SIMON THOMAS, PLAID CYMRU, CEREDIGION

Simon Thomas is the Plaid Cymru candidate for Ceredigion. The seventh Welsh Nationalist MP ever, he successfully held this Welsh rural seat in 2000. He held it again in the General Election of 2001.
Full biography

Friday, May 6

Well, the electorate did fall for it and I lost by 219 votes.

I feel a complete and utter failure at the moment, kicking myself for not seeing the result. I knew it would be close, but the response had been so positive, backed up by everyone who had visited Ceredigion, that I thought we would hold on. My only consolation is that the Lib Dems seemed as shocked as we did.

I lost Ceredigion, gained by Cynog Dafis in 1992. At that time, he was a joint Plaid/Green candidate. This time the Greens stood against me (I understand many disagreed), polled around 800 votes and let in a Lib Dem candidate who did not mention the environment or climate change once.

My vote held up well – within 300 of 2001 – so we did get that right. Unfortunately a combination of student voters from England; the UK swing to the Lib Dems and what seems to have been a covert pact between the Lib Dems and Tories to put up a weak Tory candidate and do a pincer movement on the Plaid vote, let them scrape home. The Tory vote went down 7%, the Lib Dem vote up 9%.

The new MP Mark Williams is an identikit Lib Dem MP whose acceptance speech made several references to Lib Dem policies but none to what he offered the county. I hope he works as hard as I did as an MP, if only because I know what a torture it will be to him and his family!

I hope he comes and lives in the constituency and I hope he raises his children to speak Welsh here.

Lots of commiserations, though not one yet from my party President, I set out two of the most encouraging below:

“hello I am not old enough to vote but iam sorry that you lost”

and this very perceptive one from local peace activists:

“The Lib Dem tactic of slandering Plaid Cymru and by implication Wales and its people as irrelevant was odious. I am shocked that more people were not deeply offended and didn't express it via the ballot box”.

“Though you must be very down at the moment, I believe your fine work as an MP and the inspiring manifesto you campaigned on will see you re-elected next time”.

The day is over, I’m about to go out on the town in Aberystwyth a free man once again, but as the song says, “it don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing”.

Wednesday, May 4

The morning goes in answering phone calls and emails. Inquiries are coming in now from my leaflets and I like to answer things personally.

The office is now getting geared up for tomorrow. We will start phoning this afternoon to remind our supporters to go out and vote and will have a good crew of volunteers to both knock up (but not the way you’re thinking) and phone on polling day.

We hold a stall on the street in Aberystwyth at lunchtime to catch shoppers and those on their break for a couple of hours. There’s still some undecided voters around and several make a beeline for me with their questions. I think I persuaded a good few as well. There’s no sign of the other parties.

Some of our workers have been to Aberaeron to vigilate at the opening of the postal ballot. It’s no secret that all political parties try to gain some impression of how things are going by seeing the postal votes verified. I get the report back, but you’ll have to wait for the result. Anything else would be telling.

There’s a few last areas to cover and this afternoon, we go first to Bryncastell in Bow Street and then Capel Bangor. It’s fine, if windy, afternoon which should top up the tan, but also hopefully top up the vote.

The final call is the Tynllidiart Arms, home to the smallest brewery in the UK, which has been in the Guinness Book of Records. I settle down to a pint outside the pub and watch the world go by for a short break.

I go on the loudspeakers for the journey back to the office. I see our workers out distributing the final leaflet. I’ve done all I can. The help and support has been fantastic. It’s now up to the voters.

Tuesday, May 3

The home stretch now. I’ve been to just about every village, town and community in Ceredigion. Now I’m after a different sort of “confirmation” - getting the vote out and I’m concentrating in Aberystwyth and area.

Another chance to sweep through a different part of Waunfawr in the morning, followed by Commins Coch. The long-standing problem here is the difficult junction into the village.

Back into town for dinner at the Treehouse with Gwen. At last I get to canvass my own family. I wonder if she will vote for me? The temptation to vote elsewhere and get me back home to help must be strong!

We spend the afternoon in Capel Seion. This is Brython’s home territory so instead of me being moved on, I need to do a bit of chivvying up on him. One old gentleman points out in genuine bewilderment how inaccurate the Lib Dem graphs are: he’s even redrawn them to proper scale. I’m afraid modern political spin has passed by his personal belief in mathematics as a pure science. Another older woman refuses to say who she will vote for but as I leave she expresses her frustration at the endless Lib Dem Focus questionnaires: “all these questions but they don’t ever do anything”. I couldn’t agree more. A possible then.

