The Beauty Queen of Leanne

As a Ffrinj Nutter who had a dalliance with the Welsh Nationalist Party/ Plaid Cymru/ The Party of Wales many, many years ago I was perturbed to see in the last couple of days that there is now a jockeying for position in attempting to unseat the Leader, Leanne Wood. Very ungentlemanly conduct considering that it comes from a WET Eisteddfod field from a man riding an exercise bike in Green Wellingtons. Like other pundits I would state that it is not the Leader that is the problem, it is the Party. Root & Branch it needs a full valet service, the cobwebs need to be blown out of the corners and instead of being a defensive party as in Tarian Cymru they need to become the Jack Russell of political parties. They should have been amongst it with Sports Direct UK and BBC Newsnight recently. A well meaning tweet here and there wont cut the mustard I'm afraid. Just in case you are unfamiliar with the unusual suspects let me give you a run down of the runners and riders. 

(All Photographs are the Property of the BBC)

The man in green wellingtons himself. A name to conjure with and one which will give Newsnight researchers a headache.
Was not a member of Plaid Cymru when he jumped ship from the H.M.S BBC straight into the arms of  the Anglesey Assembly Seat. Another member had been selected for the seat but was encouraged to step down as the Rune stone was seen as a safe bet. A careerist at the Beeb and the same in Plaid Cymru it would appear. There is something of the automaton about Rhun ap Iorwerth. Despite any perceived faults in her leadership at least Leanne Wood is human.



Smug Simon Thomas, he of the Fisher Price toys quip, credited with losing the Ceredigion Westminster seat to the Liberal Democrats, recently won back by the thrusting Ben Lake. Bit too shifty and a shit stirrer to be the Leader of a Political Party and very unlikely to throw his hat in the ring unless he does what he did last time, stand in the first round, lose and throw his support behind a better horse.

Adam Price, Leanne Wood's left hand man and long time confidante would be a popular choice for Leader with the new Taoiseach of Ireland, Ruth Davidson and Kezia Dugdale in Scotland being openly gay leaders of their respective parties. A fine orator with the Westminster experience of trying to impeach Tony Blair. If I was a betting man I would put my 20p in the slot for the Garnant boy.

An outside choice but one to watch out for on the stand side is street fighter Neil McEvoy. The pugilists' politician, this is the type of Jack Russell character the party needs to win back voters and popular support. He has done it in Cardiff as a Councillor, whether he can galvanise the whole of Wales remains to be seen. Whether the traditionalists and feminists within the Party will give him that mandate is another matter entirely.

And to the incumbent herself, Leanne Wood in her own words is a campaigner. She has steadied a leaky ship and was a very visible presence in shutting down UKIP in the TV debates. Rose through the ranks quickly because of her enthusiasm. Some say she was fortunate in 2012 because of the weakness of the other candidates but you don't stay leader for five years unless you have a magical something. Her taking of the Assembly seat of the Rhondda was historic.

Plaid Cymru is a party that unsettles itself. If a Leader can be challenged every two years it doesn't leave that leader in a very secure position. Like Football Managers we all think that we can do things better but it is not the manager that it is at fault here but the players. There is something rotten in the State of Wales and until that is scraped out, it really does not matter who is the leader of this particular party. Unless they change the rule that a Westminster MP cannot be the leader of the Party, then you are left with the scraps in Cardiff when you have the likes of Liz Saville Roberts and Ben Lake in London.