Is the collapse of Ukip propping up the Tories?

 No one can claim that the Tories have not had a very good run since the General Election,

An appearance of incompetence which seems to be endemic should see Labour shooting ahead of
 Mrs May's party but the two parties seem to be running neck and neck in the opinion polls.

Whether it is because Tory voters can't bring themselves to vote for the party of Jeremy Corbyn as some did for Tony Blair is open to question.
However there may be a simpler reason in that the Tories are seeing  more ex Ukip voters turning to the party seen as backing Brexit 

 Take this weeks clutch of Local Authority By-elections as shown by Harry Hatfield over at Political Betting.


Hulton on Bolton (Lab defence)
Result: Con 1,455 (49% +16% on last time), Lab 1,179 (40% +3% on last time), UKIP 190 (6% -18% on last time), Lib Dem 67 (2% unchanged on last time), Green 52 (2% -1% on last time)

Conservative GAIN from Labour with a majority of 276 (9%) on a swing of 6.5% from Lab to Con

Despite a rise  of  3%  the Tories   gained 16% votes as Ukip lost almost the same total  percentage

Newport Pagnell North and Hanslope on Milton Keynes (Con defence)
Result: Con 1,604 (53% +15% on last time), Lab 749 (25% +12% on last time), Lib Dem 672 (22% +7% on last time) (No UKIP candidate this time -24%, No Green candidate this time -10%)

Conservative HOLD with a majority of 855 (28%) on a swing of 1.5% from Lab to Con (19.5% swing from UKIP to Con)

 The absence of a Green candidate  muddies my argument but some what but it does appear the collapse of the Ukip vote aided the Tories

Downhall and Rawreth on Rochford (Lib Dem defence)
Result: Lib Dem 794 (77% +17% on last time), Con 237 (23% +6% on last time) (No Lab candidate this time -8%, no local Independent candidate this time -15%)

Liberal Democrat HOLD with a majority of 557 (54%) on a swing of 5.5% from Con to Lib Dem

No Ukip vote to gain here but the LibDems seem to have won the absent Labour vote.
 
Throop and Muscliff on Bournemouth (Ind defence)
Result: Independent (Wilson) 533 (31%), Con 511 (30% +1% on last time), Lab 402 (24% +13% on last time), Independent (Lucas) 117 (7%), Lib Dem 107 (6% no candidate last time), Green 33 (2% -7% on last time) (No UKIP candidate this time -15%) Independent HOLD with a majority of 22 (1%)
 
Total Independent vote: 650 (38% +3% on last time)
Swing: 1% from Con to Ind

Hard to work this out but the collapse of the Ukip vote  is clear.

Can we really extrapolate  into a General Election? Probably not. Remember  the Ukip vote had already collapsed in last years General Election and there may not be any more Kipper votes to fight for.

But just as Scottish politics  seems to have shifted from Independistas  largely on the left versus Unionist largely on the right . England  and Wales may well be moving to Remainers. Center left and Liberal ( With Plaid in Wales) versus Leavers Hard Left and the Right.

Where  this leaves Labour with a leader whose on the Brexit side and much of his Parliamentary Party backing  Remain is uncertain.

They may well be hoping that Brexit will be  settled or seen as inevitable by the next election  and enough of the Kippers who have turned to the Tories vote Labour to give them victory.

As a party Ukip seem finished bit it appears their legacy may well linger for years.

 

Plaid secure unanimous Assembly support over Brexit plans.

Despite it current internal problems over the expulsion of Neil McEvoy from the Assembly group , they showed this week what they are capable of.

 As the BBC reports
 

AMs have unanimously backed a Plaid Cymru motion calling for a new law to defend Wales from UK Brexit plans.

Plaid AM Steffan Lewis called it a "strong mandate" for Welsh ministers to publish a bill now to protect Welsh powers currently operated at EU-level.
UK ministers' Withdrawal Bill plans to transfer powers in devolved areas from Brussels to Westminster initially as a "holding pattern".
The UK government has promised to make changes to the proposed legislation.
But it says those changes will not be made until the EU Withdrawal Bill reaches the House of Lords at the end of January despite having previously said that they would be introduced during debate in the House of Commons.