I actually get to have supper with the family before it’s back out again in Penparcau. This time Griffri, my son, comes with me. He insists on putting the calling cards - those saying I called and you were out - through the letterboxes. Thankfully, his knuckles escape damage as, amazingly, mine have so far.

We finish at Maesycrugiau where there is overwhelming support. A very positive end to the day.

Monday, May 2

The actual bank holiday. We had thought long and hard about what to do on this day, as we felt many people would be away and may not want hard political campaigning on a holiday.

We eventually decided on a tour to those villages so far missed out or not fully canvassed. It’s a long day. We assembled a crack team of our most experienced canvassers - the ones who can move me along and cover an estate of houses in ½ hour.

We start in Llangwyryfon, where my wife’s parents live, and then head down to Llanrhystud. This takes us through the beautiful and magical Cwm Mabws where the bluebells are in full bloom. I’m certain blue won’t be the colour here this time though.

I spend the next hour or so - through Talsarn, Silian, Llangybi and Cellan - trying to fix a landline to hold a radio interview for Gwilym Owen’s programme. A kind constituent offers her phone but I eventually end up doing it over the mobile in Lampeter. I’m in a bad mood as I still haven’t eaten and it’s nearly 2.00pm. Thankfully, fish and chips has been ordered in Lloyds!

The weather has changed for the worse. We were caught once in a cloudburst and we are dogged by very heavy showers. We get news of a school fun run in Cwrtnewydd and make for shelter there where there’s a welcoming cup of tea and Welsh cakes.

Accompanied by local councillor Cen Llwyd, we travel on through Rhydowen, Pontsian and Talgarreg. Another welcome break for a pint at Tafarn Bach where hunting and Blair’s abandonment of the countryside is a fierce topic at the bar. As is my pink shirt.

By now, we’ve split up to canvass even wider. Our aim is to meet up at Aberaeron for the evening. On a fine day, the harbour town would be full of people come down for a stroll, fish and chips or the famous honey ice-cream. Unfortunately, it’s quite cold and miserable. I can at least manage to call in at the marvellous Harbourmaster, run by Glyn and Menna and the best all-round restaurant with rooms in Ceredigion, though you can eat even posher!

We travel back up the coast road which I could almost drive with my eyes closed by now to finish the evening in Tal-y-bont.

It seems that as well as convicted criminals, the Lib Dems want to give the vote to trees. This must be why the trees have been cruelly nailed with Lib Dem posters and how they claim to be “within a 1,000 votes”, which apparently is their spin this afternoon to an obviously bored Welsh press. How can they tell if they haven’t been canvassing?

Perhaps now is the time to set out some useful information for candidates of all parties who face such unprincipled and underhand worming and squirming from Lib Dems everywhere.

The truth is that this is a typical piece of Lib Dem dissembling straight from the Lib Dem book of dirty ways to win elections. First you claim that a 4,000 vote majority is “neck and neck”. Then you fake a graph which grossly misrepresents your vote in relation to the other parties. Next two horses appear on all your election literature with the words “it’s a two horse race”. Then you slag off your opponent, but only in a positive way of course, by saying all the things you want to do as an MP with the clear implication that the sitting MP isn’t doing these things - apparently, my Lib Dem opponent wants to hold surgeries. What a wow he would be in Parliament. Then you phone round the press in a desperate attempt to get them to believe you are about to win the seat in the vain hope of a press or TV story along the lines of “Lib Dem wonder on West Wales coast” and a consequent and undeserved rise in credibility.

Perhaps it’s also time to mention the other Lib Dem trick in their armoury, which is to spread false rumours. I’ve already mentioned what they did when I stood in the by-election and what they’ve said about my expenses. Since then, we’ve had reports that I’m against hunting - very rich coming from a party which is officially against hunting - and that we would force those who bought their council house to sell them back to the council at the original price.

We shall see on Thursday whether the most educated electorate in the UK falls for such transparent trickery. Their claim to campaign positively is just the icing on their slab of sickly sweet sanctimony.

Sunday, May 1

Mayday, but no rest for the workers. At midday, I went on the Politics Show to discuss immigration and asylum seekers. Once again, it needs to be said that with some 2,400 asylum seekers in Wales, we are doing a great disservice both to them and the other 2.9 million people in Wales by allowing one political party to say that this issue is more vital to the choice of MP than the environment, farming, health or tax.

A clip for Radio 5 Live follows and then some time off before our last campaign meeting that afternoon. The mood is upbeat and our canvassers are pleased with the response we are getting.

