Goodbye to all that
Bubble — By Dominic Hannigan on July 10, 2010 7:00 am
The sun is setting - for now - on one man's days in the National Assembly for Wales
AT THE end of the coming week, I will depart from my job in the National Assembly. After two-and-a-half years in Ty Hwyel and three years in total working for Jenny Randerson, the time has come for me to fly the nest.
It’s pretty hard to describe what my time has been like, but I thought it would be nice to reminisce for a moment. I am pretty sure many of the experiences I have had have been shared by all those of all parties who have done their time in the Bay.
The overriding memory, I will take with me, is the constant, continual excitement and variation of the job. Of the many hundreds of days spent, I don’t think there were ever two the same. Those who have done the job, will be familiar with the daily ritual, of trying to stick to the work- plan, trying to get the ever refilling in-tray down, only to be smashed sideways by an event, be it the release of those economic figures you had forgotten about or the latest problems of one of the more regular constituents.
I was talking to someone the other week about why I will miss the job and it occurred to me that there is something very special about being somewhere as events unfold, then going home and seeing them reported on the evening news.
Third Assembly staffers like me may not have experienced the tumultuous events of the First Assembly, nor the knife edge, crazy happenings of minority government in the Second; but we have lived through some pretty notable incidents too. I will never forget seeing a Welsh Minister walk into a pub with a cigar in his hand, nor how sorry I felt for him when that mistake cost him his job a few days later. I will never forget playing my part in the unmasking of the scandal at International Business Wales, and the almighty Government cock-up that followed.
I will also never forget the fact that by being lucky enough to be walking down a corridor at a particular time, I knew before both the Deputy First Minster and the Lobby that the Assembly had experienced its first defection.
I will never forget the two leadership elections I experienced. Despite being a very impartial observer of the more recent of these, I did somehow end up in what seemed to be Carwyn’s celebration party in the Eli Jenkins afterwards. I seem to remember I even clapped him when he arrived, while ensuring I was out of shot of the cameras of course.
Of course the other leadership election I speak of was more relevant to me personally. It was a very strange time, and one I enjoyed immensely, despite being on the losing side. The process of unification afterwards was also a pleasure to be part of.
All these events, while entertaining or informative enough when seen on TV or in the papers, are far fuller of colour when you are there. Whether you are a player in the game, or someone who is just watching from the sidelines, they mean much more when seen through your own eyes.
For anyone who has done this job, or similar, there are of course frustrations. The refusal of the Presiding Officer to accept your urgent question. The battles with Table Office over wording your Ministerial enquiries. The custard.
But there are also great things every day. The helpfulness of the Commission staff, be they in Members Research, Committee Services or the canteen. The courtesy with which most AMs from other parties treat you. And of course the nights in the Eli Jenkins.
There are very few jobs, where in one single day, you can see your own words printed in the national media, get someone a new home for their family, and have the former First Minister of Wales hold the door open for you. Every day is full of little events, some funny, some serious which make life in the Bay both an education and a pleasure.
And that’s just it. Yes, for most of us working in Ty Hwyel is a necessary step on the political ladder, a chance to work full time for a cause we believe in, or a convenient way to build our CV from the foundations of university. But above everything else, it is just a bloody cool place to work.
So as I follow that path well trodden by my kind before me – to a job with better pay, shorter hours and fewer surprises each day – I will look back with great fondness to the tiny part I have played in a new and exciting institution. They were quite simply the best of times.
Tags: Assembly, Jenny Randerson, Welsh Liberal Democrats
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13 Comments
Lovely piece, Dom. As someone getting into rather than out of ‘all that’, it’s remarkable how many experiences are shared. And I will miss bumping into you in the smokers’ area … if not the way you always know more about a topic than I do
Pob lwc.
That’s not to different when working with a fast growing SME, except that when you are in the Eli Jenkins, our office lights are still burning bright.
Perhaps you should attend to your carbon footprint, Financier?
Paying an occasional visit to the Eli (although I prefer The Packet) once in a blue moon to relax with a drink after work. Terrible. Perhaps we should check round the country’s hard-working private sector before clocking off?
Oh, but hang on a sec – the harder you work in the private sector, the more money you make. Whereas I didn’t get a red cent for the three evenings I worked this week. Got to get it back in flexi-time. But if I take that, I don’t get my work finished. So the taxpayer got nine free hours – over a standard day, in fact – from me this week.
Extrapolate that over a year, and that’s a month-and-a-half’s work I’ll give for nothing. That’s what I call an efficiency saving.
It isn’t a moan. I happen to love my job – particularly working with constituents. But I’ve worked in the private sector, too. It’s time this myth was put to bed.
Having worked in the private sector myself, I recall plenty of times where I worked through breaks and after my time to go home for nothing! As Tom Jones would say its not unusual.
My wife who is a teacher rarely comes home before 630pm after leaving at 6am, and works weekends.
