CAMBRIA POLITICO

An Ulster lesson from Carwyn for Untrue Wales

Feb 062010

PETER ROBINSON and the Democratic Unionists of Northern Ireland are set to play a star role in the Welsh referendum campaign on extra powers for the National Assembly, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.

The Irishmen will be set against another group who will also play a key role in the campaign.

The other group will be a small cluster of Labour Party members centred on that island of true-Brits in Islwyn and Torfaen – together with their Tory friends in Newport and Monmouth.

The Labour backsliders call themselves True Wales – although with their perversions of Welsh politics and Welsh history they should surely have them more-correctly named Untrue Wales – and their organisation will surely head the disaffected members of what used to be affectionately called the “People’s Party” in the No campaign.

Following in the steps of that miner’s son who regrets he never worked underground – Neil Kinnock, of Islwyn – and of the Catholic Irishman who forgets his own people saw that independence was the only way forward – Don Touhig, of Torfaen – Untrue Wales will assuredly try to make a lot of noise.

Asked during the weekly Cabinet briefing, how he would deal with such doubters within his own ranks, First Minister Carwyn Jones was cautious on how he answered.

Within the Labour group of AMs, there are of course no doubters, he told us. You can be sure that anyone who did step out of line on supporting the move for a referendum for more powers would swiftly find him- or herself without a group to be a member of – in other words, he or she would lose the whip.

We all know that some Labour AMs are keener on additional powers than others. But that is inevitable in any political grouping. Yet Labour’s AMs do not embrace as wide a variety of opinions on this issue as the Tories did when their Assembly membership included the Abominable No man, David Davies, of Monmouth.

Mr Jones told us that the expected Assembly vote next week to pursue a referendum would then be sent to the party for its views. The First Minister was exceedingly vague about the terms which that party consultation would take. Perhaps because the methods would be many and various.

But what about Untrue Wales ? That is when Mr Jones got a bit sarcastic. How significant is that group ? Not very, he insinuated. A very long Western Mail interview with the group named only one individual. Surely the lack of other names is significant, Mr Jones seemed to be saying.

That is when the First Minister decided to turn on the pressure. Untrue Wales is arguing that the referendum is a stage on the slippery slope to independence. Mr Jones then pointed to another political grouping which is in the midst of discussions on an advance of devolution.

The Democratic Unionists are close to agreeing that Ulster devolution should be expanded to include both policing and justice.

Mr Jones invited Untrue Wales to ask the Democratic Unionists whether they saw this forthcoming change as being the next stage in their move to independence.

As Mr Jones’s wife is a Catholic from west Belfast (the nationalist side of the city), he could with ease include a barrow-load of sarcasm in his reply. “Does the DUP want an independent Northern Ireland ?” he asked.

The MP-friends of the late-night drunk

Welsh Politics 9 Responses »

Sep 012009

RETURNING FROM Scotland on the last day of August was just the time for yet another bout of consideration about the failures of Westminster and the successes of Holyrood – not the royal palace, but the building right opposite.

The Scottish Parliament and government – it has at last dropped the name “executive”, presumably after it saw how Cardiff got away with using the word London would like to consider its own – had roared ahead of the too-drunken English.

How was it that the Licensing Scotland Act – designed to curb the drunkenness which is too common a feature of our society – could be enacted in Edinburgh while MPs in London are still slobbering into their drinks or puking in the Westminster toilets ?

Perhaps we learned part of the reason when the Welsh ban on smoking in public buildings, in particular bars and pubs, went through a couple of years ago.

The Welsh legislation was separate from that for England in terms of the crucial accompanying regulations. Welsh pub owners created a bit of a stir with their complaints that the ban on smoking would lead to closures – and that has indeed happened in a few places.

But was most interesting was the way they went about campaigning. The drinks industry’s trade federations did HARDLY ONE JOT OF WORK to try and convince Cardiff’s legislators of the problems that their activities would result in.

Why ? As one leading publican told me during one of the few demonstrations against the Welsh legislation – my local AM David Davies has told me that this is all being decided in London.

Dai Davies, Monmouth, is of course anti-devolution. He told a lie – or this publican believed that is what he was told – because he never wanted London to be upstaged.

When the brewers woke up, it was too late, Brains had a go at complaining about the effects of the proposed change. But by then it was too late.

In other words, the entire industry is so London-centred that it has no idea what is happening in Wales. And the same for Scotland, I would suggest.

The London brewers’ lobbyists’ concentration is purely on the imperial parliament. And they have so much money that Westminster is in their thrall. London will be extremely reluctant to take any action which curbs the activities of the brewers (or of the supermarkets).

