31st December 2007
Losing Our Virginity
After reading Tim Hames in the Times today I’ve decided against penning my own New Year’s Message though I was pleased to see him quoting Ieuan’s twice despite the dodgy spelling.
Instead, looking back at the year in which we took that first momentous step from opposition into Government - and not just any Government but a once-unimaginable Coalition with the Labour Party, I thought I would post some advice from a comrade from mainland Europe where pluralism - or political promiscuity, to use Gordon Brown’s telling phrase - is not just normal, but positively encouraged. That is not to say it is without its political risks - but there are advantages too for those who enter these marriages of principle and pragmatism with their eyes held firmly open, as Nelly Maes of our Flemish sister-party Spirit (formerly Volksunie) told us in September at our Party Conference drawing on her party’s experience of coalition at both federal and Flemish Government levels. I reproduce here her ‘ten commandments’ for parties entering coalitions. We would do well do remind ourselves of each and every one of them during 2008.
The Ten Commandments
In opposition, credibility is very high. It’s important to always keep your soul.
1. Prepare your voters.
You are an alternative party, not an opposition party, by principle. You want to realise the programme. Realising the programme cannot be achieved in one go.
2. Only go for negotiations when your party is needed and its numbers mathematically are needed to create a government, to make its programme and to implement it. Then your party will prove to be not just credible, but useful too.
3. Go for government if the results of the negotiations are positive: i.e. if you will realise an important part of your programme, if you are not blocking further evolution and the price to pay is not too high.
Your party is no longer a virgin. This, in itself, is a high price.
4. Seek a democratic decision within the party and the movement before going ahead.
5. If you are the smallest partner in the coalition, don’t get eaten. Maintain your own style and identity.
6. Cliam respect. One of the ways to claim such a respect is the guarantee of a timetable.
7. Beware of:
- promises without guarantee
- stay needed; refrain from being the fifth wheel on the wagon
- do a good job; be mindful of your partner’s greater experience in power. Don’t be naive.
- Take credit for what you do; make it known through the media, among your members and voters
8. Beware of the will of your opponents - who are only temporary partners - to steal your credibility, but at the same time you have to be loyal to them. This is a delicate balance.
9. Stay united (leadership!)
10. After an important defeat or loss of elections, don’t hang on for the sake of power’ Leave the government and go into opposition to regain credibility and to renew your political personnel. Seek your soul and save your party as an instrument to realise your programme.
Gyda’r geiriau hynod ddoeth hynny ga i ddymuno i chi gyd blwyddyn newydd dda.
17th December 2007
Colofn Golwg
12th December 2007
Grand Designs
I had to bow out of the Welsh Politician Awards last night because of the early start of the Welsh Grand Committee this morning back at Westminster. If reports are anything to go by, it was a wise decision. Apparently the Secretary of Sate for Wales likened Martin Shipton and I to “Laurel and Hardy”. No prizes as to which one’s which, but the more obvious question is why? If you are going to trade in personal attack then they should - like Vince Cable’s Stalin/Mr Bean (soon to be Mr Has-Bean if things get any worse) - at least be funny. I hope Peter’s found a better joke writer for the Wales Office Xmas Party.
At the Welsh Grand Paul Murphy protested he was not a devo-sceptic (and almost convinced me), Don Touhig talked slightly swivel-eyed about malign nationalist ministers and Dai Havard warned of the dangers of constitutional fetishism. So far, so predictable. I am a Welsh-Grand-agnostic and think that it should probably be given a decent burial like the Scottish Grand Committee that hasn’t met for four years and was also largely an excuse for splenetic nat-bashing. The Welsh Grand, the Welsh Day Debate and even, dare I say, the Welsh Secretary are forms of tokenism that, to me at least, feel as if they belong to a bygone age. The caravan has moved on. Leaving just a few stragglers behind.
