In-tray Gossip

If I had been neglecting my partner and son over the last several weeks, I would have been keeping an eye on my in-tray instead of neglecting the sometimes overloaded thing.

I've heard a rumour that senior civil servants working close to Ministers in Cardiff Bay were allegedly given box tickets to Welsh home matches during this year's 6 Nations championship. At least 2 of them attended the Wales v England match this year courtesy of their ministerial masters. As my source has said, "Not a bad perk of the job".

Alegedly the Union are up-in-arms over this and believe that any spare tickets at the disposal of the Welsh Assembly Government should be raffled out among all staff of the Assembly Government, and not kept by those regarded as being down the bay. I wonder what Wales' Number 1 rugby fan thinks of this staff freebie?

On another matter our old friend Christopher Glamorganshire has reappeared. The latest rumour is that the Welsh Assembly Government is allegedly chasing him for legal costs circa £28k for being too ill to turn up to an employment tribunal. Rumour has it that the case is ongoing and will conclude in the next month or two. Betsan always seems to have the scoop on this, so I'm hoping she'll keep us posted.

I'll be dipping in and out of blogging from time to time, and won't be a complete stranger to blogging or my in-tray.

Moving on up with Welsh Labour

You know me. I tend not to listen to rumour just as much as the next person. I tend to keep myself to myself, unless someone speaks so loudly that I can't help but hear.

Rumour has it that heads have been turned in the Assembly, in disgust at the way Eluned Morgan MEP has treated the party with contempt by first seeking re-selection for next year's European Election, only to pull out* when the prospect of bigger and brighter offers became apparent. Whatever some might think are bigger and brighter in the political world is purely speculative and remains to be seen.

Welsh Labour have already announced that each list member bounces up the list by one place, much to the delight of Lisa Stevens (Office Assistant to Eluned Morgan and next bright-young-thing in Labour's camp) whose prospect of becoming an elected politician is apparent, short of an election disaster for Labour.

Rumour has it that there are some who are eager to call for a re-opening of the Labour Euro selection process for Wales, which will undoubtedly be strongly resisted by Transport House, some even blame Transport House for their failure to make the top spot. Rumour has it that senior officers backed the selective few from very early on. In fact, if you were to have rummaged around on networking profiles during the selection process you would have seen Labour officials backing candidates that otherwise stood little chance of gaining a large percentage of votes. Oh, and these were the very same officers who were entrusted to keep the process fair and impartial.

If I were an eager observer of Welsh politics and concerned Labour supporter who cared about my party, what sort of questions would I be asking at this time?

1. Did Labour receive any motion requests for the Llandudno conference in March that called for the Euro selection process to be halted because of concerns over a stitch-up?
2. Was an official European office used for canvassing by candidates, against strict ethics rules? i.e. if a member of her staff called constituency secretaries to check they'd received correspondence and then asked if they would consider supporting them in the selection process it would contravene rules and standards in the European Parliament and the Labour Party.
3. Why were calls for party hustings during the selection process repeatedly refused by Transport House?
4. Does Eluned have any ambitions of being an Assembly Member, now or in the future?

Purely speculative, of course. You know me. I tend not to listen to rumour or gossip.

* Eluned Morgan MEP - who announced on Tuesday 14 October that she would not seek re-election to the European Parliament, after serving fifteen years as an MEP.

The full list of Welsh Labour’s candidates for the European election is as follows (as revised):

1. Derek Vaughan
2. Lisa Stevens
3. Rachel Maycock
4. Leighton Veale

Cutting-edge Union

It must be time for some pointless idle gossip again.

Many (okay, one anonymous person) might be wondering what happened to the staff of Aberystwyth and their key-cutting nightmare that I covered in an earlier post:

Staff in an Assembly office in Aberystwyth have been asked to sign for pedestal keys; with a penalty of £22 if lost. This local policy has been as welcome as a wet-weekend in Cardigan Bay, and the union have advised staff not to sign for keys. Instead, meetings were instigated to convince management of the worthwhile idea of attaching keys to the security pass which is issued to all Assembly staff. This has not been adopted. The union is concerned that this local initiative will spread Wales-wide. What will staff be asked to pay for next?

