We predicted on Cambria Politico a few weeks ago that the young gladiator from Ammanford, Jonathan Edwards, Plaid uberstrategist and widely acknowledged architect of Adam Price’s long march to consolidated victory in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, would win the nomination as parliamentary candidate to replace Price at the next election. And we were right.
Edwards romped to victory in the first ballot at a hustings convention attended by over 200 party faithful in Llandybie this evening, after a contest between four strong and convincing candidates, all with roots in this staunchly patriotic heartland constituency. After bravura performances by all four, Edwards was victorious after being described by many activists to your correspondent as the “man with real fire in his belly“.
It is a development Welsh Liebour will dread. Edwards is a political strategist who does not take prisoners. In the short term he will go for the Labour jugular next year but plans carefully for the future. The endgame is the emergence of a new democratic politics based on principled economic development and social justice and the ruination of the discredited London parties in Wales.
An already disillusioned and disheartened Labour Party faces almost certain humiliation at the next General Election. Edwards ‘the matador’ will seek to administer the coup de grace. With relish.
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Fantastic news for the constituency and Wales. The man is a class act.
You mean “British” parties? I wish Plaid people would stop pussy-footing round this – London, Westminster, etc – call them what they are: British nationalists.
Same with “general election”. You mean British or UK election. We have general elections in Wales and throughout Europe too.
If we use their words we accept the status those words assign to us, mostly inferior. I ask you to help create our own national discourse, making them the “other”. At the moment, it’s the other way round.
A sound choice. I was there last night and all candidates came over well. Jonathan is well known in the area and a great political activist and organiser. His only weakness, and I think he will aknowledge this, is his speed of speech. Slow down hen gyfaill!
Rhys was an excellent stand-up speaker and Mark did best at answering the questions put. Elwyn is a brilliant, pragmatic politician who understands voting trends in this constituency perfectly; I sincerely hope he becomes Jonathan’s agent in the next election.
We must now persuade voters for other parties to come over to Plaid. Alienating Tory voters is not the way. Slagging off the Conservatives at every opportunity is the wrong tactic. Gwynfor won many rural Welsh-speaking Tory votes and Adam has won the Labour vote in the industrial valleys of Aman and Gwendraeth. We need to keep them all board by offering a better alternative and explaining why: i.e., positive rather than negative campaigning.