A tale of two selections…
Bubble — By Daran Hill on March 1, 2010 1:27 pmLABOUR was having such a good couple of days. An effective conference and a strong opinion poll showing had been buoyed their spirits no end.
But as Betsan reports, the selection for the successor to Don Touhig MP has gone somewhat awry over in Islwyn. She quotes from the following letter sent to Gordon Brown this morning from four Labour councillors, following a candidate selection procedure that has not gone smoothly.
“We have become evermore disillusioned with the government over recent months. On the weekend we received news that the Party HQ has imposed a shortlist upon us to replace our outgoing MP Don Touhig, which contains no candidates from, or who live in Islwyn. This situation has occurred despite repeated calls for us to decide our own shortlist and has resulted in our continued membership of the Party becoming untenable”.
“Islwyn neighbours Blaenau Gwent, where the Party refused to listen to local members before the last General Election and imposed an all woman shortlist. The action resulted in many members leaving the Party and contesting the Westminster seat against Labour”.
The four councillors – Dave Rees, Jan Jones, Phyl Griffiths and Jonathan Wilson – are not wrong there. Back in 2005 there was such an almighty row that it cost Labour the seat in both Westminster and the Assembly. And it also led to disciplinary action against Islwyn Labour members who supported the Forward Wales candidates who came forward.
But there is a further sting in this story which now magically catapults Islwyn into the “Seats to Watch” category for the forthcoming General Election. The four councillors say:
“We will now select Cllr Dave Rees, a true democratic socialist to stand against the Labour Party and their list of Party clones in the coming General Election. Cllr Rees is a hugely popular Councillor in his Ward and has an excellent track record of delivery”.
And by the way, Cllr Rees is also associated with the True Wales campaign…
Plaid Cymru candidate for Iswlyn Steffan Lewis is bound to be beaming by now.
Meanwhile the Labour shortlist in Pontypridd has also concluded with surprise, though far less acrimony. Local constituency chair and WalesHome.org contributor Tom Griffin has not been shortlisted there, to the amazement of many local activists. A Labour Party loyalist, he is keeping his counsel but is unlikely to take the same course of action as those who feel excluded in Islwyn.
For the second day running, I can write that the coming General Election has suddenly got a whole lot more interesting…
Tags: 2010 General Election, candidate selection, Islwyn, Pontypridd, Welsh Labour
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26 Comments
ironic… Dave “True Wales” Rees, campaigning to keep us tied to London, rebels because his ward gets a candidate imposed on it from London. You couldn’t make it up….
Steffan can win this now, he is no longer the underdog, but the front-runner.
Dave Rees will pull votes away from Labour. I dont sense a BG type of event, but if Rees can pull a few thousand off Labour, the Steffan has to be in the mix.
I would not say Steffan is the ‘front runner’, but he has a committed team and is an impressive candidate. Genuinely excited about his prospects now…
Whoa. The seat is suddenly up in the air.
Rees’ rant about Labour’s refusal to select a ‘local’ candidate is just another way of saying Labour chose not to shortlist HIM. He, and his three acolytes, really need to get over themselves – pique is NOT the same as principle.
I don’t agree that Rees’s candidature will make Islwyn a more open contest. What will he campaign on – a True Wales prospectus? Whoever Islwyn Labour members select as their Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (and there are some strong contenders, notwithstanding Rees’s inexplicable omission) will win support from Islwyn voters on a positive Labour platform.
I think you may be getting a bit ahead of yourself stating that the seat is now ‘up in the air’.
Internecine warfare has always rocked my boat a little, and at a time like this, when potentially every seat will count, it is unforgivable; the gang of four clearly have their own interests at heart rather than the interests of the wider party.
However, on behalf of the party, you would think they would have learned by now to put some ‘meat in the room’ even if there is no chance of them winning the nomination.
Other than Tamsin Dunwoody, does anyone know the other names on the list?