Which is why the drink problem in the UK has to be tackled from the peripheries. Scotland first. That is where the people have more power, and the vested interests less.

That is why Cardiff has to cut the chain which ties it to London legislation.

When even the Western Mail takes that line – “Give us freedom of the Scots to decide on ban” (on cheap drinks promotions), said an editorial – it is clear that times are a’changing.

Only after strong pressure from Wales (and following Scottish action, with Irish before that) did Westminster ban smoking in public places.

London is equally loathe to deal with drink problems. When the MP for Islwyn next expresses his opposition to further devolution, Don Touhig should be branded a friend of late-night, town-centre drunks.

Not because he would ever wish to be seen in their company. But because his insistence that Wales remain chained to England means that he wishes us to remain shackled to a country which is the friend of the drunken rabble.

According to the Herald newspaper (of Glasgow), the much talked-about curbs on minimum drinks pricing will follow in later Scottish legislation. The current legislation is mainly about sales promotions and methods.

When this next legislation goes through, expect a scream of pain from yet another friend of English parliamentarians – the supermarkets. Historically, the brewers are supposed to be one of the most powerful lobbies in England.

By now, they have surely been surpassed by Tesco and co.

Therefore, don’t expect any pricing legislation of the type talked about a year or so ago to appear from London. The Scots will surely see sense first.

But the English will take a dreadfully long time. Which means we will have to suffer for years to come from the excesses of drunks. Courtesy of Parliament and the anti-devolution lobby

Anti-Assembly MPs milk the expenses

Welsh Politics 2 Responses »

May 252009

Of the 40 MPs from Wales, only a tiny handful have failed to milk the parliamentary expenses system for every penny they could get.

Only two of them – stand up and be honoured, Julie Morgan, Cardiff North, and Alan Williams, Swansea West – have put in claims which were substantially below the £20,000-odd a year they could claim for second homes in London.

In a four-year run of claims published in the Independent on Sunday this week, Mrs Morgan, the wife of the First Minister, hardly ever reached even £10,000-a-year.

Now, it is true that her husband would have smelled the row which was brewing – as did Presiding Officer Lord Elis-Thomas, hence the crack-down which has been under way in Cardiff for a full year or more.

But Mrs Morgan has been “clean” since the year 2004-5.

Even “cleaner” has been Mr Williams, who only once even managed to reach £7,000.

I haven’t checked how in detail the second-home rules operate.

But it’s amazing how the vast majority of MPs claim almost identical allowances.

And I don’t think we can blame only the political parties for what has been happening. For Dai Davies, the Blaenau Gwent Independent, rocketed upwards to reach the maximum almost immediately after his election.

As Labour MPs would never have given him the information, it smells to me that Commons officials must have the voice behind the claims.

A third Labour MP – Nick Ainger, Carmarthen West and South Pembs – also lags badly. Although it must be admitted that his claims are edging up towards the near-identical figure almost everyone else achieves.

Kevin Brennan (Labour, Cardiff West) also lagged badly – with figures between £11,000 and £15,000. But he blotted his copy-book, according presumably to the Daily Telegraph, by having a series of purchases delivered to his Cardiff home while charging them to his second home in London.

Policeman’s son Elfyn Llwyd (Plaid Cymru, Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) kept pretty clean with claims of between 13K and 16K.

But no political party smells beautiful. Some MPs were just damned cheeky. You can guess that Lembit Opik (Lib Dem, Montgomery) was one of that group. In earlier years he kept his claims low.

But one year he omitted to pay a council tax demand in time. He received a summons to court. So he charged the £40 for the summons to his second home account. It’s not clear whether his claim was paid, although it’s not said it wasn’t.

One of the worst cases listed is that of Stephen Crabb, Conservative Preseli. No wonder he wants to retain all political power in Westminster when he can claim a monster £9,300 stamp duty after buying a new home in Wales. And he also sold a home in London at a profit after receiving £8,000 from the taxpayer for refurbishments.

There is no mention that he paid a penny of his profit back to the Commons. But making money from home swaps has been part of the game in the English capital for quite some time by everyone, never mind MPs.

Another anti-Assembly MP is also named as playing a money-game to his own advantage, and the taxpayer’s loss. Don Touhig, Labour, Islwyn, is said to have spent “thousands of pounds” redecorating his constituency home (paid for, we hope, purely by English taxpayers), before switching the annual second-home allowance to a flat in London.

Surely, bearing in mind what we now know about the morals of our “masters” in the Imperial capital, the referendum of extra – surely, full – powers for Cardiff MUST be held at once.

