John Dixon has resigned as Chair of Plaid Cymru after eight years of (in)valuable service. This has caused as much notice, in the blogosphere , twittersphere, media and Party, as a fart in a hurricane or a fisherman’s piss in the BP oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico. This has two possible meanings – either Mr.Dixon was (is) an ineffective,  unrecognisable and undervalued figure within Plaid in which case he has made the right decision to go or else Chairmanship of Plaid Cymru is an untenable position for an aspiring politician seeking public office.

Mr Dixon stood in one Assembly election and two general elections in the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire constituency but, regretably, failed to make headway either in share of the vote or visibility for Plaid policies. Citing ‘political differences’  it now seems clear that he is finding it increasingly difficult to sing from the same hymn sheet as others in the Party and now wishes to sing  a different, possibly less tuneful, aria. Mr.Dixon is an intelligent and learned figure so what this might be could be interesting to hear and will probably not be much to the liking of the Party leadership. I guess it will be a case of watch this space.

The demise of John Dixon however opens an opportunity for some new blood and a new face to come to prominence within Plaid. It is essential that if the Chairmanship of the Party is to be regarded as an important role, rather than some kind of managerial dogsbody, then it should be taken by someone who has won public office, stands a good chance of doing so or has national and international prominance. Managerial skills (Mr.Dixon’s apparant strengths)  are not necessarily needed for this essentially figurehead role.