One must remember wrth gwrs that if Don Touhig had signalled his intentions a bit earlier there could have been a standard selection process.
Lets not get carried away…
This event could be seismic for Welsh Labour. Islwyn has just gone from ‘a building seat for the future’ to a ‘winnable’ in a week for Plaid. Steffan Lewis has been going at this seat all guns blazing and you can imagine that Islwyn Labour must be absolutely bricking it.
As mentioned above, Dave Rees’ likely voter is only likely to have voted Labour or Tory prior to him announcing he will stand. I genuinely think Steffan can win this seat, because you can imagine even Labour voters who wont vote Rees might just stay at home.
What is some utterly hopeful for Plaid is that Labour are hardly boosted by an influx of well organised and committed members to take the places of the old guard. Steffan is young, local, has a committed team around him and is not going anywhere.
I look forward to Steffan Lewis MP, or indeed if not AM in 2011.
Blaenau Gwent, Islwyn…this is not some guerilla oddity, this is a trend of the slow death of Valley’s Labour.
Well, I heard that a certain enemy of devolution living in Torfaen certainly tried to get selected…Given Rees’ reaction, I take it she never got on the shortlist.
A sensible response from Reece; Marcus may be on another planet!
Update: apparently it wasn’t Rees went for the nomination, but one of his hangers-on. Strange that the hanger-on was qualified enough to run for the Labour nomination – but not for the “Independent” one!
Rees certainly lacked conviction on the TV news this evening. He may not worry about the irreversible step he’s taken – but I’ll bet his groupies will realise their mistake soon.
I’ve also blogged on this over on the Bevan Foundation site:
http://www.thisismytruth.org/2010/03/local-candidates/
According to the BBC, one of the gang of four has now seen sense:
“I want to see a Labour government in Westminster and the best way to do that is to elect a Labour MP in the Islwyn constituency.”
This will all be forgotten come May 6th.
More sense from Reece. Jan Jones, one of the Islwyn Gang of Four, has reconsidered and has been welcomed back into the Labour fold.
The other three may as well cling to their True Wales soulmates and join the Tories…
Thanks Gez; clearly a very sensible man yourself!
True Wales is a total joke, and on top of that, Marcus Warners assertion that this would be a Plaid dream come true looks almost as funny.
Why the lack of coverage outside the ‘bubble’? Well, because the BBC and everyone else have seen it for what it truly is: a strop by someone who didn’t get on the shortlist, tinged with a bit of devo-unhappiness.
Oh well, onward and upward.
What a lot of hot air from people who have no clue what they are talking about , as for the general election the good people of Islwyn have no appetite to switch from Labour , Islwyn is no Blaenau Gwent. As for Plaid, their candidate spends all his time feeding the fires of separation, be it Wales or Cornwall, as he works for a Plaid AM we tax payer are paying his wages while he’s out trying to break up the UK . The people of Caerphilly have seen what PLAID ARE ABOUT , thanks to Cllr Whittle and co who have made a career out u turns, spin and economic incompetence of the highest order, who else but Plaid would go against their own advisors and invest £9 million in an Icelandic bank three weeks before it collapsed , they must have been blinded by the so call arch of prosperity. Plaid the Party that fails
The coalition is joke, a bad joke, True Wales have a right to campaign, the more powers brigade show a total lack of respect for any one who dare disagree with the political class in the Bay of pigs, which has failed on every measure, except creating well paid civil services jobs that produce absolutely nothing. This shameless lot will never be satisfied, even if they win the referendum they will seek more and more powers , driving a Nationalist wedge into the UK as SNP are doing , the people of Wales will stop them with a simple NO vote
“As for Plaid, their candidate spends all his time feeding the fires of separation, be it Wales or Cornwall, as he works for a Plaid AM we tax payer are paying his wages while he’s out trying to break up the UK ”
So he works for nationalist AM, which I am not sure is true now as he was booted out when Oscar done the dirty, and he is somehow not allowed to promote Plaid policy outside of work hours? I suppose any Labour staff are not allowed to promote Labour policy in their spare time, even as candidates?