Plaid secure unanimous Assembly support over Brexit plans.

On Tuesday, First Minister Carwyn Jones described the proposed law in its current form as "a fundamental assault on devolution" and threatened to introduce a so-called Continuity Bill to protect Welsh interests before the end of January unless the "necessary amendments" are made.
But Plaid Cymru's Brexit spokesperson Steffan Lewis tabled a motion in the assembly on Wednesday calling on the Welsh Government to push ahead immediately with the publication of a Continuity Bill.
The South Wales East AM said the debate was not about trying to reverse the Brexit process.
 He said.

"I am a Welsh nationalist and I will always believe in an European future for my country,"
"But whether you were Leave or Remain and whether you are an unionist or a nationalist is irrelevant to the question of a Continuity Bill.
"Whether to support a Continuity Bill or not comes down to how you answer one simple question: do you believe that the referendum of 2016 provides a mandate to the UK Government to remove powers from this National Assembly. Plaid Cymru says it does not."

Mr Lewis said he was "at a loss to understand why the Welsh Government wishes to push this issue to the very last minute" given that MPs had already rejected amendments to the bill proposed by both the Welsh and Scottish Governments.
He said: 

"What more do they need to do to threaten Welsh devolution before we are prepared to act in defence of our hard-won democracy?
"We have a window to act in the interests of our citizens and the rights and standards that they hold dear in addition to the democratic structures that they have endorsed in two referenda. Let's take this opportunity with both hands."
UK ministers have said they expect a "significant increase" in the responsibilities of the devolved administrations after Brexit but that there is a process to go through first.

The Welsh Conservatives said they supported changes to the Withdrawal Bill but drew attention to promises by their party colleagues in Westminster that such changes would be introduced in the coming weeks.
UKIP Wales leader Neil Hamilton also backed the motion saying that he had originally though the purpose of a Continuity Bill "was somehow to delay or get in the way of the Brexit process" but had "now come to believe that this is not the intention".
Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford said the Welsh Government "need to see firm proposals from the UK Government on amendments to the Withdrawal Bill that respect the devolution settlement".
Although it is not the government's preferred option, Mr Drakeford said "there will be a need for a Welsh Continuity Bill if those negotiations and discussions do not succeed."

It allowed Plaid leader in the House of Commons to raise a point of order  during the  latest Brexit debate to the embarrassment of the government benches

As the BBC points out 

If a Continuity Bill is to carry any weight, then it will need to have been passed in the assembly before the EU Withdrawal Bill completes its legislative journey in Parliament.

I hope that  we now put their efforts into this sort of work and can avoid any more rifts.

The other Parties may have unanimously backed  backed Steffan Lewis motion calling for a new law to defend Wales from UK Brexit plans.

But there are elements  in all the  Unionist Parties who would like to weaken or even end devolution.

Just as the Tories in Westminster are seeking to use Brexit to undermine Human and Workers rights, Brexit is being used to weaken the devolution settlement.

In this they are being aided by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and others who have the weird idea that Brexit will allow them to win in the UK General Election and establish a socialist utopia fre from interferance from Brussles.

Can we really allow Labour to sacrifice much of the good that has come out of the EU, in order that they can promote their  ideas for a few brief years before we end up with a permanent Tory government and a emasculated devolved legislatures?

Why even bother with BBC or ITV Wales.

If you watched Television last night apart from S4C you would be hard pressed to have seen any programme about or relevant to Wales

 

You nay have recently seen Kate Humble  host of Off the Beaten Track - a documentary series filmed across Wales.

The show sees the popular presenter explore the Welsh countryside with her dog Teg,

But it could have been about anywhere in the UK 

As I have said all to often BBC Wales seems to more interested in claiming that programmes are "Made in Wales"  rather than produce anything "For Wales".

As for ITV Wales it apart from the news will be indistinguishable  from Yorkshire in the programme context.

 

 Movie star Rhys Ifans and singer Gwenno Saunders are among a string of Welsh artists and academics who are calling for broadcasting to be devolved.

A letter to Theresa May claims the system is "far too dependent" on the BBC, as others cut local programmes.
The situation was "not healthy for our local or Welsh democracy, nor for the flourishing of the Welsh language".
The UK government said it was right to retain responsibility for a sector with such economic and cultural importance.

