Plaid Cymru ignited their campaign in Bangor today, vowing not to “be silenced” in Wales. Though perhaps they should douse some fiery rhetoric from their own ranks…

The Deputy Leader of Anglesey County Council, Robin Wyn Williams, has some rather eyebrow-raising views, writing an incendiary tweet in 2021, in which he threatened to burn down someone’s house, simply because they were a second home-owner. He warned of bringing members of Meibion Glyndŵr (‘MG’) – a protest group linked with arson attacks on English-owned holiday homes in Wales – to the lowly resident. Does Plaid endorse such scorched-earth policies?

Williams’ predecessor didn’t exactly extinguish controversy either, forced out for suggesting “all Tories should be shot”. Before claiming to speak for Wales, maybe Plaid should get their house in order first…

When Boris Johnson’s peerage nominations were announced, there were months of negative media briefings and pearl-clutching Lobby exasperations over the whole list – particularly over the appointment of youngest peer, Charlotte Owen. As Guido said at the time, given that the average age of the Lords is 71, the appointment of some fresh faces hardly the biggest issue with the House of Lords (which no doubt needs reform)…

Last week, as is their occasional right, Plaid Cymru nominated 27-year-old Carmen Smith – also a former political staffer, with a basically identical CV to Johnson’s aides – to join the upper house for life. How did it go down with the righteous scribes of SW1?

Carmen was treated to a glowing write up in The Times, which subjected the lifelong lawmaker to scrutiny by noting she is ‘principled’ and ‘a good laugh’. It stands in contrast to The Times’ treatment of Johnson’s peers – the paper ran a number of stinking leaders railing against them, with the op-ed pages and Lobby team deployed to generate reams of outraged copy over every cough and spit of the process. The BBC decided to nose their piece on Tory donors instead. The Guardian, which twisted itself into paroxysms of apocalyptic outrage over Johnson’s nominations, has mentioned Carmen’s nomination in just one line of copy. Tortoise, which ran a highly personalised single issue campaign on the matter, has not even covered the development. This is all despite the fact that Plaid Cymru opposes the existence of the House of Lords and Carmen herself thinks it should be abolished. Guido has nothing against Carmen Smith – her age is not her fault. It simply proves for the lefty establishment media, it’s one rule about how to treat Boris, and another for everyone else…

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has finally quit after a damning internal report found a “toxic” culture of “harassment, bullying and misogyny” in the party. Reports emerged on Tuesday night that Price was set to stand down, although the party kept schtum until yesterday evening. Price is out, with a new leader set to be put in place by the summer… 

Despite initially claiming he’d be “abdicating [his] responsibility” to resign, Plaid published his resignation letter last night:

“We have driven the agenda for change in a way that no previous opposition party has dreamt of doing. The Cooperation Agreement was truly ground-breaking and has delivered life-changing benefits to our children, families and friends all over Wales.

Our core driver – independence for Wales – has broken the banks of mainstream politics and now many, from all parts and all parties, believe like we do that it is a matter of when and not if. My commitment to our vision of a nation transformed remains as strong as ever, and my energy for change undimmed.”

Paying the price…

Adam Price is set to resign as the leader of Plaid Cymru, according to Nation.Cmru. It comes as the party continues to reel from the publication of a report which found Plaid had a “toxic” culture of “harassment, bullying and misogyny”. It also concluded there was a “lack of collective leadership and governance across the party”. Price initially apologised for the report. Yet just six days ago, he was insistent that he would not resign.

Nation.Cymru reports that Price wants to stand down immediately, whilst others want a more organised transition. His decision came about after an emergency meeting of the party’s Senedd group. Plaid Cymru are yet to respond to the reports.

Senedd Plaid group chair, Llyr Gruffydd appeared on ITV’s Sharp End last night and failed to support Price. After being asked if Price would be leader this time next week, Gruffydd said “I don’t have a crystal ball”. It looks like Adam’s political career will pay the ultimate Price.

Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has apologised after a damning investigation found a “toxic” culture of “harassment, bullying and misogyny” within the party had been ignored for years, with “too many instances of bad behaviour” going unchecked. The report offers a whopping 82 urgent recommendations for improvement, including a “review of governance structures within the party”. Despite all this, Price has insisted he won’t be resigning…

The report, commissioned by the party’s ruling committee and led by former Plaid politician Nerys Evans, says the so-called “party of Wales” has “failed to implement a zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment“, with “a lack of collective leadership and governance across the party” allowing the problem to get worse in recent years. Price claims “walking away” after this failure of leadership would be “abdicating [his] responsibility” to fix the problem. Speaking to BBC Wales, Price said:

While the Queen’s death might’ve postponed the football, it’s done little to cool temperatures over Welsh independence. With Prince William assuming the Prince of Wales role last week, thousands of furious Welsh nationalists have signed a change.org petition demanding he be stripped of the title “out of respect for Wales” given its symbolism of “historical oppression“. Now Plaid leader – and Mark Drakeford’s right-hand man – Adam Price has waded in to pour fuel on the fire:

 “I welcome what the First Minister, Mark Drakeford, had to say on the question of an investiture. I’ve seen stories in the London press that an investiture is going to happen and I think that a line is crossed because that gives the Prince of Wales a quasi-official status in Welsh life. I think that’s a decision that we in Wales should make in a time when we’re living in a modern democratic Wales – it’s a decision we need to make here before any announcement is made […] I’m a republican, and there is sensitivity and pain around the [Prince of Wales] title for many of us…”

At the time of going to pixel, the petition has 21,673 signatures. For reference, it’s been 715 years since the first Prince of Wales was appointed by the English monarch…