But in the wind-ups there was a glimpse of the new. Hywel Williams talked of the momentous events of this Great Year (Blwyddyn Fawr) which will only properly be appreciated in the future. He talked of the new political order - One Wales -, which despite the cracks and the creaks, was most remarkable for the very fact that it existed. And Huw Irranca - emollient and passionate in equal measure, something I’ve not yet managed to master - capped it off by quoting the former Vice-Chair of Plaid Cymru, Gwyn Alf Williams famous existentialist passage about the making and remaking of Wales.
So, as I look forward to next Monday and the first meeting of the All-Wales Convention Steering Group of Plaid and Labour MPs and AMs, I am feeling pretty positive. A colleague has said it will be an useful dry-run for the independence negotiations - and the fact that it is in London in the middle of December does give it certain echoes of the Treaty negotiations between Lloyd George and Arthur Griffith. But there is one important distinction - it will be Wales around the table charting its own future. We don’t need Winston Churchill nor Lord Birkenhead - though we do need their spirit of generosity. Though I doubt if we will stay up drinking and singing till the early hours of the morning as they did with Michael Collins!
10th December 2007
Colofn Golwg
Mae Margaret Hodge, y gweinidog Diwylliant yn y gyn-briddinas ymerodrol, yn fodlon ail-ystyried ail-ddylunio fflag yr Undeb i gynnwys Cymru. Hael iawn ohoni, er ei bod hi rhyw dri chan mlynedd yn hwyr. Ond efe’r fflag ydy’r broblem, neu’r Undeb ei hun?
Yr athronydd J. R. Jones a ddangosodd yn ei lyfr ar y pwnc bod Prydeindod yn ideoleg wladwriaethol a grewyd i sicrhau teryngarwch i’r wladwriaeth Eingl-Brydeining. Un o’r hanfodion cynnar oedd sicrhau bod y Celtiaid o fewn y Deyrnas yn teimlo eu bod nhw yn gyfartal – er cymaint yr israddiwyd eu pobl a rheibwyd eu tir. Byddai cynnwys y Ddraig Goch ar Jac yr Undeb – er mor hwyrfrydig – dim ond yn parhau a thraddodiad o dwyll ac hunan-dwyll sydd wedi para canrifoedd.
Wrth gwrs, mae’r bai yn rhannol arnom ni. John Dee, y dyn hysbys o dras Gymreig a gynghorodd Lisbeth y 1af, a boblogeiddiodd ‘Prydeinrwydd’, fel rhan o ymgais y Tuduriaid i greu mytholeg i’w llinach. Arthur a brofodd eu hawl i wisgo’r goron, Madog, “darganfyddwr” yr Amerig, eu hawl i’r aur ar gyfer ei gwneuthuriad. Fel yr Albanwyr hynny ymfalchiodd yn y term ‘North British’ i ddisgrifio eu cenedligrwydd newydd, mae’r Cymry wedi ymhyfrydu yn y myth mai’r Brython rhoddodd sail i Britannia. Ond ar y cyrion yr ydym ni wedi bod erioed – ac y byddwn ni am byth yn y Brydain hon.
Ond yw hi yn bosib, fel yr awgrymodd J R Jones, nid dim ond i obeithio am ddiwedd Prydeinod, yng ngeiriau Gwynfor Evans, ond ei thawsnewid? Mae’r hen ffurfiau a seiliau Prydeindod – er gwaetha ymdrechion Brown – yn gwegian. Ond erys y cyfle i greu perthynas newydd a chydraddoldeb yn realiti yn hytrach nag yn rhith, yn union fel digwyddodd gyda chenhedloedd yr Ymerodraeth Brydeinig wedi’r ail rhyfel byd. Un enw a fathwyd ar gyfer y Gymanwlad newydd ar y pyd oedd yr “Undeb Eingl-Geltaidd”. Dyma un undeb y gallwn ei chofleidio, undeb cymdeithasol fel y’i gelwir gan ein cyfeillion Albanaidd, debyg ‘r Conffederasiwn rhagwelyd gan Gwynfor. Mae’r adeiladwaith gychwynnol yno yn barod yng nghyngor yr Ynysoedd a’r Cyngor Prydeinign-Wyddelig. Gyda sofraniaeth i Gymru a’r Alban, senedd i Loegr ac undod i Iwerddon fe all datblygu i fod yn gynghrair cenhedoledd rhydd fel Cyngor Gogleddol y gwledydd Llychlyn, neu’r Undeb newydd ar gyfer gwledydd Mor y Canol sydd yn freuddwyd gan Arlywydd Sarkozy. A chan fod symbolau mor bwysig, ym maner yr Undeb newydd fe drown yr hen las imperialaidd yn wyrddni Iwerddon a Chymru Rydd.