How can the cultural importance of broadcasting not be passed down to those who live there,

Already S4C is experiencing a death of a thousand cuts, and memories  of a film like Hedd Wyn being anointed for an Oscar are fading.

Today we are expected to celebrate "Sherlock" or "Dr Who" winning a Bafta as a victory for Welsh broadcasting.

I have this image that when Russell T Davies  the reaction was  "At last we can stop mentioming Cardiff all the time".

Actress Sharon Morgan, musician Euros Childs of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci fame, ex-Plaid Cymru leader Lord Wigley and the children's poet of Wales Casia William were also among more than 40 prominent figures who signed the letter.

"We believe that we need many more opportunities for us in Wales as a nation, as a people, to speak to each other, to have discussions and to debate: discussions which are inclusive of the whole diversity of Welsh experience and placed in the context of our history as a nation," the letter said.
"At present, those opportunities are very limited because powers over broadcasting are retained by Westminster.
"There is a lack of media scrutiny of every level of government in Wales: the current system is failing and is far too dependent on one broadcaster.
"The present situation is not healthy for our local or Welsh democracy, nor for the flourishing of the Welsh language.
"We are concerned by the significant fall in the number of broadcasting hours from ITV Wales over the last twenty years, as well as the 36% cut to the budget of S4C since 2010 and the present uncertainty about its financial situation.
"Furthermore, we are concerned by the drop in local and Welsh language provision by commercial radio and the very fragile provision of local and Welsh language content by local television stations."

We also have learned that  the new owners of Swansea's local TV station have been urged not to cut staff or reduce programming.

Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins called for Bay TV's new owners to "abide" by licence commitments that mean it must show 20 hours of new programmes a week.
The UK's largest operator of local TV channels, That's TV, bought the channel from the previous owners in December.
The BBC understands it has asked regulator Ofcom to reduce the number of programmes it must produce in Swansea.
Under its current licence agreement, Bay TV is required to provide 20 hours of local programming a week which is due to rise to 25 hours in its third year of broadcasting.
That's TV has not responded to requests for comment.
Ms Jenkins, chairwoman of the Welsh assembly's communications committee, said: 

"If you are going to get a big company buying out these local TV networks we need to ensure, if there are obligations to provide local news and local interest programmes, that it stays at the level that it is at now.
"We don't want to see a diminishing of that at all."

This is of course what happened to HTV Wales  which was a mirror of the above but even in its heyday HTV was part of the  Wales and West of England licence and programmes for Wales were few and far between.

I am not arguing that Politicians should determine Programme content but surly we need to see that all of Wales can see quality programmes "Made in Wales" are about and for Wales>

 

Neil McEvoy has been expelled from the Plaid Cymru group.

The Wasting Mule and BBC report that Controversial AM Neil McEvoy has been expelled from the Plaid Cymru group at the National Assembly.

The party issued a statement which said his behaviour had left colleagues feeling “undermined and demoralised” and that ongoing issues were distracting Plaid Cymru AMs from getting on with their work of serving the people of Wales

A Plaid Assembly group spokesman said:

 “The group has taken the decision to permanently expel Neil McEvoy from the group. The decision was unanimous.
“A statement issued by Neil McEvoy today is full of errors. Firstly it makes inaccurate claims about the reasons for his suspension from the Assembly group.
“As was stated at the time, Neil McEvoy was suspended for breaching standing orders and the group’s code of conduct through unacceptable behaviour.
“Secondly, Neil McEvoy’s public statement this morning saw him once again peddle untruths about the way in which the Plaid Cymru Assembly group operates. Such comments only serve to smear the reputation of colleagues and underline the insincerity of Mr McEvoy’s alleged desire to return to the group.
“In this context, Mr McEvoy is being expelled due to an irrevocable breakdown of trust.
“His ongoing behaviour has left Assembly Member colleagues feeling undermined and demoralised.
“Plaid Cymru representatives’ loyalty first and foremost is to the people of Wales. We will not be distracted from our work of serving them to the best of our ability by such deliberate and sustained sabotage.”

