Well done Peter Hain… again..
There are still questions to be answered in the High Court, and there’s already been a ruling that he breached his Ministerial Code of Practice, and there will be an inquiry into whether he deliberately attempted to pervert the course of justice.. But the people of Wales a panel of Welsh ITV reporters, ex-MPs and Welsh trade union leaders love him. Last year he was Welsh MP of the Year, as he points out on his own website, and this year Secretary of State for Wales etc, Peter Hain was named Welsh Politician of the Year for 2006.. *shakes head* [anything to do with the campaign, at all? - Ed] Updated Are these the same awards?.. as these?For comparison, let’s look at the reasons given for last year’s award from the ITV Wales sponsored event when interestingly Peter Law, previously mentioned on Slugger, took the main award.
“Peter Hain has the difficult task of combining the role of Secretary of State for Wales with that of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
In 2005 he achieved remarkable success across both portfolios. For Wales he produced a finely balanced White Paper on the future of the Assembly that appealed to both the pro and anti-devolution wings of his party, to MPs and AMs, achieving a consensus on which the Devolution settlement can continue to evolve.
In Northern Ireland he oversaw the declaration of the IRA’s commitment to the political process alone and the consequent decommissioning of arms.”
And the stated reason for this year’s award..
The Secretary of State for the two countries won the award for steering the new Government of Wales Act through Parliament and for the significant progress towards a lasting political settlement in Northern Ireland. Mr Hain received his prize – a cartoon by Mumph – at a ceremony in the Coal Exchange, Cardiff Bay.
Although Blamerbell reckons it might have been for promoting himself to the rank of Viceroy..
ANYway… I haven’t seen the list of judges for this year, but here are last year’s to give you a flavour of the event…
The panel of judges comprised Gareth Hughes, ITV Wales Assembly Correspondent, Mike Steele, ITV Wales Parliamentary Correspondent, Martin Shipton, Chief Reporter, Western Mail, Dafydd Wigley, former MP and AM for Caernarfon, Jon Owen Jones, former MP for Cardiff Central, Felicity Williams, General Secretary, Wales TUC and the panel was chaired by Dr Denis Balsom, Editor, The Wales Yearbook.
Adds There seems to be either some confusion about whose awards they are, or BBC Wales runs a paralel but separate political awards show.. with the same winners..
Well done Peter, politician of the year.
Congrats;¬}
pete,
ever wondered WHY there is a secretary for norn iron in the first place
and then join up the dots……
You mean, WHY there is a Secretary of State for Wales, parci.. surely.
that’s not a bad ball pete, I don’t know why there is a secretary of state for Wales; is there one for Scotland?
No-one likes Hain, to be honest I don’t even think he likes being sec for NI; and would be the first to put up his hand and say:
Get rid of me, you don’t need me
He wants the locals to do their jobs.
Don’t we all ?
It’s not about whether you, or I, like him or not, parci.. it’s about the fact that there’s a court ruling that he breached his ministerial code of practice, and the fact that he’s facing an inquiry into whether or not he deliberately attempted to pervert the course of justice during the judicial review.
Try lifting your eyes from the local issues, and the NIO PR spin, to the more general concerns of a government minister ignoring a court of law.
btw.. The Secretary of State for Scotland
I’m sure he’s guilty, but in the hierarchies of sin, I’d say he sinned with good intentions.
Let’s just hope its not the road to hell as Marx would have us believe.
You can believe in subsequent jurisdictions all you like, parci..
I’ll keep pressing for the current ones to hold sway.
what do you think his punishment should be then, in matters temporal not spiritual?
Hain court inquiry terms set out
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6208048.stm
Hain court inquiry terms set out
Update for you pete
could you look into why the hyperlinks don’t work I’ve never had this problem before, its most annoying. Thanks.