According to Wales Online
A Labour AM is raising concerns about the appointment of a new deputy general secretary for Welsh Labour, saying the role should have been advertised more widely.
Fraser Welsh, who was previously Labour’s key seats campaign strategist in the run-up to the general election, got the post after it was advertised to staff members only.
|Mr Welsh's LinkedIn page is surprisingly sparse but it looks he's a typical Spad
Leanne Wood:
Carwyn Jones:
It seems Mr Jones grasp of whats happening within his own Party is limited not only in the UK but here in Wales a very peculiar position for a self confessed "leader".
(special adviser)
Experience
Communications Officer to Rt Hon John Denham MP
House of Commons
Carwyn Jones who some say is the Leader of the "Welsh" Labour Party"was not on the appointments panel.
Cardiff Central Labour AM Jenny Rathbone, who represents the Assembly Labour group on the party’s Welsh Executive, said: “I shall be seeking to establish whether the appointment took place in line with the party’s equality policy.
“I have nothing against the successful candidate, whom I don’t know, but with a job of this importance we should have been seeking applications from a wide range of talented people.”
A senior Welsh Labour source, who did not wish to be named, said:
“This appointment typifies the political contradiction and struggle that is taking place within Welsh Labour at the moment.
“On one hand Carwyn rightly demands more powers for Wales. Yet on the other hand, organisationally, Welsh Labour remains in thrall to London.”
A Plaid Cymru spokeswoman said:
“Today we discover that Carwyn Jones has no say in the appointment of the staff who will run his own election campaign.When Plaid Leanne Wood challenged Labour’s Carwyn Jones about a recent admission by Andy Burnham that, during his time in HM Treasury, he knew Wales was underfunded – and did nothing. Mr Jones gave a strange answer
“It just goes to show how little influence the First Minister has and that the Labour party in Wales is little more than a branch office of UK Labour.”
Leanne Wood:
First Minister, the person who’s being tipped as your next party leader has said that Wales was underfunded when he was your party’s Chief Secretary to the Treasury.He said that he maned the government line and didn’t speak out. First Minister, how would you describe somebody who says something publicly, knowing it not to be true?
Carwyn Jones:
Well, I lead my party in Wales so I don’t know who you’re talking about.
It seems Mr Jones grasp of whats happening within his own Party is limited not only in the UK but here in Wales a very peculiar position for a self confessed "leader".
A Welsh Labour spokesman said Mr Welsh had been a link official between Welsh Labour and party HQ and that he “knew Welsh politics”.
Which probably means he thinks it is the same as England.
You may wonder however about the quality of Labour's homegrown Welsh staff who seem to be not up to such a exulted post.
1 comment:
No matter how many times such incidents show Welsh Labour for what it really is, a branch office of London, some people will just not accept it.
Carwyn can bury his head in the sand as much as he likes but it's the pipers in London who play the music and it's Welsh Labour who dance to their tune.
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