Unfortunately, it’s this gang in London which has to pass the necessary legislation.

And some people call it the Mother of Parliaments. More likely the Whore of Parliaments. And to think they believe they know what is good for Wales…..

Big Don’s Westminster Windfall – an update

Blood Boilers, Welsh Labour, Welsh Politics 7 Responses »

May 172009

Article republished and updated from July 2008 in the light of ‘Profligate.’

No wonder devo-sceptic and arch-nationalistophobe Don Touhig and his Labour MP chums aren’t keen to cut the knot with Westminster. They’ve so much to lose.

Not only are they members of one of the UK’s smartest, richest and most exclusive clubs – hobnobbing with the ‘great and good’ the likes of Gordon Brown, Darling, Milliband, Straw, Balls, Blears and a whole host of other sparkling and significant characters – but it’s good for the bank balance as well.

The Daily Telegraph has revealed that the Islwyn MP and former junior Defence Minister made a windfall of almost £200,000 last year from selling a flat ‘which could possibly have been funded by his taxpayer-funded expenses.’

Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor of the Daily Telegraph has disclosed that the Islwyn MP ‘made the windfall profit on his Westminster flat which was bought in 1998 and sold for more than double the amount in 2007.’ Touhig sold the flat last year for £305,000. Records do not show how much he paid for the property which he is understood to have claimed as his “second home”‘, however similar flats in the same block cost less than £130,000 in 1998. This ‘second home’ status means that Touhig was eligible to claim more than £20,000 a year for the property,’ the report continued. ‘Official records show that he has received more than £120,000 since 2001 to cover the costs of a second home. It is not known if the allowances were claimed for the property although there is no evidence of Mr Touhig owning other properties in London.’

The report continued ‘It is also not known whether Mr Touhig… was liable for or paid capital-gains tax on the sale. There is no suggestion that Mr Touhig has broken any rules but if he used his allowance for the property (which he allegedly has done in a scam known as flipping) the case highlights the generosity of the system as it stands.’

Mr Touhig’s submissions to the fees office also disclose that he claimed a total of £1,325 on food at his second home when MPs were on holiday. Mr Touhig also claimed £600 for food in August/September 2005, £600 for food in August/September 2006 and £150 in September 2007.

Mr Touhig’s expenses claims under the additional costs allowance scheme show that he spent more than £2,500 on refurbishing his home in Gwent. He claimed £525 for painting and decorating the hallway, landing and stairway in November 2006 and another £715 on remedial work to the house, including waterproofing the joists.

Mr Touhig also claimed for eight leylandii bushes, with compost and bark, worth £240 in 2006. He sought another £40 for someone to plant the trees. However, the claim was turned down in the same month.

Perhaps it will come as no surprise, therefore, that the chief spokesperson for those opposing reform of the current flaky system of Parliamentary expenses – riddled with loopholes and inconsistencies – was none other than Don Touhig, who mounted ‘a vigorous defence of the current system’ in the Westminster debate on the issue. Another leading opponent of reform was fellow Labour MP (Torfaen) and Welsh Secretary (water too hot) Paul Murphy, who voted against along with a number of cabinet colleagues.

Don Touhig coining it Touhig, Neil Kinnock’s replacement as MP for Islwyn served as parliamentary private secretary to Gordon Brown and was a junior minister at the Ministry of Defence until 2006. He is a noted devo-sceptic and opponent of further law-making powers for Wales an issue which, he claimed in March this year, was not important to his constituents. Pretty standard stuff for a ‘Welsh’ Labour MP, but the latest revelations might go some way to explaining why Don and his mates are very unkeen indeed to break the links with London. It’s going to cost them dear in a number of ways, proving that there’s far more to Labour’s Unionist agenda than meets the nose.

One wonders how many of those Islwyn constituents to whom law-making powers are so unimportant, are as fortunate as Don and his butties with their reserved seats on the London gravy train.

It’s wey-hey-hey all the way for top-of-the-heap Don!

A scene to cheer the troglodytes of Untrue Wales

Welsh Politics 2 Responses »

May 052009

AT FIRST sight, a scene to cheer the troglodytes of Untrue Wales and their leader Don Touhig, Labour MP for Islwyn – (although according to the Western Mail, with its superior contacts with that part of the political agenda, the name of David Davies, right-wing Tory MP for Monmouth, should be used).

The swish coach that acts as the public relations herald for the National Assembly was receiving the attention of not one, but two, large breakdown lorries.

Appropriately, they were named Dragon Rescue.

