If you could just remind me who . . .
Rhodri Morgan is the Labour MP for Cardiff West who stood, and lost, against Ron Davies for leadership of the Welsh Labour Party in September. As Labour dominates Wales, the leader of the party will inevitably be First Minister of the new Assembly.
Ah, so does Clapham Common make an appearance in our story?
The Serious Error of Judgement created a vacancy: now the contest for the Labour leadership in Wales has to be fought all over again.
And will Morgan be standing?
As he said to Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight: "Do one-legged ducks swim in a circle?"
Who will he be standing against?
His main challenger will be the new Welsh Secretary, the Blairite Alun Michael. The "control freaks" at Millbank would rather Morgan didn't win, as he is seen as "a loose cannon".
Awkward leftie, is he?
It's not that simple. Like Davies, Morgan comes from the "Tribunite" soft-left. Politically, "you could not put a South Wales Echo" between them, as Morgan would say. The issue is loyalty. Morgan performed well as a frontbencher from 1987-97, but he abstained in the revolt over lone parent benefit, and has been a little too enthusiastic as chairman of the Public Administration Committee.
In what way?
Morgan was responsible for hauling Alastair Campbell in front of the committee for a grilling over his role.
So he's a working-class scourge of the new Labour establishment?
Wrong again. His father was vice-principal of University College, Swansea and a professor of Welsh, while young Rhodri was educated at Oxford and Harvard. In many ways he is an ideal Welsh leader: fluent in Welsh but identifying with the English-speaking south.
So he's just trodden on a few new Labour toes?
And the rest. He has fiercely attacked Freemasons, every quango in Wales, Camelot, Welsh Water and the BBC. He often manages to rub people up the wrong way with his rough, scatty style and dry wit. As deputy shadow energy spokesperson, in 1987, he antagonised his superior at every step.
Doesn't sound too serious.
The shadow energy spokesperson in 1987 was a certain Tony Blair.
Oops.
He has also been highly critical of the confusion over the site for the new Welsh Assembly, declaring: "To say it is a dog's breakfast is an insult to the pet food industry."
A bit quotable, isn't he?
That must be one reason the government is particularly worried about him. Give him a high-profile position like First Minister for Wales and he will become an instant media darling.
So will he win?
Morgan has great grass-roots appeal, and the Assembly candidates back him 55 to 18 - but it was the unions that gave Ron Davies his victory.
Let's have another quote.
He described the last recession as "a wave of bankruptcies passing through Wales like General Sherman through Georgia".
Duncan Parrish