Following the announcement Mr McEvoy said he took the group's decision “with real regret”.
 

“I was elected to be a Plaid Cymru Assembly Member after votes from thousands of people who wanted me to not do politics as usual.
“My focus has always been on holding the Labour government to account and it will continue to be so. I’ve never been interested in fighting with my own colleagues,” he said.
He added: “I’ll keep representing those people who have been left behind and given up on politicians.

Mr McEvoy is something of a hero in some Plaid quarters building up support in Cardiff West  and challenging Labour.

Whilst others are uncomfortable with his populist and aggressive  campaigning  which they see as putting many off the party outside Cardiff West. 

 Mr McEvoy remains a Plaid Cymru party member - although the party has said he is subject to an investigation about complaints about his behaviour.

A petition  against Mr Mcevoy  reinstatement  has received over  20,000 signature

It reads
 

We, the undersigned, call upon the leadership of Plaid Cymru to stand up for women in Wales by not reinstating Neil McEvoy to the Plaid Cymru Assembly Group.
McEvoy's current suspension for bullying a female council worker [1] is only the most recent instance in a long pattern of troubling behaviour towards women, including:
· Attacking Women’s Aid and Safer Wales (organisations that provide lifesaving support to women and children fleeing domestic abuse) in 2011, stating that they were complicit in ‘publicly funded child abuse’. [2] Plaid Cymru suspended McEvoy following these allegations; however, they later reinstated him.
· Using his social media accounts to further accuse women’s domestic abuse support services of harbouring ‘violent or abusive women’. [3]
· In the recent tribunal investigating McEvoy’s bullying of a female council worker, he appointed a barrister who he knew had previously been found to have sexually harassed and bullied a female clerk in his chambers. [4]
· McEvoy’s female colleagues in Plaid Cymru – including Bethan Jenkins AM [5] and former AM Nerys Evans [6] – have either condemned or reported experiencing his bullying and intimidation first-hand. Plaid Cymru candidate Essex Havard has also recently withdrawn from the Cardiff Council elections because he ‘cannot bear’ the prospect of being in the same party as McEvoy, who he calls ‘a bully of women’. [7]
In addition to this proven pattern of bullying and intimidating women and their organisations, McEvoy’s behaviour extends to other groups. For example, in 2013, when he was Deputy Leader of Cardiff Council, he received an official complaint from the Jalalia Mosque in Riverside noting his ‘intimidation and improper behaviour by an elected councillor’. [8]
Having witnessed Mr McEvoy’s latest attempts to plead victimisation, it would be immoral for us to remain silent. With women on the frontline of austerity cuts and domestic abuse, we expect solidarity from our representatives. There is no place in a progressive party for politicians who single out, bully or else denigrate women.
For these reasons, we call upon Plaid Cymru to review their support for Mr McEvoy and take the necessary measures to ensure that he has no platform to attack the already fragile position of women in Wales.

To what extent  this a genuine concern amongst Concerned Welsh Women is open to question rather than political opponents  seeking to derail Mr Mcevoy's  up to now successful climb up the greasy poll of politics could be questioned.

Nevertheless he does seem to have a problem with  bullying behaviour and I wonder if we need such an attitude  in our Assembly.

 I have never met Mr Mcevoy but find his aggressive attitude in sharp contrast the man who actually started Plaid growth in Cardiff West Dr Delme Bowen.

Plaid maybe need more like Delme who managed to garner votes and support wherever he stood without alienating as many potential voters(or even more so) as he won over.

I welcome comments on this but please bear in mind libel laws and sheer decency .

Plaid revive decentralised socialism

Plaid leader Leanne Wood seems to bee taking  the Party back to the sort of decentralised  socialism, that we who were in the original National Left were talking about 30 years ago.
,

The party leader made a bid to distinguish Plaid Cymru's left-leaning values from Labour's at a speech in Cardiff 

She said her party's brand of socialism was the "opposite" to the "undemocratic model" embraced by Labour

She said the new leaflet was about “creating the kind of Wales we want to live in”.

In it she set out a proposal for "the first draft of a set of values and principles" inspired by writer Naomi Klein's vision of a 'Leap' change in society.

