Could a Baroness be next Third Rate Minister in Welsh Assembly?

If you think the Plaid Cymru leadership election has been going on for an age then then race to succeed the current  leader and Third Rate Minster in the Assembly seems to be going at a Snail's pace.

It was back in April that Carwyn Jones announced his intention to stand down and we still haven't who will join the starting line up.

"Welsh Labour"  has at least agreed last week end to l use the one-member-one-vote system - like the one used to elect Jeremy Corbyn - to choose its next leader.

Delegates at a Cardiff conference voted two-to-one in favour of the change.

The decision, following months of wrangling, means the votes of all party members will now carry equal weight.

One-member-one-vote system, or Omov, is the system used by Labour in the rest of Britain and was the one the party's UK leader Mr Corbyn was elected under.

It means all party members - and members of unions and affiliated groups - get an equal vote.

A rejected alternative option was to reform Welsh Labour's electoral college, giving half the vote to party members and half to affiliated members.

There has been significant criticism over how some of the biggest unions took the decision to back Carolyn Harris without consulting their membership.
It is understood that Unite Wales' decision was taken by "just three or four people".

Mrs Morgan said her vote as an AM is worth 400 times that of a member.
She won the members vote, but lost the trade unions and parliamentarian vote.
Her team have calculated she had more than 65% of the members vote.

Labour's deputy leadership result

How the votes added up:
Affiliates
Carolyn Harris - 20.14%
Julie Morgan - 13.19%
Members
Carolyn Harris - 11.61%
Julie Morgan - 21.73%
MPs, AMs and MEPs:
Carolyn Harris - 19.75%
Julie Morgan - 13.58%
Total:
Carolyn Harris - 51.5%
Julie Morgan - 48.5%

Mrs Morgan spoke of her frustration she lost out to the same system which saw her late husband Rhodri lose out as leader.

Meanwhile Two Welsh Labour leadership hopefuls  who have failed to get the necessary nominations have pulled out of the race in order to back Eluned Morgan.

Huw Irranca-Davies and Alun Davies have announced they will back the Mid & West Wales AM's bid to replace Carwyn Jones.

Ms Morgan also has the support of David Rees and Dawn Bowden but still needs backing from one more AM before she can get her name on the ballot paper.

The confirmed contenders for the Welsh Labour leadership are Mark Drakeford and Vaughan Gething.

It what limits the number of hopefuls Candidates need five other AMs to support them so unless one of Mr Drakeford's declared supporters decides to change their nomination, she will not get on the ballot paper.

The four Labour AMs backing the Welsh language minister said they were supporting her candidacy to ensure a "healthy debate" with "a choice of candidates".

"We are putting deeds not words in to action," they said in a statement.

"It is a responsibility we must meet so the membership of our party can choose from amongst candidates who reflect the diverse nature of the communities we seek to represent".

I am sure Eluned Morgan is as capable of replacing Carwyn Jones as the other two candidates and it seems ridiculous that we do not have a Woman candidate for the leadership.

Also there seems to be a case of "Get your Nomination in first" and candidates can wait to long to weigh up thier options only to see the fiels full,

But this move and the acceptance of OMOV, may lead to some of the Labour hierarchy to recall that Mr Corbyn, who is on course to become Labour leader according to the first public poll of those eligible to vote, scraped onto the ballot paper by winning the backing of 35 MPs - the minimum number of nominations needed to enter the race.

Some admitted nominating Mr Corbyn to ensure the contest represented the full spectrum of voices in the party and hoped members would dismiss the crazy views of the left in favour of a more mainstream candidate.

That went well didn't it?

Ms Morgan is also  Baroness Morgan of Ely , so could be the first peer since the Marquis Salisbury in 1902 to head an elected legislature  in the UK and the first to sit in two the Assembly and House of Lords. 

The prospect of the First Minister in Wales going to the Lords to vote on a UK Parliamentary Bill, bill is intriguing and would through Constitutional commentators into a frenzy.

Amusing as it sounds, it does beg the question of whether you should be members of more than one legislative assembly.

It will be interesting  if Ms Morgan states to make headway who will be first amongst the candidates supporters to point this out.