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June 2008 Archives
June 17, 2008
Greasy pole
- Posted by Tom Bodden at 7:55 AM | add or read comments (0)
How did an ambitious, up-and-coming Tory land himself in such a mess?
With the single phrase ‘greasy wops’, uttered on a Radio Cymru programme, Alun Cairns lost his senior front-bench role in the Assembly, the chair of the influential cross-party finance committee, and was suspended by the party from standing as prospective candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan at Westminster.
It is the latter act of party discipline which will hurt him the most, potentially removing his chance of election as an MP in a marginal Labour seat.
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June 12, 2008
Viva el presidente?
- Posted by Tom Bodden at 6:39 PM | add or read comments (2)
Blogging Assembly Members are claiming a victory in a battle with presiding officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas against 'censorship’ of their websites.
It's not been a good week for the PO who found himself at the centre of a row over a public snub for the Israeli ambassador.
Now AMs are ganging up against his plans to clampdown on their expenses.
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June 11, 2008
Israeli conflict
- Posted by Tom Bodden at 11:53 AM | add or read comments (1)
Mohammad Asghar, know as Oscar to his friends, comes across as an honest and well-meaning sort of politician.
The only Muslim Assembly Member told an impromptu press conference - in a spare room in the Assembly office block - why he decided to invite the Israeli ambassador to Cardiff Bay.
This is Ron Prosor, the same envoy reported by the Daily Telegraph to believe Britain had become a ‘hot-bed of radical anti-Israeli views’.
The invitation, however, prompted a strongly-worded outburst from Plaid colleague, and the Assembly’s Presiding Officer, Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas.
Mr Ashgar was ‘a bit surprised’.
“All my life I am listening to one side of the facts, I thought with my position in the Assembly, it was time to hear from other side,� he said.
It's already prompting something of a row.
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June 4, 2008
Blog standard
- Posted by Tom Bodden at 10:09 AM | add or read comments (1)
The fall-out from the MP Derek Conway affair is starting to impact on AMs in Cardiff Bay.
You may recall Mr Conway prompted loud cries for reform of MPs’ expenses after it emerged he paid more than £260,000 to members of his immediate family in six years.
Now AMs on the standards committee in Cardiff Bay are grappling with new rules for a public register of any relatives employed by politicians there.
Continue reading "Blog standard" »
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Profile
Welcome to ‘Gog in the Bay’, the occasional diary of a political journalist. My name is Tom Bodden, the Welsh Affairs Correspondent of The Daily Post, which is North Wales’ best selling newspaper. I am based full-time at the National Assembly for Wales in Cardiff Bay.
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