ONE WOMAN (Elin Jones) has already been spotlighted as a potential new leader for Plaid Cymru, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.
And now a second woman hove into view. And more than one member of the press is in agreement on the issue.
“She could be an interim leader,” was the words used in the press gallery. “An interim before whom?” I interjected, to receive no answer.
Deputy minister Jocelyn Davies jointly hosted with her leader Ieuan Wyn Jones the weekly cabinet press briefing.
Mr Jones had the star position, both with his announcement on an £11m boost for business research, and because he can speak with the authority of a party leader.
Ms Davies was there mainly to talk about housing, in particular the new LCO on social housing and the protection of vulnerable people.
But, apart from these two issues, it was extremely instructive to note the relationship between the pair. Ms Davies interjected at an early point to suggest – to general laughter – that Mr Jones should apologise for them arriving late.
Really, the South East AM was just emphasising how they had both kept to time.
At several points, Mr Jones glanced in her direction as if to check on the line that he should take. Once was when he was asked whether the arrival later that day of a new Labour party leader – widely expected at that time to be Carwyn Jones – would make any difference to the membership of the cabinet.
Certainly there would be changes on the Labour side, he replied. But what about on the Plaid side – “I do not think so,” he said.
Well, on this point, perhaps I beg to differ. The new First Minister might well feel that big changes are overdue in a cabinet which is in its main personnel a decade old.
And some Plaid AMs are wondering what sort of changes Carwyn may have up his sleeve, and to what extent they will apply to his coalition partners as to his own party.
Particularly in the boundaries between jobs. And once you start chopping and changing, an entire ministerial department could either disappear or appear.
There will certainly be no change in the numbers of AMs involved – two ministers and one deputy for Plaid. But don’t rule out changes for the responsibilities.
The previous week saw Elin Jones , agriculture minister, rising in the firmament. She was already one of the most highly regarded on the Plaid benches, and her hosting of the previous week’s cabinet briefing sent her star lighting up the sky.
In this wee contest between ladies on the Plaid benches, Elin must count as being far in the lead. In the Welsh-speaking world that is so crucial to success in Plaid, she has the great advantage of appealing to both Gogs and Hwntws.
While poor young (no, she’s not that young !) Jocelyn suffers so much that she is really disqualified because she is not a Welsh-speaker.
Additionally, she is a real, pure Valleys girl. Whether she’s from the Left or Right, I’m not sure. But most Pleidwyr don’t know much about the Valleys, so they’ll automatically assume that her political stance is the one that they can’t stomach within Plaid.
And after naming this pair, there’s the third in the trio of strong, capable Plaid women. Helen Mary Jones is probably the best of them all.
But the Plaid AM tried for a top job once, and things went wrong
Now she’s sitting there on the backbenches, when her true position should be in the Cabinet or heading a department.
But then perhaps she is just too good and has to be kept tied down.
