The Assembly reopened today, and the Lib Dems immediately got off to a bad start.
Their weekly briefing for the press is the first formal event each week, timed at noon on Mondays.
With the welcome at the Senedd for the Welsh paralympians scheduled for almost the same time, journalists had to niftily dodge additional swiftly arranged security which they had not been told about to reach the briefing room adjacent to the “dungeon” where plenaries are held.
Having got there, the room was in darkness; no sign of either party leader Mike German, or of press officer Gareth Price.
After dodging yet more security, the likely reason became clear. A Lib Dem AM whispered that Mr German is still in Lesotho.
Apparently, he’s on a Commonwealth parliamentary visit. Why to Lesotho ? Because the South East AM has been very keen for some time on the Wales-Lesotho Link, established some decades ago by Dr Carl Clowes, the former GP in Llanaelhaearn in Gwynedd who has made a not-tiny mark on important aspects of Welsh life.
Will there be a replacement briefing, so we know something about Lib Dem thoughts about the ways of the Welsh world ? Perhaps, we are told.
Why was Kirsty Williams, the Brecon and Radnor AM, invited to take the briefing in his place ? After all, she’s after his job.
Oh, no, we can’t do that, the press was told. Eleanor Burnham, the North AM, has said she will try, too. And, who knows, she might.
Or, as I discovered after checking all my emails, instead of only some of them, Jenny Randerson, Cardiff Central, Mike’s deputy. She issued a statement saying she has still to make a decision. As we had earlier believed that she had ruled herself out, this makes is seem she is only a short step from declaring.
Mrs Randerson’s move would be no great surprise. The two women don’t see eye to eye on a number of issues, and Kirsty has more (dangerous) enemies within the party than Jenny. Most important, Mrs Randerson holds her seat far more securely than Ms Williams – this means she is more likely to be truly Liberal than does an AM who feels she must always be looking over her shoulder at the Tories (despite her not-insubstantial majority).
In any case, which job ? There are two theoretically available – leader of the Welsh party (remember, the party is a federal institution); and leader of the Assembly group. The party will not decide until its conference next month in Swansea whether to merge the jobs; and then, who should be allowed to apply for whatever jobs exist.
The sensible way would be to make the eventual Assembly leader the obvious senior position; after all, the Assembly’s where the Welsh action is – even if there’s a trifle of an argument over whether the rest of the Welsh action is shifted from Westminster to Cardiff Bay.