5th December 2007
Gurkhas Cymraeg?
The relationship between the Armed Forces and the Welsh language has not always been a happy one. Letters home in Welsh from soldiers serving at the Front in the First World War were censored, and the telegrams of condolence for the twenty thousand Welsh speakers who died in that war were sent in the King’s English, whether those receiving them could understand them or not.
My father joined the Army in 1956 and was billeted at the Wrexham barracks with lots of North Walian comrades who found it difficult to follow instruction in, what was to them, an alien language. Wales has changed almost beyond recognition in the half a century since then: we have a capital city, a national assembly and equal status for the Welsh language. On race, gender and sexuality, the Armed Forces too have been forced to move with the times. But as far as the Welsh language is concerned, it would seem, old habits die hard. Hywel Williams informs me of a young recruit from Caernarfon told at the Wrexham barracks to come back when he’s learned some English.
As it is answerable to the Queen and not to Parliament, the Armed Forces are not bound by the terms of the Welsh Language Act even whilst operating in Wales. The Ministry of Defence did agree a voluntary scheme in 1999 but this only covers contact with the public, not the treatment of recruits. On Monday Chris Bryant asked a question about how many Welsh people there were in the Army and so this prompted me to raise the issue of training in the medium of Welsh with the Minister for the Armed Forces, Derek Twigg. It was met with howls of incredulous laughter and snorts of derision:
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab): How many members of the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force are Welsh. [169651]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Derek Twigg): The Ministry of Defence records the number of UK nationals in the armed forces. Specifying national identity within the UK is not mandated, so it is not possible to provide accurate figures for the total number who are Welsh.
Chris Bryant:May I suggest that, notwithstanding the Ministry’s not knowing the figures, we are pretty sure in Wales that we produce a higher proportion of members of the armed forces than any other of the constituent parts of the UK? Is it not clear that Wales has a strong and proud military tradition? If we are to continue it, do we not need to ensure that when Welsh regiments return from operations tours—as have members of the 1st and 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh—a proper welcome is given to them in Wales? Should we not pay tribute to their work and, in this particular case, pay tribute to those who died in Iraq, including Private Craig Barber, Lance Corporal Ryan Francis and Corporal Paul Joszko?
Derek Twigg: Let me say to my hon. Friend that we are very proud of the work that the UK armed forces do and that the Welsh play a very important part in that. I pay tribute to their contribution to the armed forces and to their magnificent and outstanding
3 Dec 2007 : Column 564
achievements in Iraq and Afghanistan. My hon. Friend specifically mentioned the1st and 2nd Battalion the Royal Welsh, and there are also the Welsh Guards, who returned from Bosnia. It is very important to recognise what our armed forces do throughout the UK and that they are given a proper welcome home. We have seen examples of that recently and I am delighted to support them.Adam Price (Carmarthen, East and Dinefwr) (PC): I associate myself with the comments of the hon. Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant). When my father served in the British Army, he often acted as an unofficial interpreter for those of his compatriots who did not have fluency in English. Given the number of Welsh speakers who join the armed forces every year, will the Minister consider allowing those who wish it the facility to receive at least some of their basic training through the medium of Welsh?
Derek Twigg: I have to say to the hon. Gentleman that that is not the way we do the training. Of course, I will look further into issues surrounding the Welsh language and decide whether there is anything more we can do to help.
So it is ok for our sons and daughters to fight and lay down their lives for their country, but their language they must leave at the drill hall door. The Gurkha regiments are given the courtesy of induction training in Nepali. Why are Welsh speakers to be treated with any less courtesy?