You'll be pleased to hear that thanks to the Trade Union and their intense talks with management, the charge will not now be introduced. What a good example of the union working with local management for mutual benefit.

Who ever said the union is powerless and a damp squib??

Next week:

Union negotiates with management and succeeds in allowing staff to use three sheets of toilet paper, per person, for each trip to the loo.

[Thanks to the anonymous email]

Contrarian blogging - in somebody else’s comments box (an example)

As it's a quiet Friday in the office and I wasn't planning on a lengthy post myself, thought I'd pick up on what I read in the comments section of a post the other day. Interesting comment made by Matt Wardman in the comments section of "Welsh business not confident in Assembly Government".

The post in question is about the economy and Welsh businesses showing no confidence in the actions of the Welsh Assembly Government.

Number of comments for this post is 33. Number of comments on topic, 8. This leaves the number of comments speculating as to who I am as 25, which is typical given all the rumour and gossip I've been hearing lately.

Matt has posted on a wide range of topics since he first started blogging, particularly in the area of blogging and freedom of speech. Thought I'd share his comment and original post with you. Makes you wonder!

This may sound like a strange idea, but there can be considerable benefit in letting part of your blog be hosted on somebody else’s site - in their comments box. You get the benefit of a possibly wider audience - and therefore lots of attention.

Chris Paul has had a “sceptical about Tories” blog since before I started, and it is hosted in Iain Dale ’s comments box. I reckon that he gets his largest readership from this “alternative” not the real one hosted at Labour of Love; it has something like 350 entries.

The unputdownable Dr Irene Lancaster FRSA has developed a whole series of pro-Israel blogs in the comments of (for example) Ruth Gledhills blog (228 entries to date) and the Spectator (42 entries so far),

There are certain limitations, such as your alternative blog posts having to have some distant relation to the subject under conversation - but that doesn’t seem to slow some people down.

If you select your host correctly, you can even develop an anonymous blog. Guido provides an “anonymous blog hosting service” in his comments box. In this case it is an “anonymous” group blog with more than 4000 entries .

It’s one approach to think about on a Bank Holiday.

A Betsan by any other name would smell as sweet

Another Welsh blogger has taken to reporting about the fate of Christopher Glamorganshire, with more success than I when it comes to the latest gossip.

Betsan Powys' latest post covers what she's heard in "Free speech, huge bills?":

"If you were born in Cardiff, why didn't your parents call you Betsan South Glamorgan?"

A question endured in school over and again but now, of course, I know the answer. As Christopher Glamorgan has proven, it would have been too dangerous a name to adopt.

Who is Christopher? He is - or was - a civil servant of many years, employed by the Welsh Assembly Government and who was sacked as a result of publishing an anonymous blog.

Whether the case against him stands up or not has been a matter of some discussion in parts of the Welsh blogosphere (particularly here) already.

For what it's worth, this is what I know.

The latest suggestion is that his tribunal case is going ahead, that it's unlikely to be heard until next year but that it will be discussed in an internal meeting, presumably in government offices in Cathays Park, next week.

Why was he sacked?

His thoughts on "Who would be a leader in a wicked, wicked world" drew the attention of someone in Cathays Park in July of last year. A flurry of confidential Emails started:

"This is the blog I mentioned earlier - reading it all and the profile places the individual in the Bay picking up plenty of insider stuff on WAG".

The then Permanent Secretary, Sir Jon Shortridge, gets involved.

"The Permanent Secretary has asked me to check if any emails have gone out to this blog site (or if people apart from ... have browsed). The site has contained some detail which may have links with leak enquiries".

