Alun Davies takes no personal responsibility of his loss of vote,

Although Plaid saw big swings in the Rhondda wth Leanne Wood  making a spectacular gain  and Cardiff West where Neil MCevoy also came close to making History it was not the  biggest swing of the night.

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Cardiff West
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mark Drakeford	11,381	35.6	−11.5
	Plaid Cymru	Neil McEvoy	10,205	31.9	+11.9
	Conservative	Sean Driscoll	5,617	17.6	−8.3
	UKIP	Gareth Bennett	2,629	8.2	+8.2
	Green	Hannah Pudner	1,032	3.2	+3.2
	Liberal Democrats	Cadan ap Tomos	868	2.7	−4.3
	Independent	Eliot Freedman	132	0.4	+0.4
	Vapers In Power	Lee Woolls	96	0.3	+0.3
Majority			1,176
Turnout				48.4	+4.6
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.7

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Rhondda[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Plaid Cymru	Leanne Wood	11,891	50.6	+21.1
	Labour	Leighton Andrews	8,432	35.9	−27.3
	UKIP	Stephen Clee	2,203	9.4	+9.4
	Conservative	Maria Hill	528	2.2	−2.6
	Green	Pat Matthews	259	1.1	+1.1
	Liberal Democrats	Rhys Taylor	173	0.7	−1.7
Majority			3,459	14.7	−18.9
Turnout			23,486	47.2	+9.2
	Plaid Cymru gain from Labour		Swing

Te honour goes to Nigel Copner  whose remarkable effort has largely gone unnoticed.

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Blaenau Gwent
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Thomas Alun Rhys Davies	8,442	39.7	−24.3
	Plaid Cymru	Nigel Copner	7,792	36.6	+31.2
	UKIP	Kevin Boucher	3,423	16.1	+16.1
	Conservative	Tracey West	1,334	6.3	+1
	Liberal Democrats	Brendan D'Cruz	300	1.4	−0.4
Majority			650	3.1
Turnout				42.1	+3.3
	Labour hold		Swing	−28.0

I did wonder in this Blog after the elections if Alun Davies would have some explaining to do to his Labour colleagues?

It seems however  he's ready to blame everyone but himself 

In an interview with the Wasting Mule He said: 

“I think what we’re seeing in most of the constituencies in South Wales is a series of local by-elections. The issues that I faced on the doorstep were partly to do with the Welsh Government in terms of the future of the Circuit of Wales but generally and mostly to do with local government issues, whether it’s to do with recycling or the future of town centres, litter, fly-tipping – those sorts of issues which people are very concerned about and rightly concerned about...

I wonder what his colleagues on Labour controlled Blaneau Gwent council think of Mr Davies seemingly blaming them for His failures as a AM.

Davies has been involved in a number of incidents since becoming an AM.

According to Wikipedia  (its a long piece but worth reading).

In 2013 he was criticised by the cross-party Environment and Sustainability Committee for being evasive during a question session and giving contradictory answers:^[4]"In a letter to the Finance Committee about the Natural Resources department's budget, the AMs said: "We are disappointed with the timeliness of information provided by the minister, and the oral evidence session, where a number of questions were evaded or contradictory information provided.
"We believe that this is an indicator of problems at the heart of financial management and planning of this department and we will continue to keep a very close eye on these issues both in-year and at future budget rounds.
"We believe the department's approach to financial management hinders general transparency. We are therefore unable to assess whether the budget is appropriately prioritised and is providing value for money."
In the Spring of 2014 he confessed to entering into a relationship with his own special advisor and that both had left their long term partners as a result. The advisor was forced to move roles.^[5]On 10 June 2014, the First Minister announced an investigation into a letter Davies wrote to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) re environmental concerns with the proposed development of the Circuit of Wales race track in his own constituency. As well as making up part of his ministerial portfolio, NRW had expressed concerns re the race tracks development.^[6] In an investigation undertaken by Permanent Secretary Sir Derek Jones CMG, his report published on 1 July 2014 concluded that Davies had breached the Ministerial Code.^[7] The report noted that in March 2013, Davies had been advised by his own department not to lobby even as the AM in the case of the race track, but had ignored this advice and had then written to NRW as the affected AM.^[7] The report also revealed that the First Minister had contacted Davies in August 2013, after Davies had expressed support for the circuit openly in quote to the Western Mail newspaper.^[7] Davies faced no punishment by the First Minister, but endured sustained calls for him to resign due to his behaviour.^[8]On 8 July 2014 he was sacked by First Minister Carwyn Jones following his repeated written requests to his civil servants for the private details of Common Agricultural Policy payments made to opposition members, including: Andrew RT Davies (Leader, Welsh Conservatives); Antoinette Sandbach (Conservative); Kirsty Williams (Leader, Welsh Liberal Democrats); William Powell (Welsh Liberal Democrats); and Llyr Gruffydd (Plaid Cymru).^[9]

He however does not seem to acknowledge that the above played any part in  his spectacular loss of votes

He might be right in   warning  against seeing this as growing support for Scottish-style nationalism.

“If we try to over-interpret national trends in comparison with Scotland or elsewhere I think we’ll fundamentally misunderstand what’s happened in the Valleys.”

But if he wants to be reselected let a lone reelected he might consider  examining his own record and addressing them.

In the meantime I imagine Plaid strategists  may well be heading to Blaneau Gwent to ask their candidate Nigel Copner  and his team just how they almost pulled of one of the most dramatic wins in the party's history.

Because after all despite Alun Davies' failings it was a remarkable achievement  for Plaid to persuade voters they and Mr Copner were the alternative.