The principles as described in the leaflet are:


Ms Wood told activists that Labour's brand of socialism "won't empower people because it doesn't trust people".

She said

"The decentralist socialism of Plaid Cymru is the opposite to the top-down, undemocratic model which has been embraced historically by British Labour," .
Outlining a vision for her own party, she said Plaid's socialism "should be a democratic exercise in stripping both political and economic power away from the multi-national corporations and the centralised state, bringing control back to the community through shared ownership and local democracy."

Ms Wood proposed "taking new and existing institutions away from where they are concentrated already, as Plaid Cymru has advocated for the new transport authority, football museum, national development bank, and other bodies".
She said her party would "legislate to ensure that legal safeguards were in place to fairly share public investment across the country, leaving no community behind," she said.
The party leader also outlined steps to reform the planning system, including "the creation of mixed zones for self-employment, where living and working spaces can be combined or co-located, to cut travel and other overhead costs for start-ups and self-employed people".
Ms Wood spoke ahead of a tour of Wales.

 "I want to speak with people who care about Welsh democracy... but who may be disconnected from Welsh politics or what happens in Cardiff Bay," .

The Ten Principles laid out by Leanne wee

Decentralisation

“People in all areas should share the wealth/prosperity. Power needs to be devolved within Wales itself. We must not re-create the unbalanced relationship between ‘core’ and ‘periphery’ that has been socially disastrous for Wales within the British state”

Self-sufficiency and living within our means

“Building resilience to future shocks and to be able to provide for our own needs, where possible, but especially for life’s basics. Climate change necessitates making the transition to end our dependnce on fossil fuels and people in Wales must be in control of that process.”

The maintenance and protection of existing rights and protections

“There is a risk that these could be watered down through the process of leaving the EU. We must strengthen workers’ and human rights...
"We should consider what community ownership of resources as well as additional linguistic rights would look like if we were to prioritise and protect the Welsh language and communities with a high percentage of Welsh speakers. We should also look towards granting full rights for all to access a lifelong education, a decent home, a high standard of healthcare and a clean environment.”

Striving for equality by lifting those at the bottom and working to eliminate geographic inequality

“The basic services we all need should be not for profit and where possible publicly or community owned.”

The assumption that our public money should be spent for public good

“Money spent abroad should contribute to the prevention of war and conflict and not the perpetuation of it. Military expenditure should be reducted to cover necessary security. The ratio of social spend to military spend must change to increase money for social programmes.”

Maximising democracy by increasing people’s ability to participate in it

“This includes a right to retreaining for green jobs and being democratic participants in that training.”

Openness to value and nurture all people

“Rather than treat newcomers with fear and suspicion. Value elders and recognise knowledge accumulated over a lifetime. Work to end the epidemic of violence against women.”

Co-operation not competition

“We can achieve so much more if we all pull together in the same positive direction”

Wales must be seen as a national entity

“Our education system needs to equip our citizens to see the world through a Welsh frame and to draw on the history of Wales to connect with the world”

What seems to be missing from Leanne's speech is the the reality in order to push forward these principals  Plaid need to first gain power in Cardiff Bay and in reality nothing less than Independence will allow the decentralisation of power from Cardiff.

The problem that Plaid and Indeed the SNP is that  they have seemed to concentrated on building a mirror parliament  of Westminster in both Cardiff and Edinburgh.

Centralism  whether it is from the Tories or  indeed the sort of Socialism Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters  still seem to aspire to has not and cannot work.

It concentrates not only power but major infrastructure, wealth and top jobs in one place.

There is a perception in the North and West of  Wales  that they are been sidelined  by the Labour Government in Cardiff bay in the same way  everywhere outside London and the South East of England has always been.

It is something that seems to be the case and Plaid and all the other parties in Wales need to address this.

The message of "decentralised socialism"  in Plaid Cymru is over 30 years old and I believe  it was never officially dropped .

Breathing new life into it, may just inspire a new generation of independentistas not only in Wales but beyond.

"Darkest Hour"? We need "Churchill's Darkest Moments".

Is there a myth over the Popularity amongst the general public of Winston Churchill in his lifetime?