He was sacked and and as things stand is taking his case to tribunal, despite his union, the PCS, heeding advice they've been given that he has some mountain to climb, such a mountain, carrying the threat of such a big bill at the end, that they've decided he must climb it alone.

Solicitors acting for the government don't mince their words. In letters I've had sight of they sum up the conclusions of the Employment Judge (and bear in mind I'm quoting their own summing up here, not quotes from a transcript) like this:

the "claim has little reasonable prospect of success", the blog was "contrary to the civil service code" and "has the potential to cause an embarrassment to the Welsh Assembly Government", therefore breaking the code.

Had 'Christopher Glamorgan' been guilty of "excessive internet abuse and potential copyright infringement" alone the judge seems to conclude that a final written warning would have been enough. However the blog, "the most serious of the issues", means dismissal "would fall within the band of reasonable responses available to a reasonable employer".

The letter ends on what I'll call a blunt note: go ahead and we'll apply for a full costs order against you, one that covers all fees, charges, disbursements and expenses incurred by WAG.

Give in now and we won't.

Thanks for the hat-tip Betsan.

Gossip! Me? Never! Good news for a change

Apparently I've been awarded first prize in the 'Best Cardiff Bay Gossip' category in the Witanagemot Awards. Not sure how many voted for me or why.

Such a wonderful feeling after the recent negative action against me. Slightly disappointed not to be mentioned in the same category as Bethan Jenkins AM. You can't win them all [laugh].

Thanks to Damon Lord for letting me know.

Key cutting-edge drama in the Assembly

It must be time for some pointless idle gossip.

Staff in an Assembly office in Aberystwyth have been asked to sign for pedestal keys; with a penalty of £22 if lost. This local policy has been as welcome as a wet-weekend in Cardigan Bay, and the union have advised staff not to sign for keys.

Instead, meetings were instigated to convince management of the worthwhile idea of attaching keys to the security pass which is issued to all Assembly staff.

This has not been adopted. The union is concerned that this local initiative will spread Wales-wide.

What will staff be asked to pay for next?

[Thanks to the anonymous email]

Is Leighton Andrews Committed to the Coalition?

Assembly Government insiders are suggesting that members of First Minister Rhodri Morgan’s team are trying to undermine Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones.

On the one hand the Plaid Cymru leader’s diary is being overloaded with engagements, so he is left with no time to think.

Another is that Deputy Regeneration Minister Leighton Andrews, the Labour AM for Rhondda, is letting it be known that although his responsibilities come within Mr Jones’ Economy and Transport portfolio, he does not regard the Plaid leader as his line manager.

Instead, Mr Andrews is said to be insisting on a direct reporting line to the First Minister. The allegations, which are strongly denied by the Assembly Government, come in the wake of tensions between Labour and Plaid over when a “Yes” campaign for the next devolution referendum should be set up.

A political source, who did not wish to be identified, told the Western Mail:

Some members of the Civil Service believe that Ieuan Wyn Jones is being deliberately overloaded with diary engagements. There are days when he is working from 8am until 10pm. According to what is being said, the intention is to tie him down so much that he does not have time to think... As Deputy Regeneration Minister, Leighton Andrews is within Ieuan Wyn Jones’ Department of Economy and Transport. Yet civil servants say Leighton is making it clear that Ieuan is not his line manager, but that so far as he is concerned he reports directly to the First Minister... It seems there could be a subtle game going on, with an attempt to make sure Ieuan gets bogged down in a top-heavy schedule of engagements while having little time to reflect.

The crucial time will come with next year’s Welsh Labour leadership election to choose a successor to Mr Morgan, and whether Leighton Andrews sees himself moving from this father-son, master-pupil relationship into a possible contender [wishful thinking in the opinion of the eligible] for the role.

In the immediate aftermath of last year’s election, Mr Andrews was opposed to a deal between Labour and Plaid, although he later became converted to the coalition when it appeared to be the only option.