It seems we are the only party canvassing and calling at as many homes as possible. The Lib Dems strategy seems to be to send as many letters, questionnaires and Focus sheets as possible. There’s no discernible targeting or strategy. This is a tactic designed for urban by-elections which doesn’t seem to be winning much approval here.

We’ve moved over the past few years from phone canvassing as people have had enough of silent calls and marketing calls. I think voters appreciate meeting the candidate and I’ve tried to get around as much as possible.

We now have several thousand identified voters and we discussed how to get the vote out on Thursday.

Saturday, April 30

Today is “Sadwrn Barlys/Barley Saturday”, a fantastic taste of old rural Wales in Cardigan. First though to Aberystwyth where we’ll be keeping street stall. I get up on the back of the Discovery to do an impromptu speech to supporters and those shoppers daft enough to stop in the rain to get wet listening to a politician. It’s a step up from a soapbox at least.

Sadwrn Barlys as a show dates back to 1871. It started as a celebration of the end of spring sowing, so its origins probably go back earlier than that, perhaps to a saint’s day. It developed as a hiring fair and an opportunity for farmers and breeders to show off their stallions at stud.

Now it’s a stallion show. After the judging, a large crowd gathers on the streets to view the parade of stallions, which are first walked through then taken through at an exciting canter. This is followed by a parade of vintage tractors and vehicles of all kind.

There’s something marvellously refreshing about seeing roads closed for traffic for an hour or so for stallions to reclaim the streets and assert their magnificent display.

The rain’s gone and it’s warm and sunny and a good mood pervades. We’ve had people out all day, so there’s plenty of stickers to be seen as well as a Plaid poster on one of the vintage cars. I’m surprised that the other candidates are missing on a day when Cardigan is packed with locals. As soon as the parade is ended, we drive through and I take to the loudspeakers. The streets are still full and traffic is very slow, so we get a captive audience, some of whom may have thought our Discovery was part of the vintage parade.

We then move out to Llechryd to canvass and then drive the long way home via Pontrhydfendigaid for the important Pantyfedwen Eisteddfod. Things are running late there so we can’t stop for the choirs, but spend an enjoyable hour or so chatting with competitors and audience alike.

I finish at the opening of the new facilities at Mentro Lluest. This is a charity working with young people with learning and physical difficulties. They run a market garden and give training in horticulture. It’s a peaceful and relaxing spot above Aberystwyth and I sip a glass of fizz as the end of a long and tiring day and just have a chat.

They ask me to draw the raffle, but there’s only one prize I’m really interested in!

I can’t go to bed early as I have to pick up Annes from her trip to Alton Towers. It’s very warm when I leave at 11.00pm and sure enough, by now we have thunder and lightning.

Celebrations on Barley Saturday.

Friday April 29

Basking in the sun in New Quay this morning, one of the most picturesque towns in Wales and the real source of Dylan Thomas’s Llareggub. Thankfully, we get a lot more than bugger all here in terms of support. There’s some exciting plans to get a new conservation and wildlife attraction off the ground here, which I hope I’ll get the chance as MP to support.

On then to Beulah. A difficult area to canvass as it’s very rural. Our councillor here, Lyndon Lloyd, takes me around to see some key individuals while Cynog and Brython cover what they can.

We have the last husting meeting this afternoon. It’s been organised by Age Concern in Cardigan. I expected a better turn out as Age Concern events are usually well attended, but we get a good range of questions. Unfortunately, the organisers are a bit naughty and start late and run on late. This means I miss another event I’ve organised for pensioners in Waunfawr, Aberystwyth.

I think people should bear in mind that during an election, candidates will be doing more than one thing a day! I know some of my fellow candidates also had later engagements.

Skipping the Waunfawr event, I go straight to canvass my home community of Penparcau, Aberystwyth. Stories are afoot of a Lib Dem whispering campaign that my expenses are “too expensive”. It’s true that I spent a couple of hundred pounds more than, say, Lib Dem “leader” Lembit Opik, but then I’m the first MP to open two offices in the constituency, both in Cardigan and Aberystwyth, and make sure I actually attend constituency events instead of spending my time flying between London and Welshpool staring at asteroids.

Such campaigning is contrary to the agreement between parties, but I do wonder since we’re talking about MP’s expenses which other candidate - or indeed MP - lives on a council estate?

I say Lib Dem “leader” by the way because many have received a letter from the “Welsh” Liberal Democrats which actually comes from Kennedy, so much for federalism.

