Plaid's £1m Year

Plaid Cymru are well set up for the coming General Election according to figures released by the electoral commission.

The party apparently received £1m in donations in 2008 – more than half of that came from wills.

By comparison, the Liberal Democrats received just £5.4m throughout the whole of the UK – with Labour and the Conservatives taking in more than £30m each.

The credit crunch not hitting too hard then...

The BBC are reporting that Plaid haven't spent all of their £1m yet – they still have £300,000 in the war chest to spend in competitive seats...

(Ceredigion and Ynys Mon look out!)

Dewi Tri

Up Close and Personal

Gordon Brown et al’s visit to Wales yesterday gave us here at Politics Cymru the opportunity to complete the set - that is Cameron, Clegg and Brown (in that chronological order). Having met the big 3 I thought it a good idea to write a brief comparative note on them.

In all honesty Gordon Brown was the most impressive in person. He came across to the audience as authoritative, hugely intelligent yet personable (when he wasn’t exaggerating the contents of his I-pod). It made me wonder why his communications staff are so insistent on turning him into a clone of Tony Blair? Especially since this particular tactic is failing so miserably (remember that YouTube smile) and being mastered so brilliantly by his opposite number. As Prime Minister what’s wrong with being high brow? What’s wrong with preferring Bach and Beethoven over U2? What’s wrong with being obsessive about facts and figures? Why does a Prime Minister need to be a showman all of a sudden? What’s wrong with being a heavyweight? His current media plan is blatantly not working and looks like sending him and the rest of the Labour party to electoral doom.

I came out of yesterday's Q and A with Brown experiencing a strange sensation - as if I had just seen a dead man walking. I also came out thinking that if his media strategy was different then he wouldn’t be 17 points behind in the polls.

So how does he compare with Cameron? Despite the obvious passion for his brand of conservativism and his mastery of the Tony Blair way of doing things you can’t escape the fact that when DC’s answering a question it feels like he’s trying to sell you something - “and would you like our comprehensive insurance package with that?”. This makes you wonder - does he truly mean what he just said or is he saying it because it’s makes strategic sense to do so? It might just be that age and a few grey hairs make him more convincing in person - his whiter than white polished aura does make you think that he’s been groomed for power.

And Clegg? An affable chap is how one would describe Nick Clegg. Clegg like Brown does seem to have true belief in his message but it’s almost as if he knows that not many other people do. A ruddy nice fellow, but does he share the same aura as the other two? The aura that Prime Ministers have? I’m not sure he does.

All three have their strengths and weaknesses and it might well be that on a different day I would write a totally different article - but those are my genuine thoughts and impressions after meeting all 3.

I would say that a Presidential style debate between the three come election time would be fascinating and I would love them to have the courage to do it, but I doubt their communications teams have the balls.

Keep your thoughts coming in

Dewi Un

Kirsty's Listening

Forget Twitter and Facebook and all the fancy gadgets in between – Kirsty Williams is going back to basics and wants members of the public to send over ideas on a postcard.

"I believe that leaders should listen, not preach."

Fair doos.

But is this the best way to engage with her party members and the general public do we think? Can it encourage greater interaction with the political process? Or is it just a stunt that will have very little impact?

In PC style we'll wait and see.

In the meantime, if you want to tell Kirsty what's important to you, all the details are on the Lib Dem Cymru site.

Dewi Tri

PS The Dewis apologise for a lack of blogging of late – it's a busy time but we're still here!

WAG Has Been Paying for First Class Travel

Politics Cymru has seen evidence that Welsh taxpayers have been paying for First Class Travel despite the First Minister's vehement denials yesterday.

The Liberal Democrats' Freedom of Information request was met with some hostility from Rhodri Morgan who said that the story had been blown completely out of proportion and denied that civil servants used First Class flights (and said that even he himself doesn't take up such luxuries).

However, a travel itinerary leaked to the Welsh Lib Dems and seen by Politics Cymru now reveals that First Class Virgin Atlantic flights from New York to Los Angeles and back again in February and March of this year were paid for by the Welsh Taxpayer.

Kirsty Williams is now set to write to the First Minister demanding an apology for his comments yesterday.

Wales' top civil servant, Dame Gillian Morgan, did confirm yesterday that she would lead an investigation into Civil Servant's expenses.

Dewi Tri

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

Be careful what you wish for...

