The Greatest Show on Earth*

The winner of the race to succeed Rhodri Morgan as leader of Labour in Wales and first minister in the Welsh assembly will be announced later.

The result will be announced at about 1730 GMT at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay.

Eligible to vote are Welsh Labour party members, affiliated groups such as trade unions, and its MPs, AMs and MEP.

The candidates are all AMs, with Carwyn Jones widely seen as the front runner, followed by Edwina Hart and Huw Lewis.

Whoever wins is due to be confirmed as first minister just over a week later.

The two-month election campaign began formally when Mr Morgan confirmed on 1 October that he was standing down, shortly after his 70th birthday.

Mr Morgan has held the top job in Wales since February 2000, and said it was the right time to go.

In Mr Morgan's current cabinet, Mr Jones is counsel general, or the assembly government's chief legal adviser, and leader of the house, who is in charge of getting government business through the assembly.

The vote is split equally three ways between:

• Party members
• Labour-affiliated trade unions and other organisations
• Elected AMs, MPs and the party's one MEP for Wales.

Members voted by ranking the candidates in order of preference on the ballot papers.
If one candidate has more than 50% of the vote after the first round of counting, the candidate with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated and their second preferences transferred to the remaining two to decide the winner.

* just watch Facebook profiles, groups, and blogs disappear overnight.

First Minister proved wrong within 72 hours

As if by magic, a comprehensive example has been given in today's media which inadvertantly responds to a previous post of mine, and point the finger firmly in the direction of Rhodri Morgan's Welsh Assembly Government.

Just days ago, First Minister Rhodri Morgan was quoted as saying "If you look at our record I have led a government without any scandals" Reacting to an accusation from Mr Bourne that he had "squandered" public money, Mr Morgan said the assembly government had consistently been given a clean bill of health by auditors.

An official report by the Wales Audit Office [note the word AUDIT Mr Morgan] now reports that the £13.5m bail-out of the Wales Millennium Centre followed "severe deficiencies" by assembly officials and ministers. A "Wholly inadequate record-keeping" by the assembly government added to its lack of understanding of the venue's finances.

Former Labour Culture Minister Alun Pugh claims he inherited a "flawed" plan from his Lib Dem predecessor, which has been rebutted by Peter Black in a post earlier today:

What was equally bizarre was the performance of the former Culture Minister, Alun Pugh on the radio this morning. As far as he is concerned it was all the fault of his predecessor, Welsh Liberal Democrat AM, Jenny Randerson. He pointed out quite correctly that the centre's original business plan underestimated the cost of running the facility.

Putting aside the issues of collective responsibility which makes the Labour Ministers at the time as equally culpable for this business plan, any proper examination of the facts reveal that Mr. Pugh is being fairly conservative in his choice of facts.

The Centre opened in November 2004, over a year and a half after Jenny Randerson had ceased to be Culture Minister. Alun Pugh had had ample time to get his feet under the table by then and sort out any problems he may have inherited. According to the auditor's report he clearly failed to do so. Instead he has tried to pass the buck, something that does him no credit at all.

The Auditor General's report on the Wales Millennium Centre reveals some very major weaknesses in the way that the Assembly Government has managed its huge investment in the facility. In particular, Ministers and officials failed to keep an eye on the business risks once it opened:

Auditor General Jeremy Colman reported:

The Wales Millennium Centre was a high-risk, complex project, and although the public bodies funding it followed good practice in many areas, particularly through joint monitoring, there were some fundamental weaknesses. The project would have been better served if the Welsh Assembly Government had paid equal attention to addressing the risks involved in funding a successful business as they did to addressing the risks in funding the construction.

He said the Assembly Government had failed to keep up-to-date records on the WMC’s performance. He added: “The civil servants took a view the material they would otherwise have to hold was commercially sensitive and therefore was at risk of having to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act if anyone asked for it.“Well, we think that is an extremely bad reason for not keeping proper records; an extremely bad reason for not carrying out effective monitoring.

Conservative culture spokesman Paul Davies said:

This is a damning report that highlights in no uncertain terms the failings of the assembly government. The report clearly states the assembly government did carry out detailed reviews of the WMC's business plans, plans which highlighted several key risks. But crucially, it then stopped short of assessing and addressing these problems. This beggars belief.

He said the assembly government "effectively washed their hands" of the centre once it had been built, and added: "The assembly government have now got some very difficult questions to answer."

An assembly government spokesperson said:

The Minister for Heritage [Alun Ffred Jones] will consider the Wales Audit Office report on the Wales Millennium Centre, and the recommendations made, and will respond in due course.

Peter Black AM goes on to question on his blog:

This report states: “Although officials told us that they could access records held at the WMC on request, we have seen no evidence that they did so.”

The fact that officials failed to keep proper records because they were afraid of the Freedom of Information Act is just bizarre. How many other projects are they taking the same approach to? We need some answers.

Mr Morgan. The Welsh public will need you to greatly improve, not only in areas of policy proposals, competence and delivery, but also in the area of excuse making.