Christine Gwyther: Success after rejection is always possible
The Minister for Environment, Sustainability & Housing, Jane Davidson AM, recently announced the appointment of three Members to the Welsh National Park Authorities, one in Brecon Beacons and two in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authorities.
Following an open selection exercise, the Minister has decided to appoint Mrs Catriona Graham to the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority and Ms Christine Gwyther and Mr Richard Howells to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority. Mrs Graham and Ms Gwyther will be serving their first terms of appointment on the Park Authorities, Mr Howells will be serving his third term having been a member of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority since 2001. The appointments are for a period of 4 years.
Ms Christine Gwyther
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Christine Gwyther was born in Pembroke, attended Pembroke School and then University College Cardiff. She worked for some years for Pembrokeshire County Council in their economic development division before her election to the Welsh Assembly in 1999. She was a member for 8 years and for the first year and a half had responsibility for sustainable development in the Welsh Assembly Government. For most of her time at the Assembly, she was chair of the economic development and transport committee. She counts social inclusion and the countryside among her main interests, along with a passion for Pembrokeshire’s coastline.
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Notes:
Welsh Assembly Government appointees are selected for their personal qualities and experience and not as representatives of particular organisations or groups. Two thirds of the members of the National Park Authorities are appointed by constituent local authorities, with the remaining one third appointed by Welsh Assembly Government Ministers.
This is the first instance I can think of where a National Park has become a National Perk for a former Labour Government Minister. This has also helped enormously with a post that I will be publishing at the end of the week.
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11 comments:
All Government quangos and appointments are being used as sinecures for their supporters these days...
That's always been the case, however, Welsh Labour has frowned on this practice. Hmm!
If you look at who gets appointed to these positions in Wales -its very much Labour led.the health Trusts - how many Tories or Plaid Head them up.
The Arts Council, Tourist Board - check them out It would be an interesting result
Miss Wagstaff,
I would refer you to Peter Oborne's new book for a compendium of such examples. Its a really powerful argument...
She couldn't go back to pembrokeshire CC because they were looking for ways to get rid of her before she got elected to the Assembly
Labour has always accused the Tories of filling the seats of Welsh quangos over the years. I'd say that's been changing for a long time.
She'll come to no harm there as a vegetarian
"with the remaining one third appointed by Welsh Assembly Government Ministers." I wonder how she got the job?
The Hain scandal reveals how Labour has also embedded its supporters in key public roles. Huw Roberts, exSPAD to Ron Davies, hops off to run the BBC corporate affairs before doing the same in the Royal Mail. His predecessor there was Angharad Davies, a former Labour candidate and ex-Labour party worker.
80 yrs of Labour rule at a local level has seen local public bodies even more dominated by second raters and yes men.
Hafod - Plaid 'big hitters' Dafydd Wigley and Dafydd Elis-Thomas have also had their fair share of public appointments over the years. We must not forget that.
Point well made anon. Isn't the person doing Huw Roberts's old job at BBC Wales the former Plaid Cymru Director of Communications?
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