Saturday 4 August 2018

A nest of vipers and deja vu.

Deputy leader of Welsh Labour Carolyn Harris is facing calls to quit as a shadow equalities minister in the wake of her alleged use of the word "dyke".

Carolyn Harris, who represents Swansea East, is said to have grabbed and pulled on office manager Jenny Lee Clarke's hair.
A witness claims she heard a 'blood-curdling scream' and found the MP yanking at Ms Clarke's blonde bob. 
The mother-of-one also claims the MP allegedly told her she was wearing 'dyke shoes' to work and also asked about what she did in bed with her lesbian partner
Miss Clarke had been on trial for fraudulently submitting a form increasing her annual pay from £37,000 to £39,000 and decreasing her weekly hours from 40 to 37.5 in August 2014, but she denied the charges and was found not guilty by a jury earlier this week.
Ms Harris had told the court that if she had referred to a colleague's footwear as "dyke boots", it would have been "office banter".
Well you could at a very long stretch accept that if you knew both women. but pulling someones hair certain goes beyond "banter".
Back in 2016 aA Labour spokesman said “Carolyn vigorously denies this allegation. It is town hall politics from a little place in South Wales.
Which tells us a lot of what Labour's view of Wales 

Cardiff Central Labour AM Jenny Rathbone has called on  Ms Harris  to stand down "to clear her name" and Jon Lansman, the chairman of the influential pro-Corbyn group Momentum, said he did not believe she could "continue as a frontbench spokesperson on equalities".
Criticism has also come from Delyn Labour AM Hannah Blythyn who said she was "disappointed and saddened". Caerphilly Labour AM Hefin David said it was "incredibly disappointing".
However, a senior UK Labour source said Jeremy Corbyn had confidence in Ms Harris continuing as shadow equalities minister and deputy Welsh leader. First Minister Carwyn Jones is understood to have "full confidence" in her.
If Ms Harris were to resign as Deputy Welsh Leader it could be a case of deja vu  as the  defeated deputy leadership candidate Julie Morgan  in April Deputy Leadership election is the wife of the late Rhodri Morgan who faced a similar election defeat due to Union votes , though winning amongst the membership.

The Cardiff North AM won significantly more votes from the party's membership and yet lost the first-ever Welsh Labour deputy leadership race to rival Carolyn Harris MP.

The weighted system has been criticised by opponents, including Mrs Morgan, as giving members less influence, and unions and politicians more.
The electoral college gives the support of all members as a whole the same amount of weight as the votes of MPs and AMs and the decisions made by unions and other affiliates.

It means AMs who are also members of the party and members of an affiliated union can often vote several times.
There has been significant criticism over how some of the biggest unions took the decision to back Carolyn Harris without consulting their membership.
It is understood that Unite Wales' decision was taken by "just three or four people".


Mrs Morgan said her vote as an AM is worth 400 times that of a member.
She won the members vote, but lost the trade unions and parliamentarian vote.
Her team have calculated she had more than 65% of the members vote.

Labour will be desperate to avoid the repeat of the election. especially as they may well avoid the leadership contest after Carwyn Jones's telling them he intends to stand down.

It looks like there may well be  a coronation rather than a contest.
Mark Drakeford has won the support of another potential rival in the Welsh Labour leadership contest.
Counsel General Jeremy Miles says he will no longer seek support to enter the race and will instead throw his weight behind the finance secretary.
It brings Prof Drakeford's tally of nominations from fellow AMs to 13 - in excess of the five he needs.
Could Julie Morgan join him a dual coronation?

In my view Ms Harris  should certainly resign as frontbench spokesperson on equalities, as for the Non-Job pf Deputy Welsh Leader we will see.

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