri's question about the way the language LCO is being dealt with convince you?

Let us know.

Vote Labour because it could be worse!

Doesn’t exactly have you running for the ballot box does it?

I've just got back from this weekend's Labour conference in Swansea where Politics Cymru was eventually allowed in (Labour are apparently pickier about who they let in on the main days of their conference). So baring in mind I'd missed all the big names (Rhodri Morgan, Harriet Harman, John Prescott and even Gordon Brown himself) it shouldn't really be a comparable experience to the Plaid and Lib Dem conferences (also my audio recorder broke so there are fewer interviews to put up).

On the whole today didn't seem like the place everyone wanted to be. There were a few cheery faces outnumbered considerably by their more tired-looking counterparts.

Paul Murphy’s speech didn't help.

There were a few half-hearted rounds of applause for party members, Rhodri Morgan and taxing rich people but otherwise the hall was quiet and unexcited throughout.

The line from Paul Murphy was the same line we've been hearing from Labour for decades: Tories bad, nationalists bad, Liberals irrelevant. Vote Labour!

Leading party members wanted this weekend to remind everyone why they were Labour in the first place: social justice, compassion and community and the fringe events certainly seemed to reinforce those values.

So what about Europe? Well all the candidates were there and on show but there wasn’t a great deal of optimism. We "hope" to return two members, "It's going to be tough".

This from the party who have dominated Welsh politics for the better part of the last century.

Rhodri Morgan was still about too but there’s still no word as to when he might choose to go so we're all left with this vague date of his birthday at the end of September with most too afraid to ask for a more specific timescale.

I was told the troops were rallied, I was told there was a renewed sense of optimism and excitement. Maybe it was on show the rest of the weekend but it wasn’t really visible today.

Dewi Tri
PS with a bit of luck there's going to be audio from Paul Murphy, Carwyn Jones and Leighton Veale coming soon!

Labour Just Don't Get It

Another week, another Labour online balls-up. This time the medium was twitter – the new(ish) microblogging site that is quickly taking over the world. This article in the Western Mail exposed a couple of posts by David Taylor, aide to Leighton Andrews (that one time leadership contender- apparently).

Mr Taylor - a Man Utd fan - thought it would be a good idea to indulge in some “run-of -the-mill” banter on his Twitter page over the Hillsborough disaster, where 96 people (mainly Liverpool fans) died. He has since apologised for his comments but I think it’s safe to say that the damage has been done. Some of it may be fairly innocuous but what tipped the scales was a reference to a song entitled “You’ll never walk again” which, given the proximity to the anniversary of Hillsborough, has been widely seen as insensitive.

Does this incident show that Welsh Labour just hasn’t got its head around this internet business? It is not just something that the cool kids do: anyone and everyone can access stuff on the internet. If you write something (or post a video) someone will see it, and if you write stuff like David Taylor did then someone will get offended by it. And given that he works for the government it’s not a good idea to offend (or post something which could even remotely offend) sections of the electorate.

Welsh Labour needs to start taking the internet seriously. The digital revolution is here to stay so they had better buck up their ideas or they will be even further behind in the online battle come election time.

Dewi Un

Image used courtesy of splat @ Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/splat/1552326411/

Why, why, why?

So what do we make of this then?

Three prominent Labour politicians have launched a new website (presumably in response to Plaid Cymru's WalesCan site) and their first offering is this interesting video.

Is this just a light-hearted attempt at drawing in votes ahead of June's European elections? Probably. Are opposition parties getting a bit too wound up about all this? Possibly.

But there are a couple of issues here: how is this material any different to Nick Bourne's dodgy dossier (apart from being slightly more musical and creative)?

Secondly, how will Plaid Cymru react to this? The party will inevitably be annoyed at seeing its leader dressed in a very fetching clown's hat. Let's remember that this fragile coalition agreement is based on the need for compromise between Labour and Plaid. This video can only make things between Rodders and IWJ more awkward - although perhaps they can now compare notes on what it is that makes drawing comparisons between them and clowns so appealing.

Plaid Cymru supporters will also wonder what damage the video's take on the constitutional future will have done to the prospects of holding a referendum. We know Labour have never supported independence but in effectively dismissing Plaid Cymru as a party whose sole raison d'etre is to achieve independence for Wales, in the process they are distancing themselves from the 'greater powers for Wales' argument.

This video is a stroke of genius if these are the objectives. I doubt however that Peter Hain, who likes to describe himself as one of the chief architects of devolution, has such goals in his sights.

The other two running this site are Eluned Morgan, MEP and Alun Davies, AM.

Inspired choice for a website name to be fair to the three of them though. "AneurinGlyndwr.com": I see what they did there! Although one struggles to see how OG would ever associate himself with any party other than Plaid Cymru if he was still around.

Dewi Dau

Morgan WILL step down this year

The Welsh First Minister was on the Politics Show this lunchtime saying that his retirement plans haven't been affected by the economic downturn.

This now clears the way for the likes of Carwyn Jones, Huw Lewis and Edwina Hart (maybe?) to throw their hats into the ring and get the contest for the top job underway.

So who do we reckon will be the first to go for it?

Dewi Tri

All Quiet on the Labour front...

It strikes me as a relative newcomer to the Welsh blogosphere that there is a distinct lack of blogs from Welsh Labour.

Other parties have got with the times and I've found that one of the best ways to keep up to date with politicians has been through their respective blogs: the Lib Dems have one of the best bloggers in Wales in the form of Peter Black who's excellent for regular and topical debate, Bethan Jenkins – Plaid's rising star – frequently blogs on her work and Conservative leader Nick Bourne posts on an infrequent but fairly regular basis.

There are also blogs from 'grass roots' party supporters for many of the other parties but considering Labour are the biggest party in the country and considering they have more AMs than anyone else, one would think a blogger might be among them...

Is it just easier to attack the government than defend it, do you think? Or are Labour just too busy governing?

Could it be that the Labour party are missing a trick? After all, while other parties pride themselves on getting people involved Labour seem content to hide away in Cardiff Bay...

I'd love to know your thoughts on this one!

Dewi Tri

PS If there is a good Labour-supporting blog that hasn't crossed my path please let me know!

Eluned Morgan ruling nothing out

Eluned Morgan has just told S4C's CF99 that she's “keeping her options open” in the near future.

She has been a Labour MEP for Wales since 1994 but will be stepping down next year – she has been touted as a potential successor to Rhodri Morgan in Cardiff West (and possibly as Welsh Labour Leader).

After leaving Brussels next year, Eluned will take some time out of politics and “away from the spotlight”, but she doesn't think she'll be able to stay away from politics for long...read into that what you will...

On the same programme Conservative Alun Cairns made his position very clear: he wants to be in London.

He said that he found being in opposition very frustrating and that there's a better chance of his party getting to lead in Westminster.

Eluned Morgan's performance was very confident and competent and it strikes me that for someone who's looking to escape the spotlight, S4C's leading political programme might not be the best place to hide...

Dewi Tri