Marathon man
Bubble — By Willy Nilly on June 30, 2010 2:00 pm
The master of symphony
MIKE GERMAN is the marathon man of Welsh politics having first contested a parliamentary seat in 1974. Undeterred by repeated failures he plugged away in Cardiff Central and laid the foundations for ultimate Liberal Democrat success. The party’s dominance of capital city’s municipal politics also owes much to the dogged work of Mike German. He more than anyone in his party has played the long game, and it is no coincidence therefore that he appears now a natural elder statesman.
It came as no surprise when Mike was elected first leader of the Liberal Democrat Group in the Assembly back in 1999..He had expected Alun Michael to form a Lab-Lib Dem coalition (frankly, everyone did) and it was a surprise and a shock that the Labour leader followed a solitary course. This was a decision that doomed Alun Michael’s premiership but only served to postpone the entry of the Lib Dems into a coalition government. Once in office in October 2000 the Lib Dems performed credibly, but Mike was soon under the incubus of an expenses controversy that took an inordinate length of time to resolve. Indeed, because of this problem, his periods of office were relatively brief between 2000 and 2003 It said much about Mike’s nature and stamina that he negotiated this period with no little grace and he was finally vindicated. It also said much about the trust Rhodri Morgan then placed in him that the Labour leader stood firmly by the side of his beleaguered deputy. Nevertheless, the episode left its mark and the Lib Dems failed to advance in 2003 while Labour secured a bare majority of AMs.
The next four years were not easy for Mike or his party. Labour had discarded their coalition partners and it took both Plaid and the Conservatives some time to warm to them, even though the necessity of a combined opposition eventually led to this. The quiet tactician, though, shone through in Mike German. By the time of the next Assembly election in 2007 he was arguably the man with the most options as he had credibility as a negotiator with all three other parties. Yet once more the ballot box did not match the promise. With Lib Dem support continuing to stall, Mike German found his options suddenly much diminished and took a gamble in choosing to work with Plaid and the Conservatives over Labour. In strongly backing a Rainbow coalition in 2007, Mike was ahead of most Lib Dems. His judgement has proved prescient because a party that always backed Labour in government could hardly claim the centre ground for long. However, the failure of the Rainbow negotiations left his leadership spent and exhausted but even then he showed his stamina and got the party through this difficult episode and prepared the way for a new leader.
Ironically, the period he has spent in the Assembly post leadership has been one of his strongest. He has assumed the mantle of elder statesman with gusto. Free of internal party political considerations, he can now choose when to fly and when to sit and contemplate. Mike’s speaking style is expansive, kindly and never quite contained by orthodox syntax. One could best describe the oratory of this accomplished musician-politician as more akin to Bartok than Bach. Mike is particularly famous for his mixed and mangled metaphors. Cyclists can take off; trains get stuck in the slow lane; and planes cruise in top gear. It is all wonderful stuff and somehow the inner thought is never lacking in power or relevance.
At heart Mike German is a party loyalist who is able to work effectively with people from other political traditions. He has been one of the Assembly’s big players and, as Mike might have himself put it, he has energetically caught the ball and ran full steam for home. Mike German will bring much needed Welsh expertise to the House of Lords. There his sense of humour and decorum will surely prove a pleasing mixture. The House of Lords is the closest British Politics gets to Heaven. Few of us can possibly imagine what such an ennobled life entails but we assume it must be blissful. It is a fitting reward for one who has run a long and gruelling race.
Tags: Assembly, Mike German
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7 Comments
I’m no fan of the Fib Dems, but I won’t take issue with this encomium to Mike German. I remember that about 25 years ago, as Cardiff Anti-Apartheid secretary, I attended a Cardiff City Council reception for representatives of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO – which, after the fall of apartheid, formed Namibia’s government). Mike was one of the few non-Labour councillors who bothered to attend that reception, and demonstrate support for SWAPO and opposition to apartheid (I seem to recall too that Mike did a sterling job in ensuring the buffet didn’t go to waste).