So Alun Davies has got his wish - last night he was selected by the Blaenau Gwent Labour party to stand as their candidate in the next Assembly election. Honourable or foolish? Brave or stupid? One thing's for sure; he must be a mightily relieved man this morning.

Remember his spectacular attack on Blaenau Gwent incumbent Trish law? The most striking quote from that fateful press conference in my opinion was his description of her as “invisible especially when she’s on her feet”. Had the AM for Mid and West Wales failed to secure the nomination in Blaenau Gwent he would have been left with a considerable amount of egg on his face - so much so he would have found it difficult if not impossible to trot back to the people of Mid and West Wales without having more egg thrown his way.

Blaenau Gwent is now surely shaping up to be one of the stories of the next Assembly election and if Alun Davies is successful - it may just gain him the respect he craves within the Labour party.

Dewi Un

Lobby briefings - 14/07/09 (the last ones)

And so on to the last lobby briefings of the year.

We begin with a personal reflection on the year that was for Politics Cymru:



And here's what Rodders had to say in the WAG's final (and possibly his own?) press briefing:



Nick had a dig at IWJ in his:



While Kirsty reflected on her first term as party leader:



Side note: we've just finished at Cardiff University's Centre for Journalism Studies, not UWIC.

Pob hwyl/Happy recess!

Y Tri Dewi

Splashing the Cash

A few pints of Guinness in New York: £3,500

A year's worth of flights from Hong Kong: £70,000...

...Another Welsh Liberal Democrats FOI: priceless!

* * * *

Every Tuesday as we three Dewis sit in the Senedd's cafe sipping our not-too-pleasant coffee between doses of Nick Bourne and Kirsty Williams, we keep ourselves entertained (yes, we really are that sad!) by wondering what Freedom of Information request the Welsh Liberal Democrats have submitted in time for this week's lecture.

But our game has been inconsiderately spoiled this week as it is perfectly clear what dirt Kirsty's trusted aides have been digging for in time for the year's final set of press briefings. It also seems convenient that this information comes ahead of the only WAG briefing which can be filmed by the country's media.

So WAG officials have spent nearly three-quarters of a million tax-payer's pounds on promoting Wales abroad using 34 credit cards. That figure includes more than £250,000 spent by the New York office alone on kids' furnishings, and food and drink at the Irish pub, Clancy's (£3,500). And the WAG must be sending all it's youthful staff across the pond because employees at the Big Apple office have also also spent £2,500 on teen clothing.

And what about the Hong Kong office? Well £70,000 was spent by its staff on flights during 2008-09 and nearly £22,000 on overnight accommodation.

With all that money to throw about surely us journos can be provided with some decent coffee on our Tuesday morning expeditions to the Bay.

Anyway, here's what Kirsty has had to say:

"Every taxpayer in Wales deserves an explanation from the Labour-Plaid government. Whilst we're in the middle of a recession it's disgusting to know that public officials are flying first class, staying in the most expensive hotels, eating in the best restaurant - all at the swipe of the Welsh credit card."

And in what has become a familiar dig at Ieuan Wyn Jones - Kirsty Williams recently slapped him on the wrist for mislaying a few laptops - the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats had this to say:

"The minister for Economy and Transport has some serious questions to answer. What if any procedures are in place to monitor and police spending? What kind of guidance allows civil servants to to take first class flights and live this superstar lifestyle? How can we be sure that all of this activity directly generates investment into Wales? Quite frankly what on earth is going on and what will be done about this?"

Seems the Lib Dems are providing the questions for us to pose at the WAG's briefing tomorrow as well then!

They really are determined to take the fun out of our Tuesday morning.

Stay tuned to see what was said at the three briefings.

Dewi Dau

image used courtesy of SqueakyMarmot @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/squeakymarmot/2058416937/

Podcast #29: Home Sweet Home

Today we invite you into the humble home of Politics Cymru. Step inside and make yourselves at home!

Up for discussion on this week's vodcast: AMs' expenses (they're becoming a bit of a regular feature aren't they?), the language LCO and the Barnett formula.

For all this and much much more, just hit 'play'!

*Regular viewers will be aware that at the beginning of our other vodcasts we have shown the outside of the venue. However you will understand that due to security reasons and for fear of being compromised in the future we have been unable to do so this week.*

Have a great weekend and we hope you enjoy the cricket,

Pob hwyl,

Y Tri Dewi