If Peter and Cheryl do not have a job perhaps its time to end it.

There has been an interesting take on the report of the seeming lack of activity of Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain in the commons chamber firstly from jaxxland who takes the Western Mail s and Plaid's Jonathan Edwards to task for what they point out is not much of a  story. Though Welsh Ramblings  makes  a little more of it.

So why interesting? Because  both in their way seem to realise that the problem with Hain is that Shadow Secretary of Wales is now a virtual Non-Job ,as the actual post of Secretary of State held by Cheryl Gillan has lost much of the little authority that it had when Wales voted for increased powers last March.

The post of Welsh Secretary has  always been the lowest in the cabinet, and has been usually filled either by nonentities , John Morris, Paul Murphy, George Thomas or seen as a means of keeping some people in the Cabinet William Hague,John Redwood and of course Hain .

So why does the post remain post devolution ? Most of the powers have past to the Assembly?

For Labour its probably a means to reward Welsh MPs who have failed to measure up for a more important cabinet or shadow cabinet post . There have been very few Welsh cabinet ministers of late and yet the dominance of the Part in Wales suggest they should have the talent to emulate their more successful Scottish colleagues..

For the Tories who have failed to appoint a Welsh based shadow or cabinet Welsh secretary in Wales the position has probably more to do with the need to keep the Scottish position in order to give the impression that  they have greater influence in that nation bearing in mind  only 1 of 59 MP and  15 of 129 MSPs. They have been fortunate in being able to appoint the Liberal Democrat Michael Moore so at leat unlike Wales and Northern Ireland the cabinet   minister represents a seat in that country.

However  why keep these post especially if they along with that of Northern Ireland are seen as form of Government control.. 

Would the solution to these non-jobs be to abolish the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland office and create a new cabinet office of "Secretary for Devolved Communications", With a Cabinet  Secretary and three minister  under him or her. The responsible  minister(s) would be invited to Cabinet meetings when the respective devolved area is on the paper. The minister for Wales for instance would also take the seat reserved in the senedd for them on a more regular basis explaining the Westminster governments position and learning that of the Welsh Government (a semi-ambassadorial role in fact.)

It might also be interesting to appoint a minister for each of the English Regions..

The current Staff in the Welsh Office can be transfers to the ministry or the Assembly

What are you there for Cheryl Gillian ?

There’s always been a question over the position of Secretary of State for Wales or Welsh Secretary as it seems to be referred to by most commentators. Though they then use the term Wales Office (To my mind they are using adjectives instead of nouns and nouns when they should be using adjectives but in truth grammar was never my strong point).

However since devolution there it has often been asked do we still need a Welsh Secretary? Would it not be better to combine the role of Welsh, Northern Ireland and Scottish Secretary into one department? Where the Minister would have much more influence on the cabinet. I am under no illusion that the post of Welsh Secretary is the lowest of the low in the cabinet rankings ,and it is common knowledge that none of those eight Welsh Labour MP’s who failed to get elected to the shadow cabinet actually wanted this job.

Nevertheless the position is there, but what is its purpose?

Is it to represent the view of Wales in the government?

Or to represent the views of the government in Wales?

Or a combination of both?

What is clear that this week Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan completely failed in any of these categories, with regards the proposed closure of Newport Passport office

She says she has spoken to the home secretary about the threatened closure. But has not said that she has asked the Home Office why she wasn’t informed of this, and why the Welsh assembly had not also been given the courtesy of knowing their plans.

Can anyone really imagine this happening in Scotland?

Neither Labour nor Libcon governments have an interest in appointing someone who would fight tooth and nail in the interest of Wales or Scotland. During the Second World War Thomas "Tom" Johnston was a highly successful Secretary of State for Scotland virtually ruling the country,and it is commonly believed that the powers that be swore never to let any minister have that power again.

Of course devolution has changed all that and the Welsh and Scottish ministers find themselves dealing wit first ministers who (at least in Scotland) can make decisions without asking the prime minister or the rest of the cabinet.

And now of course they are of different parties.

Nevertheless If Cheryl Gillian can use her influence (if she has any) to save the Newport Office then she will deserve credit if however she is ignored. Then like virtually all her predecessors she would have put her government interest before that of Wales and she should ask herself what is she there for? and consider her position.