Peter is right. The circumstances are different, and the attitudes within Labour are different.
I have admired and respected Mike from the first time he made an impact on the Welsh party as a whole. I didn't get much chance during the election to see any of the TV debates, but it seems that he topped the ratings by the critics and the general public.
However, there seems to be a rule that good things last no more than eight years and Mike has been in charge in the Assembly for that length of time.
He also made a mistake in his first statement after the election, and before intra-party consultations, in implying very strongly that the party should immediately negotiate with Labour about a coalition.
There are arguments in favour of this (and several members have expressed them to me), but surely it is wrong, tactically, publicly to "fetter ones discretion" (as the local government jargon has it) in this way?
It is wrong to prejudge the views of the party as a whole and may strike some voters as hypocritical when they remember how we campaigned on a platform which refused to commit to a coalition with any other party.
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Peter is right. The circumstances are different, and the attitudes within Labour are different.
I have admired and respected Mike from the first time he made an impact on the Welsh party as a whole. I didn't get much chance during the election to see any of the TV debates, but it seems that he topped the ratings by the critics and the general public.
However, there seems to be a rule that good things last no more than eight years and Mike has been in charge in the Assembly for that length of time.
He also made a mistake in his first statement after the election, and before intra-party consultations, in implying very strongly that the party should immediately negotiate with Labour about a coalition.
There are arguments in favour of this (and several members have expressed them to me), but surely it is wrong, tactically, publicly to "fetter ones discretion" (as the local government jargon has it) in this way?
It is wrong to prejudge the views of the party as a whole and may strike some voters as hypocritical when they remember how we campaigned on a platform which refused to commit to a coalition with any other party.
- Frank Little
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