The response is more favourable than I’ve ever had before here. Penparcau was once Labour, and indeed many still cling to the hope that Labour will eventually come good. But this time we have significant support and people willing to display posters and boards where we’ve never seen Plaid before.

Penparcau has more young people than any other part of Ceredigion and I get asked, rightly, about facilities for them. I politely point out what I’ve been trying to achieve and that the county council is Lib Dem run and has just cut youth services money. One recent project which I have supported is to get a new home for the boxing club. Unfortunately at least one local resident is unhappy with the proposed location, which just shows the difficulties of keeping everyone happy.

At least I can finish close to home, and we go out to Gannets in Aberystwyth for supper, where we are well looked after by Dilys. My daughter is off to Alton Towers on an Urdd trip, so it’s just the three of us.

Thursday, April 28

A wet start in Pontgarreg, near Llangrannog. We were to visit the Urdd camp, but we get a message not to. I don’t understand this hyper-sensitivity at election time that seems to overcome some people. If a candidate seeking to be an MP wants to visit I would have thought you would welcome them, after all, they could be useful if elected! I wonder if they’d turn away Rhodri Morgan or Tony Blair. Seeing as only the Labour candidate and myself speak Welsh, I would have though the Urdd, as a Welsh speaking youth movement, would want to show itself off at its best.

Nevertheless, we don’t waste time as we canvass the village and pop in to see T Llew Jones, the popular Welsh children’s author.

I’m joined today by Cynog and Hawen and we head back up the coast to Aberystwyth, calling in and canvassing in Brynhoffnant, Llanarth and Aberaeron. I learn about a good source of Welsh black beef in Llanarth and Geraint Evans helps us out in Aberaeron.

I’m heading back as I have a Radio 5 Live interview before 3.00pm with Simon Mayo. I’m cut off halfway through, but the link is restored and I get a chance to set out Plaid’s election stall.

The Attorney General’s advice has been published at last by the Government, so I’m in some demand as it was my Parliamentary Questions that first revealed that the Cabinet had never seen the full advice contrary to the Ministerial Code of Conduct. All the other main parties are now trotting out this line of attack but Plaid Cymru was there first. Another one in the eye for those who claim we are irrelevant in Westminster!

I must say that most of the time on the campaign trail I am completely ignorant of the national and UK news. It’s so busy that after the Today programme I don’t hear anything again until midnight. Sometimes, people will even bring up developments on the doorstep which they have just heard and I am unaware of. Talking to my fellow candidates, I think we all find it the same.

This afternoon, however, I have to catch up to go live on Radio Wales and R4’s PM programme on the legal basis for war. I note that on the latter, I get much less air time than the Tories and Lib Dems even though it was Plaid Cymru which first uncovered the truth. In between, I canvass in Aberystwyth.

There’s a student hustings at Lampeter university tonight, but just as I am about to leave Aberystwyth, I get stopped outside the hospital to hear an awful story of the dreadful state of our health service under Labour.

The Lampeter husting is an example of the meeting I don’t much like: 30 or so people in a large lecture hall. Half the audience have come with a candidate (just Brython comes with me); another good number are students voting at home, which seems to leave less than 10 genuine voters. Fair play to Cody Williams for organising the event and trying to bring a bit of participatory democracy to Lampeter, but this experience is precisely why political parties don’t organise much in the way of public meetings any more. I could have met and talked with far more than 10 people in two hours going from door to door.

On the other hand, I’ve just got the result of last night’s hustings in Aberystwyth. I got 60% support, which is excellent news, but also 20% say that they changed their minds after hearing the candidates. So, when you get a good turn-out and a real debate, such meetings can work and deepen democracy. But if you’re just preaching to the converted….

Wednesday, April 27

One of the most exhausting and draining days. Today is Gwynfor’s funeral. It starts with a Radio Cymru interview on rural policy. The journalists smugly contend that rural issues have not featured during the electoral campaign. I argue that Plaid Cymru has already dedicated two days to rural issues but it is, in fact, the media who have ignored these. It’s a sad reflection of the campaign that the Welsh media take their lead from the UK level and so refuse to cover issues and events that don’t fit into the daily British agenda. Unless the Tories, Labour - or possibly Lib Dems - have decided it’s a day for rural matters, then rural matters do not exist. I get my hair cut and then record an interview for the Jeremy Vine show.

