The Conservative Secretary of State for Wales Cheryl Gillan has come under fire for snubbing Caerphilly Castle on a drive to boost tourism in Wales.
Ms Gillan, along with Wales Office Minister David Jones, is embarking on a series of visits this week to some of “Wales’ most inspirational tourism hotspots”, according to a press release, – but Caerphilly Castle is not on the list. The visits are to coincide with British Tourism Week.
Yesterday Ms Gillan visited Cardiff Castle’s Museum of the Welsh Soldier and the National Botanical Gardens of Wales in Carmarthenshire but couldn’t find the time to visit Caerphilly Castle – one of the largest in Europe.
Allan Pritchard, leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council, said: “This doesn’t say much about the claims of the minister and her Welsh roots. I don’t suppose Cheryl Gillan even knows where Caerphilly Castle is.
“The history of the castle, the significance and size of this majestic struture and its importance to the local economy appears to be off her radar.Perhaps the biggest slap in the face, is that none of these ministerial visits will take in any of the Valleys and most deprived areas of Wales. If Cheryl Gillan closes her eyes tight enough, she will imagine she is back home in her leafy English constituency.”
A spokeswoman for the Welsh Secretary said: “Unfortunately, we only had a limited amount of time to work with on Monday morning, so we had to look for tourism destinations in Cardiff city centre.
“However, we are always on the lookout for future visit options, and will make sure that Caerphilly is on our list.”
Caerphilly MP Wayne David said Ms Gillan was well-placed to take part in Wales Tourism Week.
He said: “It is entirely appropriate that Cheryl Gillan is participating in Wales Tourism Week. In fact, as she herself is an ‘occasional visitor’ to Wales Mrs Gillan is well placed to assess the worth of the week’s celebration.
“Perhaps during her visits she may even see somewhere she may like to live. Being Secretary of State for Wales and living in Buckinghamshire must be so very difficult. But that’s of course assuming that Mrs Gillam takes here job seriously’.
Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru AM for South Wales East, said: “Personally, I’m not interested in hearing about the Secretary of State’s visits in Wales.
“As far as I’m concerned Cheryl Gillan should be here all the time when she’s not in Parliament. Mind you the itinerary for the visit does sound a bit like a Royal visit and as far as I know she hasn’t been accepted into the Royal Family.”
On Friday Wales Office Minister David Jones will be visiting Chirk Castle near Wrexham, and Bodysgallen Hall in Llandudno.
I for one am delighted that this woman is coming nowhere near Caerphilly.
The further away she stays from Wales, in fact, the better.
The Tories have never been friends of the Welsh, they have never done or considered what is best for Wales, so, I think she should concentrate her political efforts on matters in her own constituency, where, people clearly have a liking for her and her particular brand of distorted hypocritical politics.
So, Lindsay, don`t waste your time, and don`t give this woman and her party gratification. They all have an imbalanced psychic apparatus which lead them to believe we give a s..t.
I also notice the picture of this woman used by the Observer has been airbrushed beyond recognition and to an extent which makes this person look human, in r=the interest of accuracy I think the editor should remove it.
Who can blame her… Some generic ruins complete with crumbly bits and a bit of water. Topped off with an array of attention seeking councillors of the mememe brigade.