The human touch

Lorraine supporting a campaign she loves in a building she loves

IT WOULD be too cheeky by half to describe humanism as a Church, but Lorraine Barrett’s decision to leave politics to become a humanist celebrant has the whiff of a higher calling. Yet it does not seem born of despair or a sign of discontent with Welsh politics. In fact, Lorraine clearly enjoys the political life and cheerfully accepts the vocation’s absurdities.

Lorraine’s atheism has none of the absolutism of a Richard Dawkins. In the cathedral of unbelief she is an Anglican not a Catholic. One feels that if Miss Marple had been a humanist she would have been a bit like Lorraine – cuddly but astute. Towards believers – such as her long term ally Alun Michael – she shows benign tolerance and respect. This gentle approach to ultimate matters adds force to her own convictions and no doubt attracts the occasional convert. Already she has a reputation for conducting funerals with great tenderness. And during her political life she has displayed much warmth and tenderness too.

Back in 1999 many a misogynist in the Labour Party and beyond muttered darkly that Lorraine’s selection for the plum seat of Cardiff South and Penarth demonstrated the absurdity of “wimmin-only” shortlists. Other detractors poked fun at Lorraine’s failure to get onto Labour’s candidates list initially. While her career was never destined to be as meteoric as the other Cardiff Assembly Members, she has proved a diligent and often colourful AM who can draw on a hinterland that extends back to the Rock and Roll years of the 1960’s. Her husband is a concert producer she met in those salad days. While Lorraine cannot be caricatured as an ageing hippy, a vivacity for life’s rich pageant is rarely absent.

In the chamber Lorraine’s speaking style is punchy and her contributions frequent. While her politics is more partisan than her humanism, she avoids a strident approach on most occasions. Although a Rhondda girl originally, Lorraine is closely identified with Penarth, her home for many years. She has effectively championed local causes such as the need to renovate that wonderful architectural oddity, the Pavilion on Penarth Pier. Here she has been astute in bringing together all shades of political opinion amongst local AMs and Councillors.

Lorraine’s humanism leads her to promote the rights of all mammals, notably badgers and foxes. A vegetarian – and teetotaller – she has reached out to the many carnivores in the Assembly to further animal welfare. Indeed, so synonymous has she been with this agenda that she has seemed to be the model interest group champion in the Assembly. As one of the Assembly’s Commissioners – a sort of supporters club for the Presiding Officer – she has championed the RSPCA’s freedom food campaign. This toleration and pragmatism wins friends and in recent years it has noticeably changed her style. Lorraine was prone to goading the rural lobby but now she is happy to work with farmers and others.

The Assembly needs good, dependable backbenchers like Lorraine to introduce a range of causes that would not always occur to the government. For example, she single- handedly brought about a tightening of regulations on tail docking during the last Assembly – the only backbench AM ever to have led the successful amendment of secondary legislation. On the Commission she has also been a consistent champion of public access and the full utilisation of the Assembly estate. As the “local member” for the Assembly, her sense of pride in the building is unmatched, and she wants the people of Wales to see it and use it.

No rebel, Lorraine has broadly accepted the role of government supporter and is rarely to be found in the awkward squad. She is a product of Labour’s former dominance in South Wales and can appear a little uncomfortable in the more competitive culture that has characterised devolution. However, her innate cheerfulness and tolerance has helped her adjust better than most of her colleagues.

Lorraine leaves front line politics at a time when Labour needs another dollop of modernisation. It is a time for young Turks rather than faithful servants. But Lorraine’s faithful service in devolution’s formative years will surely be remembered with affection.