Saturday 21 July 2012

Final Warning for D.E.T.?


So has Plaid Leader shown weakness in taking no action against Dafydd Elis Thomas or has she averted a bigger crisis in the party loosing a senior AM to Labour or who would sit as an independent in the Assembly.
Its been claimed thet .he had would not have turned up for the disciplinary pocedure as . he has the prior engagement of attending the Royal Welsh show. A similar excuse for his absence over the vote of Confidence (He was preceding as Chancellor of Bangor University over the degree ceremony)

If this is true then the Leadership do look week .

Perhaps its to early to judge but unless she's received a promise from D.E.T about his future behaviour this may back to haunt her..

In her statement Leanne said

There is little doubt that the events of the past few days have been damaging, both to Plaid Cymru and to the campaign to have transparency, accountability and honesty injected into the debate about the future of our NHS.
"Nobody comes into politics to be distracted by arguments about process, I came into politics in order to realise the ambition of the people of Wales.
Since I became leader of this party in order to unite the progressive majority of the people of this country behind a plan to strengthen our economy and our public services and to advance the cause of Wales.


"Although I do not agree with him, I respect the fact that Dafydd Elis-Thomas does not share the group’s long-held views on protecting core health services at community level, and to have ministerial accountability for the decisions made.
"If any member has concerns on issues which they regard as a matter of conscience however this needs to be discussed and argued within the group in order to reach agreement.

"This is how politics works. It is through debating and discussing ideas and disagreements together, rather than abstaining and not taking part.

"In future therefore, if the Plaid Cymru group collectively chooses to support an issue and a campaign, I expect all members to unite behind that, unless they are willing to come to the group and explain and discuss why they are unable to do so. It is not and never will be acceptable that statements are made to the press before they are shared within the party team. The party has always valued its unity of purpose. The whip has never before been withdrawn from an elected member of Plaid Cymru. I do not expect, and will not accept, the party being placed in this position again.

"I also expect all Plaid Cymru elected representatives always to put their roles and responsibilities in that capacity first and foremost above all other interests and duties. Their constituents and the members of Plaid Cymru expect no less

So it looks like a final warning for the errant Lord .But how final?



I imagine some Plaid members wil sigh with relief, that a major crisis has if only temporally been averted or may been wishing that D.E.T been given his marching orders.

Time will tell Dafydd may throw all his energies into supporting the Plaid Group or he may carry on ploughing his own furrow it may depend what Labour dangle in front of him in his alleged desire for a cabinet position in the Assembly government.

Or he may come to the conclusion that maybe its the time to become an elder statesman in the party like his former Parliamentary colleague Dafydd Wigley but whether he is truly suited to this role is unclear.

The saddest thing over this affair is that Dafydd action make actually over enforce Party discipline and stifle debate over Party Policy.

It would be ironic if Dafydd  legacy may have been to turn Plaid into the sort of authoritarian party which stifle dissent  Labour is .

At the moment Dafydd seems to be the winner here he has defied the Party and it disciplinary procedure its ben claimed that he had announced .

2 comments:

Bill Chapman said...

I think that Dafydd Elis-Thomas will make a good Labour peer when he moves over. As you know, the Labour Party encourages healthy debate, and is much less authoritarian than Plaid Cymru. He will have found his true political home when he joins Labour.

Mamwlad said...

Most Welsh nationalists want him gone. The unionist Labour Party will welcome him, he's long past his sell by date. His lordship can groom his feathers elsewhere because Plaid are sick of him.