Wasting Mule's Movers and Shakers 2013. Wow!

 The Mule has published its Movers and Shakers in Welsh Politics 20136 its hardly an asspiring read

The movers and shakers in Wales' political power list of 2013

 READING THE RIOT ACT 
ANN CLWYD, Labour Cynon Valley MP
WM: Ms Clwyd’s deeply moving account of her husband’s last days spent in “battery hen” conditions in a Cardiff hospital led to her being asked to do a major review of patient care in England and cemented her enduring reputation as one of Wales’ political giants.

NL: Except of course that  this Giant has been a MP for nerarly 20 years including 13 years in government and it has taken the death of her husband to alert her to the dire state of the NHS  in Wales 


THE ORGAN MAESTRO
MARK DRAKEFORD, Health minister
WM: Wales is on track to become the first nation in the UK where it will be assumed that people are happy for their organs to be donated to others when they die.

NL: However this had cross party support so may well have come about whoever was in charge 


REFERENDUM MAN
DAVID JONES, Secretary of State for Wales
WM: Foes of the Clwyd West Conservative MP describe him as a devo-sceptic but he is now a passionate campaigner for a referendum which could give the Assembly the power to raise and lower income tax rates.

NL:Except that its not the Tax powers Silk recommended and  since it has never been used in Scotland why do we expect change in Wales.

 THE MAN WHO BOUGHT THE AIRPORT
CARWYN JONES, First Minister of Wales
WM:The First Minister made international waves in March with the £52m purchase of Cardiff Airport – here was 21st century state-intervention, Welsh Labour-style.

N: However this was hardly on the same scale of  Lévesque buying out Hydro Quebec in 1962 which has become a symbol of Quebecois belief in themselves.^]


 THE HOME PROTECTOR
PETER BLACK, Liberal Democrat South Wales West MP
WM: Mr Black successfully piloted the Assembly’s very first Private Member’s Bill which established clear rights for mobile home residents. 

NL: Which shows more or less the  powers the assembly has and the ambition of those who use them.


KENNEDY CYMRU?
 RHUN AP IORWERTH, Plaid Cymru by-election winner
WM:It is notoriously hard to predict how the Anglesey electorate will vote, but his 9,166 vote majority was the definition of “thumping” and instantly marked the former television presenter out as a potential future leader of Plaid.

NL Does the Mule mean the assassinated American president or the former LibDem Leader? Either way not the the much of a future realy.


BACKBENCH GIANT
WM LEIGHTON ANDREWS, Labour Rhondda AM and former education minster
Critics of the Assembly once bemoaned the lack of talent on the back-benches but the resignation of Mr Andrews means there is at least one big beast with a licence to roam. His decision to order the regrading of GCSE papers may have riled his Westminster counterparts but it resulted in 2,400 English language pupils getting a better result; in June he resigned amid controversy about his defence of a local primary school that faced closure.
He Tweeted: “I have always wanted to live long enough to read and hear my obituaries
NL The only gigantic thing about Andrews is his ego


READY FOR A SECOND ACT
WM ADAM PRICE, Plaid Cymru Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Assembly candidate

WM:  s an MP he tried to impeach Tony Blair and he did not lose his knack for making headlines when he went to Harvard. His selection in July as the Assembly candidate for his old Westminster seat ended speculation about whether he wanted to jump back into the political arena.
He told the Western Mail: “There’s only one goal for us worth going for – and that’s to form a Government. That’s the project I’m signing up for.”

NL: Well he's got to get elected first and that's not entirely sure
 

THE QUIET REVOLUTIONARY
PAUL SILK, chairman, Commission on Devolution in Wales

WM:  Paul Silk was a highly significant under-the-radar figure during his half a decade as clerk to the National Assembly but as chairman of the cross-party commission charged with recommending changes to the devolution settlement he has opened the door to the Welsh Government gaining a raft of new fiscal powers.


NL: More like a twiddler than a reformer and   there no real sign that these powers wil come either from Labour or Conservatives and NL ask what was the point anyway?

