Answer the Question Carwyn.

I tend to agree with Vaughan Roderick's verdict of   Welsh First Minister's Questions that Poor questioning and a missed opportunity for the opposition parties over allegations of bullying in the Welsh Government, says the BBC's Welsh Affairs editor Vaughan Roderick.

 Though  I an not sure we would have got any more derails from the evasive First Minister.

He was asked by Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood to say what issues exactly were raised with him in 2014 and what he had done about them.
He responded: 

“There were issues of competing priorities, of people feeling that some people were listened to more than others. They are feelings of people feeling that they want to see you as First Minister to explain their position.
“These are all the normal processes of Cabinet, and it would be very odd if any Cabinet was in place where nobody ever disagreed, it would be very odd if a Cabinet was in place where people were in a position where they didn’t feel they wanted to make their views known in a particular way to the First Minister.
“Yes, there are always tensions in any Cabinet, and surely any party leader will recognise that. What’s hugely important is that the tensions don’t get in the way of good governance – and they haven’t got in the way of good governance.”

  "People were sometimes unhappy with the way things happened.
"Were there competing priorities and complaints of that nature - of course there were.
"Did people sometimes feel others were more favoured - of course they did. That happens in any organisation.
"In politics, where these matters are even felt more intensely than in most other places, and people are very passionate about what they believe in, then that will be the situation.
"At the heart of our democracy is the notion of competition. There will always be tension - everyone in this chamber will recognise that, particularly my fellow party leaders."

Asked by Andrew RT Davies whether issues of bullying had been raised specifically with him in 2014, Mr Jones said:

 “I am aware of comments that have been made to the Press.
“All I can say about those comments is that no specific allegation of bullying was ever presented to me in relation to those comments either formally or informally.”

Mr Davies asked the First Minister whether the Labour group would be supporting the Tory motion that he should be subjected to a detailed scrutiny session by AMs.

Mr Jones responded:

 “There are a number of ways in which this issue can be dealt with. We reserve our position in terms of the vote next week. It will be studied carefully, of course. I do accept that this is an issue that will need further scrutiny.
“I’m not afraid of that scrutiny. I think it’s a question of finding out what is the most effective way for that scrutiny to be exercised.”

So Carwyn's defence now seems to be that  because there was apparently no use of the word bullying when these accusation were made then he  did not mislead the Siambr .

This was not god enough for Plaid Am Simon Thomas


Speaking to journalists, Mr Thomas,  said:

“The First Minister lied either in 2014 or last week.

"In 2014, in response to a written question, he said no allegations had been received. Last week he said those issues were dealt with at the time ... The two positions are incompatible.

"You can’t say you dealt with issues in 2014 and then say there were no allegations. Clearly – this is detective work, but it’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?, the allegations in 2014 were the ones that Leighton Andrews made.
"Leighton Andrews has gone on record and has publicly stated that he informally reported bullying allegations to the First Minister in 2014, and they were in relation to Carl Sargeant.
“He denied that at the time and then last week tried to obfuscate his way in a QC-ly way out of that position.”

Never heard the word QC-ly before  but like the UK Prime Minister (and those before her) those who watch both farces of FMQ's and PMQ's  may wel find themselves at time  shouting  at the TV  "answer the bloody question"

We are clearly not going to find answers in the Siambr and only a full enquiry  will tell us the facts and even exonerate the First Minister.

The heart of democracy that the First Minister described above demands full scrutiny  from such an enquiry and full answers from our  evasive  First Minister,