The coach was supposedly being prepared for its new job of touring the North promoting the message of the National Assembly.

But it wasn’t driving north fast from outside the Assembly in Cardiff Bay. Apparently, it was waggling its wheels in the air because it was due for a regular safety check; it looked to me more like it had broken down in quite a big way.

To Untrue Wales this must surely be the revenge of the “people of Wales”.

For there is one thing that the members of Untrue Wales and its unholy coalition of Left-Right leaders are agreed on, and this is that the people of Wales cannot be trusted to voice their own beliefs. Or to express their democratic views (except through voices in the Imperial Parliament).

We are now told by Untrue Wales that the drive towards extra powers, which will rid the Assembly of near-total control by the Welsh Affairs Committee of the Commons – certain to be dominated by near-ignorant English Tories of unknown views after the next election – is happening purely at the behest of Church and State.

These use of these words by Untrue Wales take us almost back to the start of the 20^th century, to the days of Establishment in Wales (as still exists in England). To the days when rural workers tugged their forelocks. To the days when the plebs didn’t think, but left such hard work to their bishops.

This is the view of the extreme Right – of the Davies part of the supposed leadership rather than of the Touhig, from the “Left” part.

As Prof Richard Wyn Jones, of Cardiff, points out in the new Planet, opinion poll figures show that the idea that we are still led by the crachach and the bishops is sadly outdated. Untrue Wales clearly live on another planet; Views have changed considerably since the close-run 1997 referendum, and devolution is “now very much the settled will in Wales” – in other words, the plebs have overtaken the bishops.

And yet there may still be reasons to believe that the wheels have come off the Assembly coach. There are TWO Assembly organisations currently touring Wales telling us all about the Assembly. The Convention is interested in finding the views of the Welsh public so it can recommend whether or not a referendum on extra powers should be held. This body runs a Road Show, but possesses no coach.

The coach belongs to the Assembly Commission, which is the independent body which services the Assembly’s legislative arm and possesses no political views.

Some would argue that this part of the set-up has indeed run off the road, that it has departed so much from the original route as agreed in 1997 that it is in bad need or repair.

Principally,this is because the Assembly changed radically at the 2007 election. At that time, a new Government of Wales Act from the Imperial Parliament came into force; this Act concentrated power at the centre within the Cabinet, and ended much of the openness that the Assembly was designed to provide in 1999 – the Assembly was designed to operate in stark contradiction to what happens at present in the Imperial Parliament.

Untrue Wales would, of course, know nothing of this. To the untruth-tellers from Gwent (they all seem to live there), no criticism of London can ever be broached.

Untrue, Untrue, Untrue – True Wales

Welsh Politics 12 Responses »

Feb 102009

Don Touhig is sending out his acolytes to freeze on Valleys streets by shadowing the road show currently being organised by the All Wales Convention.

The convention has been set up after anti-devolution Labour MPs – eg Mr Touhig, of Torfaen – forced the Assembly to abandon taking any action on the decisions of the Sunderland Commission on how to develop the National Assembly.

In doing so, Mr Touhig and friends forced the Assembly to waste the £1m or more that the commission’s high-standard work cost.

The convention has been sent out currently to ascertain the views of the public on whether it is worth organising a referendum on extra powers for the Assembly.

Mr Touhig’s friends freezing in a car-park in Caerffili earlier today call themselves True Wales. Their core belief is to maintain the current link between Wales and the UK.

Alun Michael – hero of the Tory devo-sceptics

Welsh Politics No Responses »

Feb 022009

Alun Michael must be on his way to becoming the hero of the Tory devo-sceptics.

The issue of the All-Wales Convention had been raised at Welsh Questions in the Commons by arch-anti devolutionist Don Touhig.

He reiterated all the points blazoned abroad by the Western Mail – from where that paper got its information and the angle it placed on the happenings, whether by actually attending the first meeting, or by speaking to someone – perhaps a leading anti-devolution Tory – I do not know.

On the surface, Mr Michael and Mr Touhig are no Tories. But underneath … ?

An Ulster lesson from Carwyn for Untrue Wales

The MP-friends of the late-night drunk

Anti-Assembly MPs milk the expenses

Big Don’s Westminster Windfall – an update

A scene to cheer the troglodytes of Untrue Wales

Untrue, Untrue, Untrue – True Wales

Alun Michael – hero of the Tory devo-sceptics

Stuff from other blogs

Poll

Politics Twitter Stream

Cambria Magazine Subscription

Save Money!

Business4Wales

BBC Welsh Politics

Cambria Books