Representing Merthyr from Penarth

The issue of the place of residence of Huw Lewis, AM for Merthyr and Rhymney, and his wife Lynne Neagle, member for Torfaen, has been a very touchy subject within the Labour group at the Assembly for an extremely long time.

When Cambria raised the issue with an official of that group, the ridicule and sarcasm involved in stating that “everyone” had known about this for “a long time” was slightly intimidating.

Some commentators are more interested in policies than in personalities; they also realise that any rules invite expansion; in addition, someone mentioned “Daily Telegraph reporters’ expenses”.

On that last point, reporters’ expenses have always been “expandable”. I would be very surprised if on a profitable paper such as the Telegraph, mileage and meals claims bear more relationship to the world of fiction than to the tight accuracy which rules the news columns.

On Welsh dailies, the same perhaps used to apply – with the excuse that this was the easiest way for the employer to pay a salary which, even for senior reporting staff, was well below that of a recently-qualified teacher.

But perhaps the current advertising squeeze has brought in a new way of thinking.

Remember, of course, that MPs and reporters both faced the same problem – salaries which were out of line with comparable jobs. And they both used the same trick.

The difference is that no-one outside journalism cares about newsmen’s pay. For MPs, it is different.

But that difference is not resulting in common-sense examination of what has happened, but in public and media hysteria.

This perhaps explains the decision by Lewis-Neagle to put out a statement on the financing of their “second” home in Penarth for use during Assembly meetings periods – which coincide with school terms (thus, no Assembly this week because it is half-term). The pair have two children, one at school. At a considered-to-be well-rated school in Penarth, it is said.

Why not in Merthyr, or even Cwmbran ? Aren’t the schools up there considered good enough ?  Middle-class Penarth versus working-class Merthyr ?

Some say that the issue of the location of the child’s education (= “main” home) will be remembered by more voters in Merthyr than the question of the financing of the home in Penarth.  After all, the financing was within the rules. And once the hysteria about London has died down, we’ll get down to sensible consideration of expenses (by far the main issue is simply “receipts”, for whatever combination of personal circumstances is  being accommodated.

Yet most intriguing is how the Cardiff newspapers took over six months to uncover the story.

When the Welsh AMs’ expenses story broke before Christmas, the Western Mail seemed to have only one interest – the £229 iPod that Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne bought, apparently to help with his Welsh lessons. How many front-page leads were we treated to?

Even the Western Mail last week repeated the BBC allegation that the paper had been “hysterical” over the story.

In view of the way in which the Mail is now trying to catch up on the second-homes issue (£44,000 over two years, compared with a single purchase amounting to £229), perhaps the adjective to use is “sinister”.

For remember, the Mail allowed the story at the turn of the year to be seen by some as an attack by the Tories’ backwards-looking right wing on a middle-of-road, one-nation, modernising leader.

The ones I have most sympathy with are Lewis-Neagle. They are bravely running a marriage, with children, which means they can’t be in three places at the same time. Just wait until the children grow up and demand to be in two additional places at opposite ends of town…

Some say that Lynne will end up wishing she had taken a career break. Others say that the electors of Torfaen will happily assist !