Happy anniversary, Kirsty

One year ago Kirsty Williams won the contest to lead her party in Wales. But what sort of job has she done?

WATCHING the Labour leadership election come to an end last week, it was difficult not to be reminded of the time, exactly a year ago, when the Welsh Lib Dems completed a long autumn of internal politics that led to the election of Kirsty Williams as the first female leader of a Welsh political party.

A year on, and with leadership elections still fresh in people’s minds, it is perhaps an opportune moment to reflect on the year gone by, on the progress made within the party, and on the challenges and opportunities to come.

Even as campaign manager for Jenny Randerson’s campaign last autumn, and therefore a supporter for someone other than Kirsty, expect no bad tempered musings one year on. Equally, while being a parliamentary candidate and staffer for the party, don’t expect these thoughts to read like a party press release. This should be read as it is intended – as an honest account of a year of momentous change for the Welsh Lib Dems, peppered with individual views on what still needs to be done.

After the leadership campaign last Christmas there was a lot of reviewing of the commentary that had gone on throughout contest. There were two things that were clear. First of all, any permanent split in the party was unlikely to happen as the vast majority of support from one side or another was based on choices made rather than allegiances held. And secondly, any negativity surrounding the campaign was largely built on external forces creating trouble. It’s not appropriate to name names, but what is clear was that several people who wished the party ill used social media to try and drive permanent wedges of bad feeling between the two camps.

Despite a reputation for infighting, it is actually easier for Labour not to fall out with one another over their leadership election for the simple reason that their Assembly and Parliamentary groups are bigger. The worst relationships can be papered over by taking the stairs instead of the lift, or by sitting at the other end of a far larger table in group meetings. Both Kirsty and Jenny had to ensure that the group, and therefore the party, was in working order coming out of the election. Credit is owed to both women for making this happen. Jenny has taken to her new portfolio of education and economic development with passion and enthusiasm. This has sent a very clear signal internally and externally that she is still enjoying her job, and driving the policy making processes that come with it.

From the beginning, Kirsty has focused on the external, getting out of Cardiff Bay and meeting people and communities in all parts of Wales. Her media profile and performances in plenary have been nothing short of impressive. But as well as this, she has taken the right approach internally.

Kirsty has made organisational decisions which chime very well with the group who made up Jenny’s core support in the election – namely urban, ground-campaign focused activists. The appointment of Rodney Berman to chair the General Election campaign, and the election of Jenny’s some-time agent, Mark Stephens, as party treasurer have shown anyone with an ounce of doubt that the party under Kirsty is firmly focused on strategy and campaigning.

The European elections this June were not a resounding success, but Kirsty never made the mistake – unlike Plaid Cymru – of hyping our chances out of all proportion. Consequently, while we failed to win a seat, it did not lead to any backlash within the party. What it did do was set out very clearly the huge potential in certain constituencies as we face the General Election in 2010.

Everything is not perfect. We are still a growing but small party, with a serious imbalance between bureaucratic process and the actual size of the organisation. In fact, if there is one piece of advice for Kirsty that can me imparted here, it would be to further tame the bureaucratic beast within the Welsh Lib Dems. Liberals love to have meetings. Sometimes we seem to love talking to each other more than talking to voters.

Without going into too much internal strategy, things are significantly better than they were, but there is still much reform to be done. Kirsty needs to wrestle some power away from the sacred internal committees and place it more firmly in the hands of the party’s staff and officers. The democratic nature of the party can be retained, without stifling the speediness needed for operational decisions. It will be very difficult to approach these thorny issues during the next 18 months as the party faces two key elections. But it has to be done.

So to summarise one on, Kirsty’s leadership can only be described as hugely positive. Any cracks in unity have been treated with the filler of real decisions, not the wallpaper of empty gestures. The Welsh Lib Dems are better organised and more professional than ever before, and we go into the most important period of electoral action in a decade with a spring in our step.

Immediately after the leadership election, it felt a natural time to leave the employment of the party. But after 12 months I remain in post with no regrets, and that is of huge credit to the leader. We are united and we are ready for battle.