PUT THEM IN CHAINS
DAVID DAVIES, chairman, Welsh Affairs committee

WM: The Monmouth MP steers so far away from the middle of the road it’s a wonder there are any verges left in his constituency.In November he denounced young men who abandon women and their children, saying: “It is utterly shocking and I hope that the ministers will take note of this and get hold of some of these feckless fathers, drag them off, make them work, put them in chains if necessary, make them work and make them pay back to society for the cost of bringing up the children they chose to bring into this world

NL: The Mule still has this Mans crap online are they as disproving as they claim?
 
THE FEDERALIST
DAFYDD ELIS-THOMAS, Plaid Cymru Dwyfor Meirionnydd AM and peer

WM: The SNP may be pushing for a Yes vote in Scotland’s September independence referendum but Dafydd-El made it clear in June that he had no interest in breaking away from the UK, saying: “I’m an out and out UK federalist... There was never a project for Welsh independence, anyway.”

NL:  Not even Dafydd El knows what he believes any more I suspect

THE HARSHEST CRITIC
MICHAEL GOVE, Education Secretary

 WM: Wales’ bottom-of-the-UK results for reading, maths and science in the OECD rankings were a desperate disappointment that prompted the Conservatives’ Mr Gove to deliver a stinging critique of post-devolution Labour education policy.

NL: Frankly he should sort the mess out in his country  and leave the criticism to his Party leader in the Assembly. Whats his name.

THE NEXT GENERATION
STEPHEN KINNOCK

WM: Neil Kinnock’s gruelling years at the helm of the Labour party did not put his son off politics. Not only has he married Helle Thoring-Schmidt, the present Danish prime minister, he has let it be known he would like to succeed Hywel Francis as the Labour MP for Aberavon.
He said: “My mam and dad are really pleased that I have decided to stand, and they have been very supportive.”

NL:The Mule seems to behind this carpet bagger why?



THE CRITICAL FRIEND
LEE WATERS, director of the Institute of  Welsh Affairs

WM: He has been at the heart of Wales’ politics since the dawn of the devolution era as a key aide to former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies, as a leading political journalist, and as a pivotal member of the 2011 referendum Yes campaign. As the new director of the IWA he has done his best to puncture the cosy consensus which often cloaks political debate.
In one of his first articles, he said: “When challenged Carwyn Jones can show his innate ability. But he is not often challenged externally, and he doesn’t encourage challenge from within: not from his ministers, his advisers or from wider circles.”

NL: Looks like another Labour wannabee biding his time before getting a safe seat . Provre me wromg Mr Waters.

NOT SAYING NEVER
KIRSTY WILLIAMS, Welsh Liberal Democrat leader and Brecon and Radnorshire AM


WM: There are strikingly few female frontbenchers among the Westminster Lib Dems and Ms Williams’ spirited performance at the UK conference triggered a wave of interest in her long-term plans. In recent interviews she has not ruled out the possibility of standing for the Commons.
She said: “I got myself into a bunch of trouble for saying, ‘Never say never’... My husband and I have a bit of a pre-nup: for most people it’s about money, for us it’s about me not going to London, so it would take a serious renegotiation on my behalf to get me out of that.”

NL: Except the LibDems are likely to lose half their seats  and even a coalition with Labour or again with the Conservatives will mean they will stil be the whipping boys when it comes to unpopular polices.



THE END OF ONE CHAPTER
ELFYN LLWYD, Plaid Cymru Westminster leader 
WM In October he announced he would stand down at the next election, and
the selection of Liz Saville Roberts as the Plaid 2015 candidate raises the prospect of the party gaining its first female MP.

Mr Llwyd said: “I’ll never leave Plaid until I leave this earth. I’ll be leaving this job with the party in better health than it’s ever been.

NL: What new Chapter Lord Elfyn of Bala? maybe not 

Lets hope for something better in 2014 but don.t hold your breath.