Nick Bourne and Mike German talk to Politics Cymru

Nick Bourne was like the cat who got the cream in the Tories' weekly press briefing today. We caught up with the leader of the opposition in the Assembly, here's what he had to tell us:



We also got an opportunity to quiz the Welsh Liberal Democrats' spokesman on Europe, Mike German, in his office in the Assembly. We asked him if he thought Lembit Opik was still the right man for the job in Montgomeryshire and what Labour's result means for Welsh politics.



Dewi Un and Dewi Dau

So what do they think?

So, the All Wales Convention has reported its first findings:

Do we want more Powers?

48% say 'yes'; 35% are against.

But how as this result gone down in Cardiff Bay?

Yesterday I met up with Plaid Cymru's Bethan Jenkins and the leader of the opposition, Nick Bourne, to find out what they had to say.

Bethan Jenkins:



Nick Bourne:



And while I was schmoozing in the Senedd, Dewi Tri was on the phone to Rachel Banner of True Wales.

Here's what she had to say.

Rachel Banner:



Dewi Dau

Rhodri, Nick and Joe

Translation of Vaughan Roderick's post: "Rhodri, Nick a Joe"

Copying one of Neil Kinnock's speeches was enough of a sin to force Joe Biden to bring an end to efforts to become the President of America in 1988. The only other memorable event in that election was the one that took place during an argument between the two vice-presidential candidates was when Lloyd Bentsen turned to Dan Quayle and destroyed him by saying: "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy: I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

Rhodri Morgan did some borrowing of his own in today's [Tuesday's] questions session. For some reason "I know Jane Hutt...I work with Jane Hutt..." didn't work so well.

Despite that, Rhodri managed to destroy Nick Bourne today after he asked why Jane wasn't present in last Friday's economic summit. Unfortunately for Nick Jane attended the meeting and answered questions. Rhodri floored the Conservative leader by saying that.

To rub salt in the wound, minutes later Kirsty Williams gave her best performance since being elected leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Nick will be spitting blood knowing his leadership is being questioned. Another performance like today's could be fatal

Translation by Dewi Dau

Don Corleone

Translation of Vaughan Roderick's post

Paul Murphy's statement on the language LCO was rather lukewarm. More consultation is needed, he said. The demand could change. To use his own words: "It's not set in stone".

Some of Labour's Assembly Members were surprised by the statement but the Secretary of State for Wales is not the man being blamed. "The problem is Don Touhig", said one "Don is Paul's best friend and he spends a great amount of his time with him and his family. They're like two brothers."

And by the way, congratulations to Jenny Randerson for being brave enough to say in the Chamber what many of the members are saying in private. "If we wish to legislate to force a chip shop to use Welsh we should be allowed to do that - does anyone honestly believe the chip shop would close as a result?"

Congratulations must also go to Nick Bourne for addressing the Assembly in Welsh this afternoon. I wonder if he was trying to prove the ipod's worth.

Translation by Dewi Dau

Who would want to be Nick Bourne?

Just when it seemed to be getting better, Nick Bourne has his future as Welsh Conservative leader cast in doubt, again.

This time the Police are laying into Nick (and that’s not Sting's 3 piece rock band). It was confirmed yesterday that Police are investigating Mr Bourne's expenses, following allegations that he has been illegally claiming back cash he receives from the Preseli Pembrokeshire Conservatives.

We have to remember that this is probably a classic case of jumping on the bandwagon. The investigation into the beleaguered Tory leader was initiated by Labour Parliamentary candidate Jenny Rathbone, and it does smack of political opportunism by the Cardiff Central hopeful. I’m sure her actions will get her several brownie points from Labour HQ.

With all this going on can Nick Bourne concentrate on his job? Surely the Conservative group in the Assembly have taken their eyes off the ball during the past few months and have been mainly concentrating on sharp knives: trying to get enough votes to start sharpening knives or avoiding being stabbed by a sharp knife.

Having said all this I have to admire Mr Bourne’s guts (or is that stupidity?) . No matter what is thrown at him he keeps on getting up and carrying on, he really must want his job. I think a lot of people would have said “sod this I’m off to chill out on the backbenches”.

Whether this Police investigation will have any effect on Mr Bourne's life expectancy is a matter for time to answer, given everything else that been thrown at him I don’t think it will.

P.S I’m not in the habit of handing out advice as to what people should do in their spare time but I went to watch “The Wrestler” last night, I cried.

The film is first class, if you have some time, I would advise watching it

Hwyl am y tro

Dewi Un

Image Used Courtesy of photos by Andy @ Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/by_andy/2551148803/

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.