I get into town early for the funeral. It’s taking place in Seion, Baker Street with screens in the chapel opposite and crash barriers already up for the crowds. Ffred Ffransis, Gwynfor’s son-in-law, tells us - myself, Adam Price, Elfyn Llwyd, Hywel Williams, Peter Hughes Griffiths and Rhodri Glyn Thomas - what our duties are. We are to accompany the hearse to the chapel, led by a piper, and then carry Gwynfor into Seion.

It’s a tremendous honour. Gwynfor addressed the first ever political meeting I attended - at Aberdare Girls’ Grammar School. That was the only time I was ever allowed into the Girls’ Grammar as well. Our boys’ school was over two miles away up the valley!

It was part of his campaign to get S4C - the Welsh language television channel - established. I remember a crowded hall and a speech in Welsh which I barely could follow. I also remember the emotion of the crowd and the sense of determination and purpose. I also remember writing my first letter to the press opposing a Welsh language channel! But I think that was before hearing Gwynfor. At the time, there was a real debate about whether it would be better to have Welsh language programmes on one channel or spread around them all. I was influenced by the arguments of Y Faner newspaper, but Gwynfor was right and he won a significant victory against Thatcher’s government - one of the few to do so.

The crowds gather and the family arrive in a bus and then the hearse. We form a procession led by the piper playing the haunting melody “Crug y Bar”. The service is full of passion, emotion, humour and love. I’m close to losing it throughout, but particularly when Dafydd Iwan and Cynog Dafis give their tributes. There’s “hwyl” in the singing and a thoughtful sermon by Vivian Jones, Pontarddulais.

Then we leave the chapel and the crowd outside applaud and sing “Mae hen wlad fy nhadau”. The most fitting tribute, it seems to me, is the line of young people along the route through Aberystwyth, each holding a dipped Welsh flag. It’s a respectful, powerful and honourable sending, and it made me very proud of the young people of Aberystwyth. I am very affected by it.

We accompany Gwynfor to the crematorium, with its views over the Clarach valley. I looked out at circling kites and the green hills as Gwynfor left us covered in the Ddraig Goch and Carmarthenshire heather.

I think Gwynfor was teetotal, but the wake at the Llew Du seemed fitting. Pipers, fiddlers, crown poets, writers, politicians and artists joined the family in toasting his life in beer and tea. All ages were present and the mood was one of gentle, reflectful celebration.

I felt completely drained and walked home to sort out my thoughts. It was then straight back out to record a “Manylu” Welsh language radio programme on health, where I was probably a bit zombie-like. Then on to the hustings at the new Morlan centre in Aberystwyth.

I got a bit of a shock when I arrived. Around 150 people were present, easily the largest hustings of this election and rivalling one we had in the 2000 by-election.

I quickly reworked my manifesto launch speech to sum up my vision in five minutes. At least there was full translation, so I could speak mostly in Welsh. I like addressing large audiences, though it’s nerve-wracking, as you have a real chance of getting dynamics going and actually swaying people. With a smaller number, people stay isolated and wrapped up in their own thoughts and considerations and don’t join the group. This can be overcome in an informal setting, but the worst situation is being asked to make a speech to a few people scattered around a large auditorium, but more of this tomorrow.

The Morlan hustings goes well enough. I regain a little bit of my emotion, which had been drained from me. I also get the chance in response to a question to reveal the contents of the Lib Dem email that had been leaked to us. This showed that the Lib Dems had been contacting all non-Plaid county councillors - including Tories and Labour - asking them to support the Lib Dems “as a goodwill return for past good relationship”. I say this stinks of the “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” politics which has bedevilled Ceredigion county council and which I have opposed. The Lib Dem candidate is dumbfounded and the audience is on my side.

Tomorrow, we get to see the results of the opinion poll taking at the hustings. In the meantime, I meet up with Gwen and friends at the Cwps, a favourite pub which I don’t get to often enough. The Labour candidate is also there, but as the pub erupts into chants of “Simon” as I walk in and later we sing some rather pointed Welsh songs about turncoats, I feel quite satisfied, if exhausted.

Tuesday, April 26

I need to do things in town first. I buy a white shirt for the funeral tomorrow (I didn’t expect this so many clothes are still in London, I just hope my suit is dark enough) and fix to get my hair cut on Wednesday morning.

Each community in Ceredigion has a Welsh flag flying thanks to the foresight of the now deceased Tom Raw Rees. I ask my office to phone round the community councils to see if the flags can’t be at half-mast for Gwynfor’s funeral tomorrow.