He may have been voted the Greatest Britain but  that was in part to the fact that the case for him was made by the  popular Labour MP Mo Mowlam who made the case for him on the BBC series and glossed over his darkest moments.

Wales online point out that his part in the The Tonypandy Riots of 1910 and the Llanelli Riots of 1911 coincided with his time as Home Secretary and stories have been passed on of his alleged readiness to dispatch troops against workers and left a legacy of hate against th eman.
Llanelli Labour AM Lee Waters recalls the depth of animosity.
He said: 

“I’d a very sweet old grandmother... The only person she would swear about was Churchill.
“She’d refer to him as a ‘b******’. She literally never said a bad word about anybody, not that I can remember, and she certainly never used bad language...
“Her father, who’d been involved in the general strike, clearly took a very dim of Churchill and I think that was typical of Welsh working class opinion.”

Whilst there is an  argument that Churchill may  not be entirely in the wrong over Tonypandy even claiming part ofhis action was to mitigate the actions of the then Chief Constable  Captain Lindsay who was  unstable and may be the real villain of the piece.

However the Morning Star  has pointed out there were many reasons why Churchill should not have been chosen the Greatest Briton,

As historian Richard Toye has shown in his book, Churchill’s Empire: The World That Made Him and the World He Made (2010), they didn’t.

Many of Churchill’s colleagues saw him at the more extreme end of racist and imperialist ideology, referring to him as a “Victorian” because of his outdated views.

Prime minister Stanley Baldwin was warned by Cabinet colleagues not to appoint him and his doctor Lord Moran said of his approach to Chinese and Indians: “Winston thinks only of the colour of their skin.”

It should be no surprise then that he was vehemently opposed to Indian independence, declaring that Gandhi “ought to be lain bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi, and then trampled on by an enormous elephant with the new viceroy seated on its back. Gandhi-ism and everything it stands for will have to be [...] crushed.”

He would later remark: “I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.”

The Morning Star continues  

It also warrants noting here his advocacy for the use of chemical weapons to repress other peoples under Britain’s imperial rule.
When Iraqis and Kurds revolted against British rule in northern Iraq in 1920, Churchill, then secretary of state at the War Office, said:

 “I do not understand the squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes. It would spread a lively terror.”

Of course, you will detect none of this side of Churchill from watching the Darkest Hour because, as usual, he is portrayed as a flawed but lovable rogue who endeavoured virtuously to save democracy and the free world from the jaws of fascism. 

The problem with this cliched narrative, however, is that, contrary to virtually every mainstream account, Churchill was in fact explicitly and openly supportive of fascism prior to the second world war, notably in Italy.

He wrote lovingly to Mussolini:

 “What a man! I have lost my heart! […] Fascism has rendered a service to the entire world […] If I were Italian, I am sure I would have been with you entirely.”
As late as 1935 he wrote affectionately of Hitler: “If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as indomitable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations.”

Like the US government and much of the British Establishment at the time, including the royal family and the intelligence services, Churchill enthusiastically favoured fascism as a bulwark against Bolshevism and only became overtly anti-fascist when German expansionary ambitions directly threatened the empire.
None of this is an exaggeration. You can, as is nowadays fashionable to say, “fact-check” it all. And this is to illustrate but a fraction of Churchill’s odiousness.
The truth is that, behind the cult-like worship and glorification of him that plagues the Anglosphere, manifested in films like Darkest Hour, Churchill was in reality a horrid man who, if around today, would most certainly be ridiculed and reviled by decent-minded folk for the hideously archaic views he possessed.

Indeed even in 1945 there is plenty of evidence that Churchill did not receive total adoration   .

It may be claimed that Labour's  1945  landslide victory as a reaction against the Tories rather than Churchill himself in his own constituency of Woodford  Labour and the Liberals did not put up a candidate.

He was however challenged by an Alexander Hancock, a obscure self-styled "philosophical Communist," polled more than 10,000 votes  against Churchill.

General Election 1945: Woodford

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Winston Churchill	27,688	72.53	N/A
	Independent	Alexander Hancock	10,488	27.47	N/A
Majority			17,200	45.05	N/A
Turnout			38,176	65.53	N/A
	Conservative win

The fact that over 10,000 people voted against Churchill may indicate the general mood amongst many voters, who had negative views against Churchill.