The name's Bourne - Professor Bourne!

This from Nick Bourne's personal blog:

"Imagine my surprise to receive a phone call from my former employer [Swansea Metropolitan University]. I worked there when they were Swansea Institute. I was employed first as head of Swansea Law School and professor of Law and then as Assistant Principal...Apparently a journalist had called them to ask if I was still entitled to call myself professor. I remember when I got the designation how proud my parents were that some of their considerable investment in money and especially time and energy had been rewarded. My friends found it a slight source of amusement and would call me prof. in a light-hearted way. I was never that fussed about the title and tended not to use it even when I worked there. Apparently as the journalist was roundly told I am entitled still to use the title – I don’t think I will be making too much use of it at work however.

And of course thanks to the journalist for there* interest!"

Is this the latest attempt by the Welsh media to find a way of ousting Professor Bourne from his post and if so surely this now amounts to a witch-hunt against the Tory leader?

Interestingly this is Nick's first post in a couple of weeks and no reference at all to iPodgate. Perhaps he's decided to follow Rod Richards' advice, and Alun Cairns' example, afterall!

*Equally enlightening is the fact that even professors can struggle with distinguishing between similarly sounding words! But their's no need to point it out to him: he has other things on his mind.

Dewi Dau

A Rod for Bourne's back

Nick Bourne will have been dreading picking up this week's copy of the Wales on Sunday, and understandably so. Predictably the paper does not make nice reading for the underfire Tory leader. Even Rod Richards has been wheeled out to offer his two-pence worth. "Time for him to go" is pretty much the message from Rod, backed up by the paper's Matt Withers.

Richards ridicules Bourne's justification for buying the iPod:

"He says he was using the iPod for speeches and learning Welsh. I’m sorry but there’s no politician who likes to listen to other’s speeches." Slight generalisation here by Rod: who knows maybe he would have been (even?) more successful with a few wise words from Churchill, Mandela and Blair!

"As for the Welsh – what is the end product? He has been learning Welsh for ages and I’ve never heard him speak a word of it. I occasionally see David Davies being interviewed on S4C but never Nick."

As for the trouser press, well: "That’s the kind of thing you use in a hotel" observes Richards.

So it all looks pretty bleak for Bourne. Who will replace him? Rod thinks he knows:

“Jonathan [Morgan] is an experienced hand by now and I don’t think it will be long before he has his feet under the table.”

There we go then, all done and dusted. But while we're at it, what do you think Rod had to say about Alun Cairns? Afterall did he not also divulge in the purchase - at the taxpayer's expense - of an equally expensive and unnecessary luxury?

"Alun has done everything within the rules but where he has been superior and cleverer than Nick is that he didn’t dream up some spurious explanation for the iPod. Nick was in a hole and kept digging. Alun was in a hole and climbed out."

Now there's a valuable lesson for life from Mr Richards! And that'll teach you, Nick, for trying to make up for what you've done and for being gracious and responsible enough to offer a justification to the great Welsh public. Next time you should just play dumb!

Interestingly:

'Asked what the Welsh public would think of Mr Bourne’s reign as leader if he did leave his post, Mr Richards replied: "Nick who?"'

Now, Rod, I'm not sure that's completely true is it after 8 days of iPodgate, uncountable Bournewatches and lord knows how many Bourne Ultimatums over the past week!

Dewi Dau

Bournewatch (6)

So the BBC have caught up with us! And here's a translation of Vaughan's thoughts on Nick Bourne's decision to pay the money back.

Clever...but slightly behind.

This move by Nick is cunning for many reasons.

First of all he's trying to ensure that only the iPod question is under discussion and so that people will forget about the trouser press and bathroom improvements. Secondly, and again by concentrating on the iPod, he's trying to draw Alun Cairns into the story. This might be a message to other Tories saying that he's not willing to walk the plank without taking others with him.

Not often does one quote Jeremy Thorpe these days but for some reason his reaction to Supermac's decision to sack half his cabinet in 1962 seems appropriate: "Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his friends for his life".

Will this latest statement work?

Well firstly, one must consider how quickly Nick's situation is deteriorating. It's only a day since he (and Alun) felt that charitable donations would be enough to quieten the storm.

A second move in less than twenty-four hours suggests one of two things. Either things are turning into wild panic at the Opposition leader's office or he's trying to wind down the clock until Christmas. If that's the aim he's likely to succeed but it would be foolish to think that would kill the story. As they say, "join us after the break..."

Translation by Dewi Dau

BREAKING NEWS:...no, he hasn't resigned but...

...Bourne's going to pay us all back, and so is Cairns!

