The elections to the National Assembly for Wales always happen at the same time as the ones for the Scottish Parliament and the London Assembly. You probably won’t have noticed because we’re always the boring ones.
Yet, for once the outcome of the election produced two major news stories that broke through to a UK-wide level. Firstly, the new UKIP group of seven Assembly Members – more than 10% of the total Assembly membership – met and as their first act ousted Nathan Gill AM MEP as group leader and installed Neil Hamilton instead. Yes, you read that right. The former MP for Tatton has, almost twenty years later, become the leader of a political group in the National Assembly for Wales. It’s the first time a party leader has ever been ousted for being too successful. On the other hand, the leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies AM who oversaw a disastrous election for his party, where they lost three seats as well as their position as the main opposition party and failed to take any of their key target seats, managed to survive another day, as he received the backing, albeit it lukewarm at times, of his group this week.
If that wasn’t shocking enough, when the full Assembly met on Wednesday it did not endorse Labour leader, Carwyn Jones AM to continue as First Minister even though 29 of the 60 AMs elected the previous week were Labour. Even with the support of the sole remaining Liberal Democrat in the Chamber, the First Minister simply tied with Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood AM when nominations and votes were taken. The Plaid leader achieved such a remarkable feat because she was supported by both the Conservatives and UKIP. Great short term win, but Labour is already printing the leaflets for the next political campaign while simultaneously getting the clip of Neil Hamilton nominating Leanne to go viral. These will certainly be hitting the streets of the Rhondda soon, a seat were Plaid achieved a massive upset with their leader defeating Labour Minister, Leighton Andrews last week.
Harold Wilson rightly said that a week is a long time in politics, as on Monday the big news story of the week was due to be who would be nominated to the position of Presiding Officer, our equivalent of Speaker of the House. That particular vote, although full of drama, speculation and rumour in itself was soon overshadowed by far more shocking events.
So what happens next here in Wales? Rumours are rife that ousted UKIP leader Nathan Gill and former MP Mark Reckless might break ranks with their UKIP colleagues and support Carwyn Jones as First Minister. The next plenary session is due to take place on Tuesday next week and it could very well result in the same stand off if nobody blinks or breaks rank. The Assembly can keep meeting like this for 28 days or until the impasse is broken. If that doesn’t happen, then the Secretary of State for Wales Alun Cairns has the power to dissolve the Assembly and we go back to the country for another election. What joy!