I don't think we will see any Bafta or Oscar nominations for an actor portraying  as the Imperialist, Racist and Union crushing man he really was . but a more factual film of his life would be welcome.

Glyn Davies MP should listen to Irish President and not welome US.

I remember when he was a Conservative  Assembly Member Glyn Davis's A view from Rural Wales was always worth reading.

I gained the impression then that he was an independent  minded politician who was  willing to throw off the Party's Thatcherite past and a move to the centre (wherever that is mind)and who embraced devolution wholeheartedly.

However now a MP after unexpediently winning  Montgomeryshire in 2010 he seems to have become a government apologist .

I mean who else but a Tory MP believes this

 Bearing in mind how difficult 2017 was for our Prime Minister, it’s amazing how confident and focussed she is. It was a genuinely Prime Ministerial performance on today’s media. Mrs Thatcher was known as the ‘Iron Lady’. Well, Theresa May has shown herself to be a ‘Lady made of Iron’. It’s not how you cope when the tide is flowing your way; it’s how you cope when it’s flowing against you. And I sense that she begins 2018 in a far better place than most would have imagined 7 months ago. To me, all those (including the journalists and commentators) who have been part of the the baying mob look rather ‘smaller’ people than they did.
We all know that Brexit will remain a defining issue. There remain many retainers. And much of our media will give massive coverage to them, or anyone, and any report supporting their desire to reverse the referendum vote to Leave, casually damaging the British interest at the same time. For example, very few had heard of Lord Adonis until he resigned from the Gov’t, citing Brexit. Suddenly he was being portrayed as some great guru, though in reality, he jumped before he was pushed, and has never had anyone actually vote for him - ever. But our Prime Minister is not for turning. She has “played a blinder”, and developed a working relationship with the EU negotiators, where the aim is to deliver the best deal for the UK and the EU - ignoring the columns of ill-informed froth. Just getting on with the job. In all of our interests.

Yesterday he entered the question over Trump's visit to the UK

 Don’t normally read the Daily Mail, though do take the Mail on Sunday, along with the Telegraph. But did buy today’s copy - to take advantage of a very generous free gift offer of an Airfix kit. Anyway, it was first time for months that I’ve read anything written by Peter Oborne, who used to write for Spectator and Telegraph. Top class columnist. Always worth a read. Headline today read - “The stench of Labour’s hysteria and hypocrisy over Trump”. Like anyone writing anything which can be read as being on Trump’s side, he has to begin by setting out his opinion of the US President, which I repeat here. “Trump is a narcissistic and absurd figure. He is a racist who retweeted videos posted by Britain First, a fascist organisation that all decent people condemn.”
But he does not, and nor do I agree with the campaign to prevent President Trump visiting the UK. The public attitude of the Mayor of London is particularly short-sighted. Anyone would think he was mid election campaign, when irresponsible attitudes are sometimes struck.  Absolutely not protecting the interests of London. And same goes for a whole lot of others who are keen to be seen as ‘virtuous’ by parading their distaste of Trump. Actually, I have little criticism of those who are not in positions of influence wanting no contact with Trump. Every right to express their opinions. Makes little difference on the international politics plain. It’s the rank hypocrisy of opposition leaders that I find so utterly nauseating.

No its not  the USA is a democracy and just like a true friend is always more critical of mate  who crosses a line than those we have never liked. Those who are opposed to Trump  visit are those who actually have the interest  of the USA at heart who will be protesting against the US President when he eventually comes here.

Finding out that a friend on Facebook is a racist  is always a shock and you are in a dilemma whether to "Unfriend" him or her but its something  you may not have with someone who you don't even personally know whom turns up on your Facebook page.

 Below  2010 interview between Michael D. Higgins, before elected President of Ireland in 2011, and Boston conservative radio host Michael Graham  which went viral, when a YouTube clip of the debate attracting over half a million visitors. (Close to 200,000 of those visits were recorded in the past 48 hours, according to The Irish Times.)

Even before Trump Michael D saw where the US was going .

Ireland elected a wonderful President and the USA a racist and the latter is not welcome here.