In a bid to cultivate a media buzz around themselves , an aspiring actress would attend to the openings of films, book launches, and celebrity galas. Which led to the sarcastic response "The way she carries on, she'd even go to the opening of an envelope!"
His latest stunt in the has ben to hold a protest in the Senedd over his contribution to a debate on racism.
The BBC report that
"Neil McEvoy wore tape over his mouth and held a placard following a decision by the Senedd's presiding officer to reject his amendments to the debate's motion.
Despite being allowed to speak during the debate, Mr McEvoy claimed his voice had been "taken away".
Presiding officer Elin Jones accused Mr McEvoy of "disorderly conduct".
She said by allowing him to contribute she had not taken his voice away, and questioned whether other parliaments would have allowed him to continue.
The presiding officer, also known as the Llywydd, added: "As members know we are in extraordinary times of a hybrid Senedd [a mixture of MS' contributing remotely and in person], and I said on many occasions that I will proactively now be looking to select or not select amendments for the proper conduct of a hybrid Senedd."
Mr McEvoy, a former Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd (MS), said he begged to differ and accused her of denying him his "democratic right".
"If you want my personal opinion, the opinion of many people, that is racism in action," he said.
He added: "As it stands now, a brown man with a voice and an opinion is not welcome by too many people in this building.
"Is there any other parliament in the world, where a politician would have been described as a species of animal by an official, and then be forced to deal and interact with that official."
The South Wales Central MS had submitted four amendments to the Welsh Government's Senedd debate on tackling racism and race inequality.
All amendments to the debate, including Mr McEvoy's, were rejected by the Llywydd.
During the debate, Elin Jones indicated her intention to call Neil McEvoy to speak in the proceedings despite saying his protest breached "I don't know how many standing orders", telling him to "ungag" himself and put his "prop" down.
Later, she initially told him she would not allow a contribution."
"I offered you Neil McEvoy the opportunity to speak if you were to ungag yourself and put down your offensive prop. You chose not to do that," she said.
But following objections from Mr McEvoy off microphone, Ms Jones replied: "Okay" and allowed him to contribute.
The presiding officer later said he had broken at least three of the Senedd's rules.
Mr McEvoy complained that his "serious" amendments were at "the very last moment withdrawn by the presiding officer".
Following his contribution, the presiding officer added: "I ask the question if there is any Senedd in the world that would have allowed you to have your say after your disorderly conduct throughout this debate
Now if I am honest i must admit that I don't know the wording of Mr Mcvoy's amendment (all amendments to the debate were not accepted) or it was relevant to the motion and as a person of colour he could have made a valuable contribution to a debate on racism.
But once again he chooses personal publicity over participation, and frankly I am sick of such tactics.
4 comments:
You may be "progressive left" but that little hostile rant reveals that you are very selective in your socialist thought and stance. Plaid's Senedd team epitomise the modern shape of authoritarian groupthink - willing to engage in all sorts of manouvers to shut out dissent but too bloody idle to advance the cause of the people. Elsewhere they might be called "fascists".
What happened yesterday was the culmination of events over a long period.
We all know that Neil McEvoy fell out with Plaid Cymru's leadership. This has resulted in Plaid Cymru opposing or ignoring everything raised by Neil McEvoy. Issues such as the 'nuclear mud' and the inflammable cladding on Cardiff Bay flats. Important issues that people care about far more than trans rights and BLM.
This is now so obvious that when it comes to Neil McEvoy that woman in the chair makes no pretence at impartiality - she forsakes her appointed role to follow the party line. Undermining devolution and making a fool of herself.
Now, if I was in your position, I would worry about a party that is still controlled by the hard left yet - as we saw in the leadership election - this position is rejected by 80% of the membership.
Not only that, but Plaid Cymru has been overtaken by YesCymru and others on its core issue, its raison d'etre - independence. That's because the hard left that took over the party really doesn't care about independence. Many of them don't care much about Wales, they're just using Plaid Cymru to push the issues they care about.
Add to this the demographic catastrophe taking place in Plaid's heartlands, a catastrophe Plaid either didn't have the balls to stand up to, or else accepted because it would have been 'racist' to oppose it, and I predict that Plaid Cymru has perhaps two more elections left before its failure, its irrelevance, becomes obvious and the party falls into the black hole of its own making.
Good riddance! With petit bourgeois undergraduate lefty Plaid Cymru out of the way Wales can then move forward to independence.
I must admit that I had some trouble writing the above Blog, criticising Neil McEvoy for raising an issue on racism was not something I took lightly.
but it was not the issue of racism that was the point it is whether Mr McEvoy thinks he should be allowed to address the Senedd on any issue whenever he likes.
The roe came after the Llywydd refused amendments from Mr McEvoy along with another one from Neil Hamilton, two men who pay have opposing views, but share an enormous ego.
I doubt many would describe Elin Jones as "hard left" , All presiding officer are accused of not being impartial, but it her job to see that debated run smoothly and not to bolster the ego of McEvoy, Hamilton or any Senedd Member who thinks they should be pandered to often because f a form of political machoism
I never used the term Hard Left to describe Elin Jones, instead I deliberately used "authoritarian". In so many ways the old Left-Right dichotomy is well past its bin by date because the real world demands something a lot more able to handle the fact that the world, its people and its social/political systems are all 3D in reality. Now I recognise that Elin's authoritarianism differs in many ways from that of say Boris and Co but the current intolerance of dissent is common to both. That is why we need to be vigilant.
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