Carwyn’s Difficult Task
Congratulations to Carwyn Jones on his election as Leader of the Welsh Labour Party, although I suspect the honeymoon will be short lived – less like a three week luxurious break in the sun and more like a wet weekend in Cardiff Bay!
My sympathies to Edwina and Huw who fought strong and vigorous campaigns. It’s not easy playing catch-up to an opponent who was tipped as the front runner before the poll opened and tipped as front runner before the result was even announced.
I wish him well in his Cabinet cull once he’s confirmed as First Minister, so many supporters to please, his opponents to include and enemies to dump. Not an easy task although a necessary one.
Becoming the second First Minister (Alun Michael was First Secretary) and following Rhodri is no easy task. Rhodri achieved a sort of folk hero status, instantly recognised and respected regardless of political affiliation. Few politicians find themselves in this position during their careers.
The difficulty for Carwyn will be achieving the public recognition that leadership requires partly because of the lack of penetration by the Welsh media. Rhodri was well known before he became an AM. For those of us with only 10 years under our belts it’s slightly more difficult!
The other problem for Carwyn, which reared its head last week, is the battle between Labour MPs and AMs. He needs to ensure that he becomes more than just Peter Hain’s deputy.
December 1st, 2009 at 8:03 pm
well said ,its the easy part getting the job.I wonder who he will get in his cabinet
I hope he goes for those best suited , not the usual cronyism
It will be interesting to see where his priorities are
I see Brown and Hain have been on the phone already