This whole idea of “political staffer” sounds very “Jacksonian” to me a sort of example of the “spoils system”, would that be a fair assessment?
On the Assembly web site it says that if you wish to work for an AM you should contact them. However it seems that you have to be a party hack to get these positions.
Mike is falling into the same trap as Financier: beginning from a position where you unshakeably believe that anyone working in politics is somehow onto a bloody good jolly, and then they find the nuances (they couldn’t be called facts) to re-convince themselves that they are right.
I wasn’t a member of Plaid when I went to work for Bethan, so that’s one wrong assertion out the window.
And I know it’s not unusual to work for free. I’ve been working over a quarter of a century, and just over eight months of it is in the private sector. Again, you’re misinterpreting what I’m saying, so let’s try again. The reason you stay late in a business is to make more money, yes? That you went home without fair remuneration is down to two things: one, you worked for free in the belief that there would be later rewards; or, two, that you were taken advantage of, which is your lookout.
The reason we work late in politics (and if you remember, I was answering the suggestion that we’re always down the pub, pissing it up while all those people who pay our taxes still have their noses to the grindstone) is because we are working to time frames and deadlines on behalf of constituents. Some things – like the closure of the Linemar factory on Swansea this week, which we had been working with the union to try and prevent – are emergencies and demand your time then and there.
And any rate, taxpayers in this country (of which you aren’t one, Mike – am I right?) should be happy that they stand to get 13-and-a-half months’ of work out of me and others like me in return for an annual salary. Anyone who wants to have their eyes opened, rather than their prejudices reinforced, is welcome to come and meet us at the Assembly and we’ll take you through how it all works. I can start by demonstrating how my expenses are less generous (some petrol, and that’s about it) than when I worked for the Western Mail, a notoriously tight organisation.
“Mike is falling into the same trap as Financier: beginning from a position where you unshakeably believe that anyone working in politics is somehow onto a bloody good jolly, and then they find the nuances (they couldn’t be called facts) to re-convince themselves that they are right.”
Yes it was a generalization. However are you the exception or the rule? Tax payer, I am! Geez I pay taxes in two countries!
“Anyone who wants to have their eyes opened, rather than their prejudices reinforced, is welcome to come and meet us at the Assembly and we’ll take you through how it all works.”
Ok. You can tell me about the Members Research Service.
Dom – lovely article. Thanks for sharing and best of luck with your new endeavours.
Mike said “On the Assembly web site it says that if you wish to work for an AM you should contact them. However it seems that you have to be a party hack to get these positions”. Duncan responded well to this apparent jibe, pointing out that he “wasn’t a member of Plaid when [he] went to work for Bethan, so that’s one wrong assertion out the window”.
It’s often the case that when recruiting staff, AMs WILL select members of their party – it’s important that staff are sympathetic to the policies and values espoused by their AM. But much more important selection criteria will be demonstrable skills in research, communication and media relations and other job-related competences.
I do sympathise with Duncan when he notes that in his current role at NAW, his “expenses are less generous (some petrol, and that’s about it) than when [he] worked for the Western Mail, a notoriously tight organisation”. Is it possible that, given the vocational aspect of the job he notes (and clearly relishes), workers in AMs’ offices are difficult to organise from a trade union point of view? Some political parties and many trade unions too are notoriously poor employers, and unions have a hard time promoting those workers’ interests. I hope it’s not the same for Assembly research staff.
And – I’m with Daran: Dominic’s was a fine contribution, capturing well the excitement and rewards of the role he’s relinquishing.
Thanks, Gez. If I’ve painted my job as some kind of enslaved slog, I’ve probably overcooked it. The role is great and so is working at the Assembly.
It’s interesting, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, that we have entered into a culture where, if it emerges that you have a decent employer – one that insists that you complete flexitime sheets or get your eyes tested – you’ll be greeted with snorts of derision, as if you’re on some kind of fiddle, not pulling your weight.
I bet most employers laugh their backsides off at this. We’ve all become ragged-trousered philanthropists.
No it was not “an apparent gibe” aimed at Duncan, probably a poor choice of word on my part.
Just a fair question.
Very well written Dom – I could identify with a lot of things in this piece! Although one of the most frustrating aspects is explaining to members of the general public that I work for an Assembly Member, and am not a civil servant working for WAG (to many in Wales, we’re all just ‘the Assembly’ – something we’ve all got to be doing more to counteract).
Related to the fact that I’m often mistaken as a civil servant is the fact that I’m often accused of being ‘on a jolly’ or ‘milking it on the gravy train’ by mates who work in the private sector – although only in a light-hearted manner. However, I think this indicative of a wider culture, as Duncan suggested earlier. This is that if you work in business you’re somehow inherently more hard-working and virtuous than someone who works in the public sector. Yes, all organisations have examples of people who don’t pull their weight, but by and large it is nonsense. Unfortunately, I feel that the wider UK political climate and the nature of the Chancellor’s Budget will do little to dispel this myth.