They do things funny in Wales. It’s just been announced that nominations for the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Welsh Assembly have been opened, meaning that Mike German is liable to be challenged. With three AMs mooted – Peter Black, Eleanor Burnham and Kirsty Williams – not to mention Mike German himself, with just 6 AMs in total, things could get pretty interesting.
Either way, the contest is NOT to decide the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. That office is held by Lembit Opik MP. Until recently he was the Lib Dem spokesperson for Welsh affairs but now he’s the Shadow DBERR (crazy name, crazy department) Secretary. The Welsh spokesperson in the Commons is now Roger Williams.
Thus far, my prediction that Ming’s reshuffle would lead to Lembit making way for someone else has failed to come true. With the election for Assembly Leader now underway however, now is the perfect time. I makes no sense whatsoever to have both a party leader and a separate spokesperson in the Commons and holding the elections for both (effectively one contest unless an MP decides to stand for Party Leader) would save a lot of time, confusion and money: how about it Lembit?