Monday 24 September 2018

"Welsh" Labour preventing female leadership candidate?

Apparently according to BBC Wales in a blog post to be published Today  seen by BBC Wales, Alun  Davies - who withdrew from the contest and is now supporting Ms Morgan - will say her failure to secure enough support so far is "not accidental".and here is a campaign to "actively prevent a woman" from getting into the race to become the next Welsh Labour leader, a minister has claimed.
How BBC Wales managed to see a Blog before it is was published is one question ?
Did Mr Davies release a press release without a embargo?
Another  question is . Would Alun Davies have cared if there was a Woman  wasn't in the race if he had managed to secure the necessary number of AM, to support his own nomination.We will probably never know,
According to the BBC he will say that 
"It is the direct consequence of a planned campaign to limit the choice available to members of the party," he will say.
"And it reflects very poorly on the whole of the National Assembly Labour Party."
Eluned Morgan is currently one nomination short of getting on the ballot paper.
Nominations have not formally opened - and with 16 expressions of support, Prof Drakeford's camp is facing increasing pressure to lend Ms Morgan the support she needs.
Ms Morgan, a Welsh Government minister, member of the House of Lords and former MEP, said she wanted to be there "on my own merits".
Carwyn Jones is due to step down as both first minister and Welsh Labour leader in December after almost 10 years at the helm of Welsh politics.
Meanwhile, Carwyn Jones told BBC Wales Sunday Politics show having a female candidate for the top job was "not tokenism" and it would look "very, very strange" if all the candidates were men.
"I think it's crucial that there should be a woman on the ballot paper," he said at the Labour party conference in Liverpool.
"It's not tokenism, it's important to reflect as much as we can Wales as a whole.
"I hope that over the next few weeks a method can be found to make sure we end up with a woman on the ballot paper and that's something I would encourage others to look at."
 Ms Morgan said while she was "delighted" the first minister saw a need for a female candidate, "I have always said I would like to be on the ballot paper on my own merits if possible".
"The important thing is that there has been a very wide-ranging debate and a lot of support here at the Labour conference for making sure we have the broadest possible debate within the party, in terms of the future of the Labour party in Wales and the future direction of Welsh politics."

Felicity Evans, BBC Cymru Wales Political Editor wrote

This debate is getting increasingly heated.Eluned Morgan's camp resent accusations of tokenism against an experienced politician who's been an MEP and sat on the shadow front bench in the Lords.Mark Drakeford's supporters hate being lectured about who they should or shouldn't nominate.Vaughan Gething's people say they're incensed at the lack of diversity in the contest.
But there's a bigger question here - why has the debate coalesced around a single female AM? There was a cluster of male candidates vying to stand. Some won out, some didn't.It seems extraordinary that the party of twinning and all female short lists should find itself in this position. It suggests the talent pipeline isn't flowing as it should if it can't deliver a whole batch of female AMs just as keen to lead their party and their country as their male colleagues.
Personally I think it reflects on the whole quality of Labour AM Male or Female in that who ever wins is still going to be second rate Branch manager and Plaid whose contest has produced three outstanding candidates , who might have faced accusations of male domination if current Leanne Wood was to lose , must be finding Labour's problem typical.

However if Leanne was to lose it would reflect badly on the Assembly where all the parties in the Senedd are led by men except the Liberal Democrats where Kirsty Morgan is their sole representatives.


Though they do have a female Welsh Liberal Democrat leader in Jane Dodds, ho many reading this are asking Jane Who?


Ms Morgan would obviously face accusations that she is Token candidate , which might work in her favour as members vote for her to prove otherwise.


My concerns over Eluned Morgan  were recently spelt out,

"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.
Whatever the merits of Female AMs's there are still more Males on the Assembly who prove that Felicity Evans',  Talent pipeline isn't flowing" and maybe its that we should be addressing 

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