Then it’s off for a quick visit to Llanfarian and Blaenplwyf. At Llanfarian I thank Cllr Alun Lloyd Jones for supporting my candidacy. Alun left Plaid after a local dispute, but I’d like to see him back. In Blaenplwyf, I buy a bottle of the good Pen Lon beer, made with hops grown in Ceredigion. I’m writing this now fuelled by it.

The Welsh language farming programme ‘Ffermio’ have asked to interview me about Plaid Cymru’s farming policies. It turns out to be another of those manifestos in a minute jobs. This is very difficult as I haven’t prepared. I decide to just go for it, asking them to give me a signal when I’ve got 15 seconds left to wrap up. Details are useless in a minute, so I go for big themes and conviction. I hope it’s OK. It’s unscripted and natural anyway!

On then to the mart in Tregaron. This is the scene of one of my first public appearances in the by-election, which I won in 2000. I had to eat bacon, eggs and chips on TV to show I wasn’t a vegetarian and fight the whispering campaign of the Lib Dems (which incidentally included saying I was a hippy and gay). There’s nothing wrong in being a hippy, gay or veggie but there is in being a party which claims to be engaged in honest and positive politics but which in reality constantly attacks the character of other candidates.

This year the Lib Dem trick is to go round saying my expenses cost more than others. In fact, I’m very close to the expenses of the two Lib Dem MPs in Wales and clearly the expenses of a rural MP (I run two offices for example) will be more than those of an urban MP. Such rumour mongering is against the concordat between the parties, but we have already heard back of their dirty tactics in the Council offices in Aberaeron.

The mart goes very well. The dinner (ham, egg and chips this time) is very tasty. I hear that the Labour candidate was given short shrift (ie unprintable words from local farmers), but fair play to him for turning up at such an unprofitable venue.

Hawen points out to me how to look for good “confirmation” in the cattle, which is the line of the backside, back and shoulders. I must say I often notice this, but not usually in cattle.

I put in to Tregaron to look at an exhibition on the future problems of the town, which includes a graphic map of how it would flood under a 1 in a 100 years scenario. I wonder if this will make local residents think differently about Cymuned Camddwr’s proposals for a very large windfarm on the mountains here?

We then head off for Llangeitho, Stag’s Head and Llanddewi Brefi. The local shop here produces mugs and T-shirts to cash in on the Little Britain phenomenon and why not. This produces a series of bad jokes along the lines of “the only MP in the village”. Incidentally, my daughter thinks the Tory candidate looks a little bit like David Walliams.

One highpoint is being at the school in Llangeitho and seeing a boy – Tristan – leave on his bike decorated with a Simon Thomas sticker.


Tristan on his decorated bike

Then a glorious drive down the Aeron Valley to Aberaeron and the sports club and the FUW hustings. First, we are greeting with cheers and waves from around 20 or so young people in the town centre. No really, it’s a bunch of Welsh students from Aberystwyth on the razzle and I have to pose for pics with them. It’s gives me a good boost.

The hustings are a bit strange. Though ably chaired by auctioneer Dai Lewis, the Labour candidate is more subdued this time and all six of us are present, which means a long period of taking turns to answer questions. Altogether, quite a low key event, I thought. One interesting revelation was that the Labour candidate, in answering a question on windfarms, didn’t mention windfarms once! His leaflet says he opposes them, but maybe he has realised that this is against his own party policy. An intervention by one of his supporters in the audience reveals that he didn’t even write his own leaflet.

Back very, very late. Early start tomorrow and perhaps the biggest political funeral in Wales since Lloyd George.

Monday, April 25

The police are opening their new ‘point of presence’ in the Devil’s Bridge post office this morning. All candidates are invited, but only two of us turn up. There are three such projects in Ceredigion, basically a small room with a direct line to the police HQ, designed to reassure people in rural areas that the police are around. A good idea if it works. I must say that the blue lamp makes the post office seem rather Dixon of Dock Green-ish.

It’s too soon after breakfast to do justice to the spread the local staff have put on, but a cup of tea is always appreciated by a constantly talking candidate. This is the area of the contentious Cefn Croes windfarm, which I supported. I talk to some local hotel owners who say their business is as good as ever. I don’t mention the windfarm, but I have to say I’m still waiting for the reply from the Welsh Tourist Board when I wrote to ask them what evidence they had that windfarms were putting tourists off coming to Wales.

On then to Cwm Ystwyth, Pontrhydygroes and Ysbyty Ystwyth. Difficult areas to canvass because of their dispersed nature, but important we show we call. We’re starting to get the “I vote for you because you’re the only ones who call” response. It seems the other parties are hardly bothering outside Aberystwyth.

