August – Silly Season
I have never quite believed before that the August period is the silly season when almost any story can make front page news, then along comes the David Anstee story. David Anstee, for those who don’t know, and that would certainly include most members of my group and most members of the Welsh Conservative Party, was a member in Rhondda Cynon Taff and fought a by-election for us in a Council by-election in Treorchy earlier this year.
Imagine my surprise when I discover some breaking news that David Anstee, who allegedly had a prominent role in putting together the Welsh Conservative manifesto, has been welcomed into the Labour Party by Gordon Brown.
I ask myself if this is the same Gordon Brown who has been dealing with foot and mouth, terrorist crises, and floods. It would appear that it is. He clearly has super human qualities.
And talking of the super human, there is David Anstee being welcomed as a defector by Leighton Andrews outside of the Assembly building. I am sufficiently concerned about all this and to question my own memory, and I ask the Party to check the records to see if he has had any role at all in putting together our manifesto. The only reference we can find at all to him attending any event of any political nature is in 2004 when he attended a Conservative Political Forum, events which are held on a routine basis and generally attended by well in excess of 100 people. There is no other record of involvement and to suggest that he has had a prominent role in putting the manifesto together is, therefore, totally fallacious.
Sure enough the next day I do receive a very generous email from David Anstee. I don’t intend to reveal the detailed content of that email, but suffice it to say that it is generous in terms of the approach that I have taken to politics in Wales and, indeed, to David Cameron nationally. It also states in no uncertain terms that David is well aware that he had no role at all in putting together the manifesto and he is embarrassed by suggestions that he did have.