I will, though, accuse Willy Nilly of being a silly billy over his claim that “Mike['s] … judgement … proved prescient because a party that always backed Labour in government could hardly claim the centre ground for long”. As recent developments have shown, a party that claims to be of the ‘centre’ and ‘progressive’ can hardly any longer cling onto the high moral ground when it wholeheartedly endorses more right-wing, free market-inspired public sector/welfare cuts than even Thatcher attempted.
Oh, and “The House of Lords is the closest British Politics gets to Heaven”? More like the House of Lords is the closest British politics gets to the library in ‘Last of the Summer Wine’, surely?
“The House of Lords is the closest British Politics gets to Heaven.”
Count me out of British politics then!
Well Gez, I had to reach for the dictionary when it came to the word “encomium”
. However as regards the “Fib Dem” quip all I can say is the common joke here is “How do you know when a politician is lying? when it opens its mouth!”. And that goes for all shades of political opinion.
However we have come to praise Mike, and not bury him! Under his leadership the Liberals increased their representation from 3 to 12 seats on Cardiff City Council in one election (if memory serves me right). Introducing more transparency in the council.
However he was unable to repeat his first success in the Assembly elections due I think to the lack of nationwide organization (which afflicts both the Conservatives and Plaid).
I wish him luck and I am sorry that his wife is succeeded him, I am not keen on politics as family business, sounds to me like the Kennedy’s and Bush families.
“I wish him luck and I am sorry that his wife is succeeded him, I am not keen on politics as family business, sounds to me like the Kennedy’s and Bush families.”
Veronica was a candidate in her own right. I don’t think they were even married when she stood in 2007. She’ll be viewed as a politician in her own right too.
I stand (or sit) corrected!
From Mike’s last speech in the Assembly yesterday
“I want to conclude by saying that I have been privileged, and I am grateful, but I could not have achieved all this without the support of colleagues in my party and other colleagues, for the warm support that I have received, not just in the Chamber, but mainly outside of it. I often say to people that there are only 60 of us, and that we come to know each other well, not out of choice, but because we share a lift or staircase, or sit in committees with each other, one after the other. The former First Minister and I sit next to each other for at least seven hours a day once a week, which says something about the way that you have to work with a small number of Members. The comradeship that I have enjoyed with you all has been a great achievement. I know that people have accused me of mixing metaphors, so here goes, and here is my ending for you: birds may bark, swans may sing, cats may crow, but Lords may leap. Thank you.”
I wasn’t going to say anything but for the sake of the men who really saved the WJEC from going under I would pose just one question to ‘Willy Nilly’. You say that he was ‘finally vindicated’. By whom? I find that before writing anything it often pays to research the background. I still have all the evidence including many of the credit card slips from retail outlets such as Oddbins and Fratelli Cimino in Naples which were so vital to the work of Wales’s only examination board. I can even provide copies of the Bentley Jennison report on the shambles that was the European Unit of the WJEC and which led to the Board repayiign back millions in EU grants.
If someone wants to write about this period in Welsh politics they can also see the notes I made after the extraordinary meeting held between the WLGA and the-then First Minister over the issue. I also made notes after every threatening phone call I received during this period, including those from people whose salaries I was paying as a card carrying member of the Labour Party. You can also see if you wish how, using a Michelin road map, my knowledge of France and a computer, I worked out the journeys across France to the holiday home in Perpignan owned by a company called L’Avenir. On the basis of this research I instructed the-then WJEC chief executive to take county court action to recover a sample amount of money. We were paid before the case went to court.
The probem with all these pen pictures is that they are frankly not objective. I just don’t recognise the the ‘political titans’ portrayed in these short hagiographic pieces. After 11 years of the ‘rule of the saints’ in the Age of Plenty, along with much of the rest of the population I just can’t understand why Wales is still bottom of the UK league. Although the pen portraits do, I suppose, say something about the culture that has developed around the swimming pool in the Bay. To write political pen pictures which are interesting, you need to inject a little of the cynicism and wit of the Quentin Letts and Simon Hoggart school of journalism, I’m afraid.