WE ALL wondered why the entire Tory group turned up for that group’s weekly press briefing – plus Cheryl Gillan, the shadow secretary of state, writes Clive Betts from the Assembly press gallery.
Then someone else walked in, and Plaid AM Oscar – formally known as Mohammed Asghar – became their 13th member.
Unlucky 13 ? No, I was told by one of the original 12, it’s a lucky 13.
Oscar had done his flit only half-an-hour before he was due to attend the Plaid group’s weekly group meeting just down the corridor.
We asked him what Ieuan Wyn Jones, the Plaid leader, had said. “Haven’t told him yet,” was the reply.
Oscar was a bit vague about precisely why he had decided to depart that party. Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams in her briefing which followed directed us to some of Oscar’s recent contributions to plenary debates: he had been effusive in praise for the work being done by Plaid ministers.
But perhaps that was only a cover-up for the action he was then contemplating.
For how long he had been was unclear. Certainly the talks with the Tories had been cloak-and-dagger with only a small group within that party, and did not seem to have continued for long.
One had the feeling that Oscar’s background – he is a chartered accountant dealing with small businesses, lived in a nice house in Newport, and had a strong background in the Pakistan Air Force – would have placed him out of sympathy with some of the more left-wing elements within the Plaid group.
But he steadfastly refused to be drawn on such matters.
The biggest surprise was that he had ever been chosen as Plaid’s second nominee for South East, for he is clearly out of sympathy with any idea of “independence”. He said he a strong believer in the United Kingdom (!), and seemingly in the Royal Family.
Elected under false pretences ? No, he had never used the word “independence” in his election literature. But then does presiding officer Lord Elis-Thomas in Dwyfor Meirionnydd ?
To Oscar the critical political issue is the need for a Parliament, and that is the word that he used for the elections.
Why stand for Plaid ? Oscar had told me several years ago that a vital reason was the approach made to him by now-deputy minister Jocelyn Davies – who stands perhaps on the right (or perhaps centre, certainly not hard-left) of Plaid.
Previously, indeed, Oscar had been a Labour Party member in Newport. Why switch from that party ? Well, Newport Labour contains some racist elements, and Oscar clashed with them at one time. Yesterday he did not remind us this week of that part of his history.
Met along the Assembly corridors, it was Andrew Davies, the Labour minister, who filled in that gap.
During the Tory press briefing, it turned out that some years ago, Oscar had approached the Tories to join that party “but I heard no more”.
I asked him whether he suspected racism among the Tories at that time for the lack of a reply, and whether he believed that the Tory Party had really changed its spots ?
The first part of the question he avoided answering, saying it had happened many years ago. The second was answered by Nick Bourne, and what do you expect his answer was?
It was very clear during the briefing that Oscar’s economic beliefs link up very clearly with Tory beliefs as advertised by party UK leader David Cameron and by Mr Bourne – who is, of course, very strong on the need for a parliament (although he avoids use of that word).
The departure from Plaid was treated as a home-coming.
His political interests, as listed in Dod’s National Assembly for Wales Companion, fit in neatly with the new-style Tory Party – economic development and social exclusion – rather than that of the Thatcherites.
But it could yet be a home-coming which causes a few problems for the Tories – if they win the next London election. For Oscar won a seat in the Assembly as a top-up member for Plaid to compensate that party for their absence of constituency seats in the South East.
When one elected regional member drops out, the next on the list simply takes over the seat (this happened in North during the last Assembly, where Rod Richards was simply replaced by David Jones, without any new election being held).
The third-placed individual on the Plaid list was senior Caerffili councillor Colin Mann, who would have been an excellent addition to the party’s corps of AMs.
The Tories apparently checked very carefully on the Government of Wales Act that Oscar could continue with his seat, despite being part of another party’s list.
No doubt, quite an argument could be had as to whether this should be permitted. As Nick Bourne ruefully commented yesterday, it will no doubt be his own party – when, and there’s no “if” in Mr Bourne’s mind, it wins the next Westminster election – which will have to consider whether to change the Government of Wales Act to deal with the problem.