Dinner in Pontrhydfendigaid. This is the Welsh Westminster Abbey. Here, in Ystrad Fflur Abbey, the chronicle of the Welsh princes was kept; the princes of the Deheubarth kingdom were buried, as was also Dafydd ap Gwilym – our greatest poet and a true European genius.

Needless to say, you could drive through Bont (as we call it) and not know this. Once again, the castle and great houses (ie English conquerors) obsessed Cadw doing bugger all to promote a real appreciation of Welsh culture and history.

I have great hopes of David Austin, from the archaeology department at the university in Lampeter’s project to explore and promote the historic landscape of this fascinating area.

A real find here is the Black Lion. Now in the hands of an enterprising Cornishman, Giles Polglase (Pwllglas – or “blue pool” in Welsh), who is well aware of Welsh culture. The Black has excellent local food and a real pub atmosphere. Giles told us his plans to get music nights going and promote local food and culture. He hopes to tap in to the redevelopment of the Pantyfedwen pavilion here. Once famed Wales-wide as the home of major eisteddfodau and the 60s and 70s pop and rock events that made the Welsh language “cool” again, it’s fallen into disuse but is now being revitalised by means of Objective 1.

I ordered a real ploughman’s with the local Gorwydd Caerffili cheese (also made by a Cornishman and recently judged the best cheese in the UK). Never mind food miles, you could practically roll this cheese up to the pub. I definitely recommend this place (especially if you like a talkative landlord).

Bont should be good for us, and it is. On then to Llanilar before heading south to Ty Glyn Aeron in the Aeron Valley for the NFU hustings.

Once again, we have separate farmers’ hustings – one for the NFU and one for the Farmers’ Union of Wales. I’m not saying what I think of having two unions in Wales, but I do wish they’d hold one event each election!

It’s a strange event – the Labour candidate enrages many with his aggressive attitude but I’m not sure if many were swayed by any of us. I’m sure most people come to hustings already decided on how to vote. On the other hand, anyone can put out a leaflet and seeing them perform in person perhaps shows whether they are capable of being an MP or not.

Very late home.

Sunday, April 24

A day off campaigning as such, but work still calls and at 10.15am I report to the BBC studios to do an interview for “Manifesto”, a sort of Welsh language ‘Newsnight’ (except it goes out at Sunday lunchtime!).

I get questioned about our local income tax plans. We haven’t risked the Kennedy strategy of trying to say at what income level you would start to pay more. With 22 different local tax authorities and more council tax bands in Wales than in England, this would have really floored the Lib Dem leader. Instead, I invite viewers to work out if they would be better off by taking the tax threshold of £5,000 off their income and multiplying the reminder by 3.7p and comparing the result with their current council tax bill. Incidentally, my bill would double.

As I’m writing this on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, it’s now difficult to remember what else happened that day. The campaign is now at full tilt, 7.00am till midnight and each day has fused into the other.

Oh yes, we had friends around for a supper which I was supposed to cook. Unfortunately, coming back from the Co-op with a bottle of Fair Trade red wine (it was World Poverty Day, after all), I found my agent waiting to take me to our campaign meeting. A cock-up with the times.

Once again, I abandoned my family for a couple of hours and my wife was forced to rely on Ted and Fiona’s help to get food on the table. I, of course, arrived back home just in time to eat. I did make the pudding though.

A fire this evening. Central heating now off and a little bit of wood (local, sustainable timber of course) left to burn.

Saturday, April 23

Our first "super Saturday" - simultaneous street stalls in Aberaeron, Lampeter, Cardigan and Aberystwyth.

I start off in Lampeter, which is quiet but welcoming. We then move on to Aberaeron. As soon as I get down from the Discovery, I find myself in the midst of several constituents with urgent concerns. It turns out to be more of a street surgery than a campaign stall.

We get a quick cup of tea in the Castle Hotel before heading up the coast to Aberystwyth. There’s great crowd out and more arrive during the morning. Town is full of visitors and I canvass for both Elfyn Llwyd and Adam Price as well as myself, but people want to come and meet and at times a queue starts.

We have dinner in the Blue Creek Café, the only one I know of in Ceredigion which serves leaf tea and so a favourite of mine.

On then to do the other half of Llanbadarn. Many people are out and it starts to rain quite heavily. A suggestion to pop into the Aberystwyth rugby club is instantly seized upon and a nice pint follows. The club is run by one of Aber’s best landlords, Baz. The team are playing away, but some of the members are around. We watch the exciting second half as Stade Francais hit back and win against Biarritz.

