Rhodri Glyn Thomas to lose his job as Welsh Culture Minister?
[Update 21:00 18/7/08: Wales Online is reporting that Rhodri Glyn Thomas has tendered his resignation:
NATIONAL Assembly Culture Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas has sensationally resigned after being told to leave a pub for smoking a cigar.
Plaid Cymru’s Mr Thomas quit following a meeting with Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones in Caernarfon.
Mr Jones said: “I have accepted Rhodri’s decision to resign and have thanked him for his important work as Minister, particularly for his preparation of the Welsh language legislative competence order. I have wished him well for the future.â€
An Assembly Government spokesman said Mr Thomas’s resignation followed a number of occasions over the past few months which had put him into the public eye for the wrong reasons.]
——
Via Valleysmam:
Reports tonight point to Rhodri Glyn Thomas (Ed: Minister for Heritage in the Welsh Assembly Government) being asked to leave his post as Culture Minister. He and Ieuan Wyn Jones (Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Assembly Government) were due at the opening of the Kyffin Williams Gallery on Anglesey, and have both withdrawn.
Cigar carried into Pub
More from BBC Wales (Photo: BBC):
The future of Welsh Culture Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas appears to be in serious doubt.
BBC Wales understands he has told colleagues that he “does not expect to be in his job by the end of tonight”.
He has already pulled out of the opening of the Sir Kyffin Williams gallery on Anglesey this evening.
It comes after the Welsh Assembly Government refused to comment on claims Mr Thomas broke the smoking ban by having a lit cigar in a Cardiff pub.
Mr Thomas, the Plaid Cymru AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, became an assembly government minister when Labour and his party formed a coalition after the assembly election a year ago.
He and two party colleagues, Ieuan Wyn Jones and Elin Jones, became the first Plaid ministers in the party’s history when they joined Labour in the cabinet.
The doubts over his job escalated on the day that witnesses claimed that he was reprimanded by a member of the bar staff at the Eli Jenkins pub in Cardiff Bay after carrying the cigar into the building.
I think it seems that the one incident sounds socially trivial, but politically possibly deadly, if there is a history - especially as (BBC again):
Mr Thomas, a former shadow health minister in the assembly, had backed the ban on smoking in public places, which was brought in in Wales ahead of a similar ban in England.
It’s a bit of a of blow for Plaid to lose one Minister of three after just a year in their first spell in government if it comes to pass.
Rhodri Glyn Thomas he hath a blog
Also worthy of note is that Rhodri Glyn Thomas has a blog that is currently in “maintenance mode”.
But I’m not classfiying this as another Welsh Blogger doocing.
Wrapping Up
And who get the job? I say give it to Bethan Jenkins if it comes free, since she’s the only AM who watches me on Twitter.
But then I’m biased.
[tags]rhodri glyn thomas, welsh assembly government[/tags]
Categories: All WW, News - Current Affairs, Politics, Wales
This just sums up the petty nature of welsh politics - in Westminister you can go cottaging on Clapham common and get a second change whereas in Cardiff you can’t even wave a token phallic cigar around.
Baht Ats last blog post..Well well
My comment.
This guy cocked up at the booker prize by saying the wrong name and walked in to a pub holding a cigar and his position is untenable?!!
Imagine if he’d been paying his nanny with public money, or taken dodgy donations for an election campaign, or perhaps had accepted cash for asking parliamentary questions? What about if he had been offering a peerage for a bundle of notes? Or what if he had accepted a large sum of money to ensure that an industry was exempt from tobacco advertising. He could have ensured a rich business man got a passport or fiddled a mortgage. Sped through a visa application for his “bit on the side”. He could have lied in court over who paid what for a night at the Ritz hotel. He could have even given money to a prostitute and then sued a newspaper for exposing him. Just imagine…
This is a joke or the BBC are just plain wrong, I presuming? I am all for people resigning when their position becomes untenable, but walking in to a pub with a cigar?! Come on.
From the Welsh Assembly Government website:
“First Minister Rhodri Morgan has today (Friday 18 July, 2008) accepted the resignation of Rhodri Glyn Thomas from his Cabinet. Copies of the Heritage Minister’s letter of resignation and the First Minister’s letter of acceptance are below.
Dear Rhodri
In the light of the publicity that has been following me in the last weeks I feel that my position in the Government is no longer sustainable. Further comments would be bound to follow. It has been a privilege to be part of this Government during this exceedingly exciting period.
Yours sincerely
Rhodri Glyn Thomas
Annwyl Rhodri Glyn
I am writing in response to your letter of today’s date and to accept your resignation.
I would like to thank you for your contribution as a Minister over the last year both in Cabinet and for the way you have managed your department. In particular, you deserve recognition for your hard work in taking forward the Welsh Language LCO and as regards the Wales Millennium Centre.
I wish you well both personally and in your future career.
RHODRI
July 18, 2008
”
As to the reason. From Wales Online:
“NATIONAL Assembly Culture Minister Rhodri Glyn Thomas has sensationally resigned after being told to leave a pub for smoking a cigar.
Plaid Cymru’s Mr Thomas quit following a meeting with Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones in Caernarfon.
Mr Jones said: “I have accepted Rhodri’s decision to resign and have thanked him for his important work as Minister, particularly for his preparation of the Welsh language legislative competence order. I have wished him well for the future.â€
An Assembly Government spokesman said Mr Thomas’s resignation followed a number of occasions over the past few months which had put him into the public eye for the wrong reasons.”
I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back - he had reached the end of his gaffe quota.
So - no - I kid you not.