It seems a pretty low blow but then I notice you are on board with True Wales.
Admin’s note:
Nomore – please observe the Comment Policy. I’ve trashed one of your comments, and I won’t hesitate to do so again.
nomore: I was excited then; I thought perhaps I had someone to debate with rather than one of da fanbois of off the interwebs!!!!!!!1111
“Other than Tamsin Dunwoody, does anyone know the other names on the list?”
Islwyn: Tamsin Dunwoody, Christopher Evans, Dan Jarvis, Melanie Smallman, Nick Thomas-Symonds, Angela Wilkins, Nathan Yeowell
Pontypridd: Jayne Brencher, Stephen Doughty, Delyth Evans, Bethan Roberts, Owen Smith
“What a lot of hot air from people who have no clue what they are talking about , as for the general election the good people of Islwyn have no appetite to switch from Labour , Islwyn is no Blaenau Gwent. As for Plaid, their candidate spends all his time feeding the fires of separation, be it Wales or Cornwall, as he works for a Plaid AM we tax payer are paying his wages while he’s out trying to break up the UK . The people of Caerphilly have seen what PLAID ARE ABOUT , thanks to Cllr Whittle and co who have made a career out u turns, spin and economic incompetence of the highest order, who else but Plaid would go against their own advisors and invest £9 million in an Icelandic bank three weeks before it collapsed , they must have been blinded by the so call arch of prosperity. Plaid the Party that fails”
You are Cllr Dave Rees and I claim my ten pounds!
On the comment about Icelandic Investments… surely this investment took place before the Plaid Group took control? It dates back to a time when Caerphilly was labour controlled. Plaid inherited the problem shortly after they won control of the council.
Living as I do in Caerphilly I can assure SmartMart that the decision making process continued until just days before the Iceland banking collapse, so you could apportion blame on the current administration, having said that ….
… It seems that the problem rests with our local politicians that took advice from “advisor’s” who were just plain wrong in their recommendations; are our local politicians culpable, probably not, though under different circumstances they might be described as gullible.
Hindsight is a cheap commodity, though it might be the right time for Mr. Whittle to explain what controls have been put in place since the disaster.
When the Nats lost 16 million pounds of our money, Whittle said the immortal words – I know nothing about the investment. It says all we need to know about Plaid and Co.
Mr Moderator, I post accurate and researched items. Sorry you don’t like open debate. The enemy of democracy is censorship
Nomore – we have pulled your comments in the past because we considered them libellous and unsubstantiated. It’s at our total discretion. You are in a minority of one if you think this site doesn’t promote open debate. But don’t confuse it with saying anything you want to.
And if you are so interested in open debate, post under your own name and stop mudslinging from behind a protection of anonymity.
I have also been asked to point out that nomore is not the same poster/blogger as nomorepowers.
Just had a communication from Steffan Lewis. I live in Newbridge. Not a clue about his pedigree. He is going to have to be more forthcoming about his agenda, what is the policy on immigration. It is great to shout Wales for the Welsh. But how is that to be funded? By the same token, how is the pension increase to be funded? Have we suddenly found gold in Blaenavon? Have the opencast coal miners struck oil in Merthyr?
None of the parties are setting out anything, other than the old chestnuts. I am waiting for UKIP and the BNP to make their offering!
Is there really a problem with immigration in Newbridge, Dennis? In Islwyn? I haven’t noticed it if there is – and I live in Islwyn, too. It seems to me (and, yes, I do actually talk to voters here) that people in Islwyn, as across the rest of Wales and the UK, are far more concerned about bread-and-butter issues in this election. It’s the economy, Dennis – jobs, inward investment, protection of essential public services versus deficit reduction/cuts.
And it seems to me that UKIP/BNP’s answers on these critical issues are simplistic and unhelpful.