They will hate me for the above title, but I am delighted with the spread of candidates now declared for the Plaid leadership campaign, ready to kick off in the new year. Tonight, Leanne Wood AM has declared that she is running, adding to the list of Elin Jones AM, Dafydd Elis Thomas AM and Simon Thomas AM. All four are experienced politicians in their own right, who offer different skills and political perspectives, which is why the leadership campaign should be an exciting one, and a great platform for the future of the party.
With the report into the future direction of the party being completed in the New Year and a desperate need for some direction in Welsh politics after Labour have predictably ground to a halt, this contest could not come at a better time. I look forward to some passionate debates, plenty of vision and ideas and above all, a new leader who can take on the mantle of Ieuan and take Wales forward with confidence.
If you are a lapsed party member or are interested in taking Wales forward instead of 'standing still for Wales' as appears to be the current Labour mantra, then follow the link below, join up, get involved and have a vote on who you want to lead Plaid and Wales. There are no block votes in Plaid, where every member has the same say as the next, so what are you waiting for?
https://www.english.plaidcymru.org/join/
Which one's Ringo then?
ReplyDeletehmmm..........no comment.
ReplyDeleteI know which one's John Lennon and got the best choons
ReplyDeleteDET is a traitor and Simon is a nobody so it has to go to one of the girls.
ReplyDeleteLeanne is probably most famous for her Mrs Windsor comments, It'd be nice to have a run down of each of these, well each of the girls as the two men are not serious candidates. Are they?
Leanne's website is very impressive. She sets out her stall with clarity and honesty, in a very detailed way. It has to be the standard by which the other are judged.
ReplyDeleteDET is a non-starter as he does not believe in further devolution - Carwyn is more radical than him!
Elin is competent, but too Welshie - she will reinforce the idea that we are the party of Welsh speakers.
Simon just hasn't been around in the Assembly for long enough, and the way he lost Ceredigion has to count against him.
I'm signing up for leanne now - Plaid needs a kick up the arse, and she is the one to give it.
Sionnyn, I agree that Leanne Wood's website looks impressive, but how much is style over substance?
ReplyDeleteHer key platform seems to be Greenprint For The Valleys, however it is impossible to download a copy, it can only by previewed via a service called Issuu, and if I want to print a copy then I have to register with them.
Plaid cannot afford to make it difficult for people to find out about and share their policies.
Apart from anything else it gives the impression that Plaid have something to hide and after a decade of fudging on the independence policy thats exactly the image they need to dispel.
All four have their limitations. Not one will have the appeal to the wider electorate - or support within the party - that Dafydd Wigley enjoyed. So will the victor be a stop-gap until Adam Price returns, or one of the younger AMs finds his feet?
ReplyDeletegiven that plaid has to make deep inroads in south wales if it wants to get anywhere near to toppling welsh labour leanne's candidacy should be taken seriously by every plaid supporter and member. But she does of course have much more to offer than just the part of wales she resides in. Shes both an unashamed socialist and unequivocal in her support not only for further devolution for wales but for Wales one day becoming a self governing nation.
ReplyDeleteLeanne as plaid leader would contrast sharply with the other party leaders in wales in her support of ordinary people and communities in wales defending themselves against the massive onslaught being waged by the reactionary condem coalition.
There can also be no question that a plaid led by leanne could help draw new members and forces into plaid - people who are disillusioned with welsh labour and the lib dems and who are looking for a progressive and viable red/green alternative to the other free market and war loving parties.
All of the other 3 candidates standing have their own qualities,and i hope all of the candidates are treated respectfully in this contest and by contributors on all the various blog and forums, but it is hard to see any of the other candidates standing appealing to people outside plaid's current frankly too narrow base in the way that leanne wood can.
Leigh Richards
swansea
I'm for Leanne too, and agree with most of the comments above regarding the other candidates.
ReplyDeleteOf the four, she is the party's best hope.
If the grassroots Plaid opinion really is "for independence", DET is beyond the pale. Simon Thomas would do great within the Assembly and is a high quality AM, but I'd have him as a member of my team doing the thinking rather than leading it. Elin Jones would be one of the first names on my "team sheet", dependable, witty and can win constituency elections (in one seat at least), but winning one constituency though admirable isn't the same as raising the vote across the populated parts of Wales. I see her as continuity from IWJ, politically. I would in the past have thought Leanne was too left-wing and not sensible enough but her politics are now quite appropriate considering how devolution has been stalled, and how all of the traditional parties are the same on the economy. There is utter directionlessness on the economy right now and some of Leanne's website ideas about local communities make more sense to me than the idea of just hoping the banks sort everything out. And anyway, the wider party will still be in charge of policy development so I don't see her leftism being a problem, if people like Joni Eds are on board, it can be phrased in an effective and tactical way.
ReplyDeleteMy vote will be settled in hustings not online forums but I am getting at least some of my Welsh-speaking friends to join now so that they can vote. Whoever leads Plaid will along with the rest of their team be setting the agenda for Welsh politics. We only have 11 AMs so the leader isn't the be all and end all, she will be more of a figurehead or symbol.
Rhydian said... she will be more of a figurehead or symbol.
ReplyDeleteAlready written off two then?
Yes. The implications for Dafydd Elis-Thomas winning are unacceptable based on the numbers of people that would leave the party and a return to government with Labour without having any clear concessions we could win.
ReplyDeleteSimon Thomas in my opinion is more of a thinker than a leader. Plaid cannot waste his talent but is leader the best use of that? If another leader wins Simon isn't going to suddenly disappear as an AM.
The membership as a whole may well vote differently. But yes i've written off two, for what it's worth, just as one persons opinion.