Conservative Party statement (18/12/2008; 07:22pm):

'Nick Bourne, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the National Assembly and his colleague, Alun Cairns, have reimbursed the National Assembly for the iPods bought from Assembly allowances.

Nick Bourne said:

“Although the purchase of these iPods was within the rules of the Assembly and authorised by the Fees Office, I recognise the perception that this expenditure was inappropriate.

“Alun Cairns and I have decided therefore to reimburse the National Assembly for these items in addition to the charitable donations we have made.

“We apologise to the people of Wales and look forward to the results of Sir Roger Jones’ inquiry into Assembly Members allowances.

“Our group will be bringing forward its own stricter rules in advance of Sir Roger Jones’ report.”'

So does this draw a line under the whole affair? Can we - and The Western Mail - now move on? Or has the damage already been done? Is this just a final effort at holding onto the Tory leadership? If so, will it work? Oh, and what about the trouser press and bathroom improvements - should they also be reimbursed?

Dewi Dau

The Western Mail: a dog with a bone

Interestingly, "iPodgate" has been relegated to the shadows of page 10 today: a far cry from yesterday when the scandal dominated the front page and more. But The Western Mail just won't let go of its iBone. Try as Nick Bourne and his supporters might to prise it from the paper's jaws, our 'national paper' just won't release it. It wants blood.

After yesterday's stinging attack on Nick Bourne himself and calls for the leader of the opposition to step down, the WM has now opted for a change of approach. Today it's appealing to the Conservative Party and its supporters to face up to the damage Prof. Bourne has done to the party, urging them to realise that failure to respond appropriately will undermine its credibility.

"A party that is unable to provide coherent answers to these questions and by its inertia continues to support Nick Bourne" says the paper, "raises inevitable concerns about its ability to govern and its very integrity. Why should anyone trust such a party with their vote?"

The paper is openly determined to force Nick Bourne's resignation and seems prepared to do whatever it takes to succeed. After appealing to Nick's conscience yesterday, today it turns its attentions to the party's grassroots members, aiming to tempt them into a revolt against their leader.

Is it right for the Western Mail to hound (pun shamelessly intended!) Tory supporters in this way? Is it right for any paper to attempt to force political change? Is the Western Mail acting responsibly here?

As always your thoughts are most welcome.

Dewi Dau

Bournewatch (5)

And so to the latest instalment of Vaughan Roderick's Bournewatch!

So where do things stand with the Conservatives?

Well the Western Mail's decision to commit pages one and three to a call for Nick Bourne's resignation will be a huge blow to him. I don't know who told Glyn Davies a week ago that this story would be "next week's chip wrapper" but they couldn't have been much more inaccurate. Although if you didn't know that it's been illegal for a few decades to wrap chips in newspaper you must be quite out of touch, perhaps sufficiently out of touch to believe that it's OK to claim expenses for an iPod and a trouser press.

Now there are some who say that this is no big deal and that politicians and journalists are just playing kids' games here.

Believe it or not, I don't disagree. But this is how political careers come to an end as a small matter pushes a party's members to act against their leader. There's no reason for Nick to block Jonathan Morgan's request for a group discussion - unless he senses what the outcome of that meeting would be.

Translation by Dewi Dau

Bournewatch (4)

Translation of "Bournewatch (4)" by Vaughan Roderick

I have flu and so Bournewatch is happening from afar today.

Fortunately Betsan's keeping an eye on things. Glyn Davies, Peter Black and Bethan Jenkins have also made valuable contributions.

One of Bethan's points is especially appropriate.

"I used my discretion, and more or less thought 'What would the public be happy with AMs claiming, within reason?'"

Exactly. As Glyn points out, how on earth did Nick Bourne and Brian Gibbons, both of whom earn £90,000 a year, believe it was OK to claim five pounds for light bulbs (Nick) or £16 for a bouquet of Remembrance Sunday flowers (Brian)?

To be fair to our politicians there's one thing worth bearing in mind here. All these details were released as a result of freedom of information claims launched by the BBC and the Western Mail. Because of that some of them date back to 2006/2007. So referring to the current economic climate whilst judging our Assembly Members is unfair. Maybe there is more justification (a little) for claiming an iPod two years ago than there is now.

This brings us back to Nick Bourne and another pertinent point, this time raised by Peter Black:

"There is no doubt that the Tories seem to have come off worse from this latest publication of expenses. This is partly because they have made some unusual claims but also because of the dissatisfaction within the Conservative Group about Nick Bourne's leadership and the fact that some are using his expenses as a stick to beat him with."

