LET’S TRUST that the Tory Party has really changed, because in the past former-Plaid AM Oscar (Mohammad Asghar) has accused them of racism for denying him membership of that party, writes Clive Betts from the press gallery.

This revelation came several hours after the Tory Party briefing which saw him announce his defection from Plaid to the Tories.

Apparently he had often mentioned this within the Plaid group. When asked by Cambria in the briefing whether racism might be the reason for his failure years ago to join the Tories, Oscar seemed to avoid the question.

Natasha Asghar. Is she involved in the decision to defect?

At that time, I wondered whether perhaps whether it was simply a matter of an administrative failing by the Tories. Or perhaps the,, writes young Oscar (it happened some years ago, we were told) wasn’t far enough advanced in his profession of accountancy.

But apparently Oscar – a Pakistani – has no doubts.

And there’s another side to the defection. Three Plaid researchers will lose their jobs. They are a bit miffed they weren’t told in advance and are now talking about union action.

Not that going to the union will  do much good. With Plaid losing an AM, that party will be unable to employ as many people.  It’s bad luck for those affected. But as a Tory researcher commented, this is unfortunately what happens.

Also, there’s the issue about what happens when the 2011 election arrives. Currently William Graham is top of the Tory list in South East – he’s been an AM since the Assembly was set up in 1999.

Would Oscar inherit his seat ?  That’s what members of some other parties are saying.

But it doesn’t work quite like that in the Tory Party. And Mr Graham has no thoughts of standing down.

In any case, the list at the last election was decided by grass-roots members deciding by vote who gets on the list, and their position. Although I’m told it is up to the bosses of the Welsh party – who all reside in Wales – how the list is drawn up next time.

So there is indeed a possibility that Oscar will get a top billing – although not in Mid and West, where Mr Bourne is a fixture. At least until the Tories win so many constituency seats in the region that they have no need for top-up AMs in the region.

So perhaps Oscar, when it comes to 2011, and the grass-roots have the chance to decide rankings, will indeed find that a form of racism still lurks within the Tory Party. But would it be racism if Oscar failed to top the list ?

For some people would say it is far too easy to blame racism whenever anything goes wrong.