Welsh Tory Assembly leader Nick Bourne said, “It is clear there are tensions and differences between the two parties below the surface. But if these allegations are true, it would be absolutely extraordinary. “Leighton Andrews should be prepared to put the record straight and make it clear that he is fully committed to the coalition agreement.”

A spokesperson for Mr Jones said:

The Deputy First Minister and his private office are solely responsible for his ministerial diary and there is absolutely no involvement from either the First Minister’s office or from anywhere else in relation to his departmental responsibilities... It is the case that Ieuan’s diary is very full and that he is busy, but that has been of his own choosing because he wants to be a minister who is seen out and about, travelling the length and breadth of Wales rather than stuck behind a desk in Cardiff... As a deputy minister within the Department for the Economy and Transport, Leighton Andrews reports on a regular basis to Ieuan and keeps him fully appraised of all activities in the regeneration portfolio.

Nothing has changed. Remember this from Miss Wagstaff?

Labour Conference Talk: Welsh Labour in Llandudno

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside.

Another year, another trip to Llandudno for the Labour faithful and, as usual, another round of media speculation about not much that managed to miss most of the interesting developments and gossip entirely.

Starting on a 'serious' note and the boulder-sized clanger dropped by leadership contender Carwyn Jones, with a little help from Labour's Airmiles collector-in-chief and sometime MEP Eluned Morgan. Someone, somewhere (perhaps his bequiffed press officer) thought it would be a good idea for Carwyn to show what a fantastic leader in waiting he is by... er... calling two-thirds of supporters and Party members 'anti-Welsh' at a conference fringe event. Ably abetted by Ms Morgan, this not so dynamic duo managed to pin the blame for Labour's disastrous Assembly election result firmly at the door of loyal Party activists in the Valleys who are, apparently, anti-Welsh. Poor policies, lack of a proper campaign and a massively botched hospital closure plan apparently had nothing to do with it. However, Valleys delegates were prepared to ignore the inane rants as part and parcel of the conference bubble. Until, that is, they opened Monday's Western Mail back at home.

On its front page, Tomos Livingstone gave a huge splash to the story (no doubt with some added briefing), beating himself into a veritable frenzy with his page 4 spread entitled "Anti-Welsh Valleys are 'costing Labour votes' ". Labour activists are outraged, as are key players from Labour-run Councils in the valleys. AMs from these 'anti-Welsh' seats are also fuming at the bizarre sleight. Matters were not improved at all after Eluned Morgan's strange 'clarification' letter in yesterday's edition, which only seemed to empty several cans of petrol onto the raging flames. This is clearly not the end of Carwyn's leadership tilt, indeed he remains the favourite in many people's eyes. But things once spoken cannot be un-said, and Labour members have long memories. Being a bit pro-Plaid is one thing, but being anti-Labour is quite another.

The conference highlight for many, though, was not one of policy, but one of personality. The ever popular Alun Davies was seen sheepishly having several strips torn off him by Torfaen terrier Lynne Neagle in full view of stunned delegates, visitors and exhibitors. Details of why Davies was getting the hairdryer treatment are a little sketchy, but word is that he made the fatal mistake of badmouthing several AMs while in very high spirits at the conference bar [allegedly]. While Neagle is more than capable of giving as good as she gets, several of Davies' other targets are of a more reticent disposition. Never one to learn from his mistakes, though, he is already up to the same tricks back in the Senedd [allegedly]. He may, however, have bitten off more than he can chew, where there is an almighty storm brewing over his alleged gossiping about a colleagues alleged drink problem. There is only so far that Rhodri's patronage will protect him...

And finally, a quick game of 'Guess Who'. Which Welsh politician was allegedly seen accompanying a leading political lobbyist and a legal big-wig into the lavatories of the St Georges Hotel in Llandudno to 'freshen up' several times during a mammoth session on the Saturday night of conference? And here's a clue - it wasn't Jeff Cuthbert.