All true. What must be remembered is that Nick knows, or at least thinks he knows, those on the front bench and within his party who are plotting against him. His failure to take disciplinary steps against them proves how precarious his position is. Will anything take place before Christmas? I would say 60:40 against.

Translation by Dewi Dau

Week of the Long Knifes - Will Bourne step aside?

As I’m sure you’ve been following dear readers (especially in Vaughan Roderick’s brilliant “Bournewatch”) Nick Bourne’s days as Conservative leader in Wales look numbered. Enough has been written about his dodgy dossier, his liking for IPOD’s and of course his facial plasters.

What interests me about the Conservative civil war is how it will play out eventually. Jonathan Morgan has claimed that he is not in cahoots with Darren Millar to overthrow Nick Bourne, senior AMs like David Melding have come out in favour of the beleaguered leader, yet there is still this sense of doom floating around Nick Bourne, a sense that he can’t seem to shake off.

How therefore can the conservatives oust Bourne without actually ousting him? As the main party of opposition in the Assembly, the Conservatives cant be seen spending their time fighting each other. This surely makes it perfectly plausible for Nick Bourne to “step aside” whilst the Assembly is in recess to allow for them to get themselves back in order before returning to the Senedd. This possibility makes the next few days very interesting.

The Conservatives have tried recently in Wales and the UK to be a sensible party (bar David Davies' by-election stunt). Less scandal, more scrutiny. In order to try and maintain this perception in Wales (which will be tough following the expenses debacle) they have to behave admirably to each other, so no knifing each other, or their leader, in the back. This surely means that the only way some Tory AMs are going to get their way and a new leader is if Mr Bourne decides that his time in the spotlight is over. And judging by his impassioned defence of his position, I for one can't see that happening.

Watch this space

Dewi Un

Vaughan on Bournewatch

In keeping with recent form Vaughan Roderick continues to challenge us with the frequency of his blogging.

But here are translations for his latest entries discussing Nick Bourne:

"Bournewatch (2)"

I can now be clearer about the story that Betsan and I have been alluding to all week.

It appears as though Nick Bourne has lost the trust of the Conservative group. From what I understand at least seven of the twelve members want to see a change of leader. What divides them are questions of when Nick should go and how he should be persuaded to do so. Basically, Jonathan Morgan's and Darren Millar's supporters have been playing a strategic game to make sure that theirs is the man who succeeds Nick.

There are murmurs that Jonathan and Darren are close to agreeing that Jonathan should lead the group with Darren as his deputy. There are also whispers that both will lead a delegation to tell Nick that it's time for him to go.

I should explain that it's Nick Bourne's behaviour over the whole 'dodgy dossier' fiasco that is at the root of all this - not the expenses he's just claimed. I understand that ever since the hassle some of the group's most prominent members and some of its most experienced officials have been locked out of the leader's strategy meetings. According to one source, Nick's "living in a bunker with Nick Ramsey and a handful of inexperienced researchers".

This is where the costs come into play. Apparently, if the public's response to Nick's expenses claims is unfavourable and damaging to the party a move will be launched against him within days. If the whole episode turns out to be no more than an August shower, Nick will survive until the New Year - but if the situation doesn't change he will not survive beyond it.

"Bournewatch (3)"

The fact that [Nick Bourne's] expenses claims are now a topic of discussion on the Conservative Home website is bad news for him. That semi-official website is widely-read and one which is used by the party to measure the temperature amongst their most loyal supporters. Perhaps less significantly the story is beginning to attract attention from other London blogs and websites.

We have mainly been discussing Nick's problem from a Cardiff perspective by asking if there will be a rebellion against him - and if so when it's likely to happen. But there is another way in which Nick could lose the leadership - via the intervention of the party in London through either David Cameron or Cheryl Gillan.

Nick is lucky that Assembly Members are already on holiday. But unfortunately for him, the MPs don't begin their holidays for another week.

Translations by Dewi Dau

Trouble in the ranks?

You would think that Assembly Members would have learnt their lesson about claiming personal items on their expenses...apparently not.

There's now talk that this could cause more problems for Conservative leader Nick Bourne who's been highlighted as one of the Chamber's more excessive spenders (spending nearly £200 on an iPod – along with more than £11,700 on other things).

Bourne was in trouble earlier this year after a document he sanctioned criticised the First Minsiter's dress sense.

And now Wales Today have just been reporting that more than half of the Tory members are dissatisfied with Bourne's leadership.

Might this see a leadership challenge mounted before we return from the Christmas break? And who might lead the charge?

If you're curious, the BBC have been good enough to put expenses details online:

Document 1

Document 2

Dewi Tri