You can tell a council election is coming closer because Caerphilly County Borough Council are doing their best to give the impression that the council’s Plaid Cymru leadership are doing a good job. The council’s press releases will show that the council’s public relations department is working overtime. What you will not see of course are the less palatable facts about how the council is making cuts, introducing stealth charges, shrinking its workforce, and being criticised by a charity for being one of the worst councils in Wales.
What is also interesting is that Ron Davies, is once again front-stage. About a year ago, the same thing happened. Then it was the Welsh Assembly election; now it’s the council election.
But I have to say that two things are very noticeable. Firstly, it seems to be that Ron is being given a role in the council’s promotion which far exceeds his actual importance. You would think by looking at the council’s press releases that Ron Davies was leader of the council and yet Ron is not even deputy leader. He is merely the cabinet member for regeneration. The leader of the council, Councillor Allan Pritchard, is no shrinking violet but why I ask does he obviously play second fiddle to someone who is, at best, a recent convert to Welsh nationalism?
That leads me on to my second point. We all know Ron’s interesting political journey – from Labour to Forward Wales to Independent to Plaid Cymru. But now I understand that Ron is ‘thinking’ about standing for the role of Police Commissioner for Gwent as an Independent. Moreover, the good people of Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen recently received a glossy leaflet from Ron and councillor Colin Hobbs. As you would expect, the leaflet contains an abundance of wild claims but there is no reference whatsoever to Ron being a member of Plaid.
Now we all know that Plaid Cymru are not popular in the BTM ward but surely Ron is not trying to mislead people and give the impression that he is still an Independent? But who knows, perhaps Ron has left Plaid. After all, he has changed parties plenty of times before. It is interesting too that Ron has used in his latest leaflet exactly the same photograph as he used when he stood as, yes, you guessed it, an ‘Independent’, four years ago.
Perhaps councillor Allan Pritchard can have a quiet word with his friend Ron to find out if Ron is indeed still a member of Plaid or whether he has gone back to being an Independent. Maybe Ron is saying one thing to his mates in Plaid on the council and saying something else to the people of Bedwas, Trethomas and Machen. Can that be the case?
Wayne David
Labour MP for Caerphilly
Wayne David, the man who would make a political point about what someone had for breakfast. Give it a rest.
No the real messenger of a forthcomming councile election is when the MP and AM try teeling us how good the local Labour are, as if we didnt have memories of their time in the council
your correct mr david we can tell that the local council elections are getting closer as it is the only time we get to see all the parties knocking on our doors with broken promises as for your write up on ron davies you should be more concerned about your own party instead of acting like a spoil't schoolchild. is it no wonder why less people are bothering to vote.
I recognised the impending election by the vitriol in my local labour misinformation sheets. Which grow ever increasingly desperate with each posting. Indeed I am only surprised that such wildly inaccurate and wilfully misleading nonsense does not come with a free tin foil hat!
While I would not care to comment on the mentality that produces such delusional propaganda, I would politely suggest that you forget about Ron. Instead focus on reigning in the lunatics of your own merry asylum called the labour party. Else you might what little credibility you have left rapidly disappearing.
Helen- Regardless of the politics of the situation I dont think your advice that people should `forget` about Ron Davies is anywhere good advice.
In fact all groups should Keep Ron right at the top of their political agenda, to write Ron off in such a way as Helen does is disingenuous to the man.
To misquote the 1960s pop star Del Shannon i think the Labour Party are Ronning Scared.
Why doesn't Ron want us to know what is label is?. The smoke and mirrors have returned. The Plaid administration is trying hard to protect its bleak record in power and it is not clear what role Ron plays in their leadership. The hysterical response from his supporters [above] would indicate that they badly need him but Ron has not yet told the people who elected him last time what label he is carrying this time.Has he told them? Perhaps he's hoping for another hung Council. His latest Leaflet in Machen from the last election, but without the 'Independent'label, show him and Councillor Hobbs with the banner 'TOGETHER'. This poses another question – if Ron is still in Plaid has Councillor Hobbs joined him ? They don't have to indicate their party at this stage of the election of course but surely electors could be let into their plans. Perhaps they haven't decided yet.
Just a few thoughts from me. Firstly it's Wayne's job to make political comments and observations on things. He is after all an MP. Perhaps Lindsay Whittle should "Give it a rest" too????
Also having seen many of the Labour leaflets in recent times I would suggest that what's in them is pretty accurate, highlighting as they do the multiple failings of Plaid in the Caerphilly area.
As for Ron Davies, well I think that his political oddessey is well worth considering.Why would anybody shuttle around between so many political parties and positions? I don't know the exact answer to that one, but I can certainly think of another politican in recent times who flitted from party to party, resigning from each in turn until he finally gave up altogether, and that is Robert Kilroy-Silk. He started off in Labour, went to UKIP, then split with them to form his own party in Veritas and then finally left them and retired into political obscurity. Clearly Ron's own political journey has been very different in terms of its direction to Kilroy-Silk, who drifted off to the right, but could there be a similar underlying reason for these journeys? Both Kilroy-Silk and Ron were both once much venerated and respected politicans who commanded a great deal of respect. Then they both left mainstream politics and moved onto other political projects, UKIP and Forward Wales respectively, before having problems with those parties and then moving into other political outfits over which they both had a great deal of influence, Veritas and Independent politics. Finally Kilroy-Silk fought with the Veritas leadership and resigned, Ron however has moved on again, to Plaid it seems, and is now maybe thinking about becoming an Independent candidate for public office again. Clearly I don't know what Ron's thinking behind his political strategy is, but perhaps like Robert Kilroy-Silk he is looking constantly for a personal vehicle for his own political ambition, and when it becomes clear that other people in that party may not see his membership of their party in the same way, he leaves and finds another party. Perhaps Plaid's leadership in Caerphilly are convinced that people's fond memories of Ron as an effective local Labour MP are enough to carry him to victory on their behalf. Certainly I remember Ron in the 80's being a good Labour MP, but alas his political shennanigans since have made me seriously question his political judgement, and I find that very sad.
For the youngsters, the first few lines of Del Shannon`s Just Running Scared were,
Just running scared,
afraid to lose,
if he came back,
which one would you choose?
which just about sums up the Labour party`s wories about Ron Davies.
Its time Ron Davies came clean about his intentions on whether or not he's to stand for Plaid in BTM. Its embarrassing that Plaid Cymru seem to be happy about being led a merry dance by the former Labour/Forward Wales/Independent/Plaid politician. Surely the voters of BTM expect transparency from their Ron Davies??
The mystery deepens.There are now 4 Candidates standing for the BTM 'TOGETHER' Coalition but what are their individual Politics? It is not clear who is what. Is this deliberate obfuscation or a cunning plan? Is Colin Hobbs now in Plaid totally? And now two more -one was Labour at the last election- but are they Independent or Plaid? Can we now presume that Ron is definitely Plaid and will not be standing for Police Commissioner as an 'Independent'?. What is it with these people that they cannot decide who they stand for? It's like that old TV programme, 'Soap', which always started with the statement 'Confused ?? – You will be!'