It’s fair to say that the contest to replace Nick Bourne as leader of the Conservative National Assembly Group has been low key attracting little interest from the press, bloggers or other parties and politicians despite Andrew RT Davies and Nick Ramsey being on the campaign trail for a few weeks.
Interest may or may not change in the weeks ahead but two things caught my eye today, both about Andrew RT Davies, firstly he announced that he wants to re-establish the WDA to help ‘drive Wales economic recovery’ as part of his Manifesto and secondly Professor Dylan Jones Evans endorsement of him for leader in the Daily Post.
First on the issue of the resurrection of the Welsh Development Agency isn’t a new idea, but it highlights alternative economic thinking to the current Economic Renewal Programme plus orthodoxy that Labour and Plaid Cymru have and continue to support and has done little for the Welsh economy. It also challenges the other parties over their support for the abolition of the WDA, ELWa and the Wales Tourist Board back in 2005.
On the second point Andrew and his team will be delighted to get the backing of Dylan Jones Evans, not just because he is well respected outside as well as inside the Tory Party and riding on the crest of a wave after his Welsh ‘Silicon Valley’ office announcement last week but also because Dylan will help counter Andrew’s anti-devolutionist views.
I have no idea how the contest is going and Nick Ramsey and his campaign manager former AM Jonathan Morgan are certainly no slouches. Both Nick and Jonathan have appeal beyond traditional Tory voters and have picked up endorsements from fellow AM’s helping their modernising credentials. And Nick’s team have rightly pointed out that the Party is in danger of going backwards under the wrong leadership and wasting the work of Nick Bourne in helping making the Tories more comfortable with devolution.
As for the other parties they would like nothing more than Andrew RT Davies leading the opposition in Cardiff Bay, so that he and the Conservative Group could be painted as right wing reactionaries who are enjoying the destruction to Welsh communities caused by the cuts, but as is the case in politics be careful what you wish for.Any source
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