(Hat-tip to the Anonymous)

How to make enemies and alienate people

As every member, staffer, cleaner and indeed visitor at the Senedd knows, there is little love lost between Mid & West Wales Regional Labour AMs Alun Davies and Joyce Watson. Which is odd when you consider that as both were elected due to serving Labour AMs getting the boot last May, both would be counting their lucky stars to be there at all.

While Ms Watson has pretty much taken that line, rumour has it that the ever-friendly Alun has not. You see, it is understandable that Alun Davies wants to be king-pin in this region, and views Watson very much as an annoying source of competition. It's alleged that with the tacit approval of a senior figure within Welsh Labour, he's been setting about undermining Watson at every available opportunity. This simmering hatred has, however, bubbled just beneath the surface for the past eight months, with Watson taking Davies' petty jibes with something approaching good grace.

Indeed, even while Davies appeared to be groomed as one of Rhodri's trusted 'briefers' to the media, Watson got on with - shock, horror - trying to represent the people who [sort of] elected her.

.

Now, here's where it gets really nasty. You see, a few days ago the BBC broke a story that the Welsh Conservatives had made an official complaint about Joyce Watson's misuse of Assembly postage and resources to mail Labour Party members. The thrust of the coverage was pretty clear in its agenda - she should have known better, the rules are clear, and that her regional AM colleague Alun Davies may suffer in the fall out through no fault of his own etc etc.

But dig a little deeper, and alarm bells start ringing. For example, how would the Welsh Conservatives have ever found out that Watson had been mailing Party members? Of course, from a Labour source in her patch with an axe to grind [allegedly]. But which Labour source drinks with 'leaky' Conservatives on a regular basis in the pubs and bars of Cardiff Bay? And received almost universal sympathy in all the coverage of the story?

Now let me think...

.

(Hat tip to the anonymous)

Members' Restaurant Launch

OFFICIAL INVITATION

Do you find yourself at a loose-end this evening?

Perhaps you are unemployed; cannot be bothered to cook; or simply feeling the pinch at home at the thought of Council Tax rising next year, and this is making you feel unwell.

....Why not attend a respectable function at the National Assembly.

As Assembly Member and Assembly Commissioner Lorraine Barrett AM respectfully reminds us:

Don't forget to come along to the opening of the new restaurant on the first floor tonight at 6.30pm. Click on the XXX below for more details which were sent to you by Charlton House.

Regards,
Lorraine

Lorraine Barrett AM
Cardiff South & Penarth
National Assembly for Wales
Cardiff CF99 1NA

Thank you to Lorraine for the invitation, but I'll be dining with my partner this evening. We do however share something in common - Like yourself, I'll be getting a freebie as he's paying.

Hat Tip to the Anonymous

Coalition creates new commitment - apparently

The following is taken from an email that I received last week and had to check out a few facts before publishing - don't forget to click on my email tab to send me any interesting titbit of information.

The email concerns this new coalition in Cardiff Bay that we keep hearing about, and the talk of it creating a new commitment.

What does this all mean?

As you can gather, the DFM or the Deputy First Minister as he is known to the majority of us, now has his own Private Office to deal with his affairs as both Minister for Economy and Transport and that of DFM. Apparently, it has been described to the media as an exceptionally busy and important place to work and the team has been drawn from the great and the good (cough!!!) across a variety of private offices of other ministers in Cabinet Secretariat.

Yes, we all expected that, but what else?

Apparently, the new Private Secretary to the DFM has felt the need to point out 'internally' that the office:

works closely with the First Minister's Office and that it is their job to try and avoid potential and perceived conflicts between the two. The different offices are all working to support one government, regardless of who the leader is, and not two different parties. The principles of good faith and fairness underpin all.

Sounds to me that there are known divisions within the staff of the Welsh Assembly Government, in addition to those we have recently witnessed in both political parties.