It dries up, so Iolo and I find a location at the Arts Centre to film a short video for tomorrow’s Make Poverty History day. This will be Plaid Cymru’s contribution. We thought a straight 'chat' to camera would be different to the usual speeches. I emphasise the need to hit our UN target of 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid and democratising institutions such as the World Bank and IMF.

Time to relax. My wife, son and me attend the Arts Centre’s children’s production of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'. One of our friends’ daughters plays Aslan and does so very well. The young cast carry the production wonderfully.

On the journey there, my son counts the election posters in houses. He announces 4 for the Lib-Dems and 12 for me. That’s a result I would settle for.

Friday, April 22

This morning we host a national launch on our environmental policies. I’ve chosen to focus on food miles as the example and both the BBC and ITV turn up.


Local food launch being filmed

We select food for a meal for four from the local supermarket - lamb from NZ (shamefully that’s virtually all they stock); carrots from S Africa; beans from Kenya; potatoes from Spain - and then a similar basket from the wonderful Treehouse shop in Aberystwyth. Local salads; Welsh carrots, potatoes, lamb and milk.

We’re here to tell the story of the damage to the environment and local economy by flying in by air such wasteful food when similar and healthier food is produced locally. Why doesn’t the Government support our own farmers by buying Welsh and British produce? Why can’t Welsh soldiers in Iraq eat Welsh lamb?

The reporters want to know about price, but both baskets cost almost the same - a few pence around £9.50. The supermarkets may have cheap lossleaders like milk, bread or crisps, but how do you think Tesco make £2 billion profit in one year? It’s better for your pocket, farmers and the environment to shun supermarkets and buy locally.

The local hospice charity office is nearby and they call me over for a chat. They want me to do a charity parachute jump. For a brief moment, I imagine how popular it would be to throw an MP out of an aeroplane, but then sense takes over and I politely decline. Charity bike rides I do, but parachuting is a leap to far. Still, it was nice of them to think I would still be the MP after the election... I promise to help out in any other way I can.

Back at our office, Gwynfor’s funeral is confirmed for next Wednesday. We take an instant decision not to campaign that day. I wonder what the other parties will do? They were keen enough not to campaign on the day of the Pope’s funeral and even for Charles and Camilla; Gwynfor deserves the same, if not more.

An interesting story in this morning’s Western Mail features Gwynfor’s grandson, Mabon. He’s our candidate in Brecon and Radnor but took part in a Newsnight experiment to "speed date" his politics in Battersea. Not surprisingly, he came top out of all the parties. Mabon worked as my press officer and has always shown a real ability to communicate and persuade, alright then, charm!

Gwynfor’s legacy lives on in his extensive family who have contributed much to life in Wales and who, like Mabon, will no doubt do so in the future.

Brython arrives with the 'cerbyd'. He’s fixed the starter motor which had given out at one stage yesterday and led to us having to push-start the Discovery in Llanbadarn: no feeble jokes about the campaign, please. It’s useful to have a driver who started his working life in a garage.

This afternoon and evening I spend in Cardigan. We canvass homes and visit shops in the High Street. With the election getting closer, the interest is growing. When we first went out in the 'cerbyd', most looks were just curiosity or even bemusement. Now, we are getting smiles and thumbs up. Walking the streets is even slower than usual as I am stopped frequently and wished good luck. People’s body language is very positive for this stage of the campaign.

We finish at the very southern edge of the constituency at Briscwm where at the farm we are welcomed with tea and cakes.


Farmhouse tea

On the way home, I pick up a message to phone Guto, Gwynfor’s son. He asks if I will be a pallbearer for Gwynfor’s funeral and apologises for not having finished canvassing Llandysul. He seems in good heart. Both he and Gwynfor shared a deep Christian conviction which must be a real support at this time.

Thursday, 21 April

Today was our turn to get the Plaid Cymru “advan”. We can’t afford the huge billboard campaigns of the other parties, but it doesn’t stop us being inventive. This time round, we have a picture of a queue for a NHS dentist’s surgery with the slogan “we can’t wait any longer, vote Plaid Cymru”.

A careful examination would reveal the “dentist’s surgery” as being our Cardiff headquarters, but the shame of it is that the picture only recreates similar scenes last year in Wales a hundreds queued for an NHS dentist.


Simon Thomas and the Advan.

First of all, I visit Noel Lloyd, the Vice-Chancellor of the University in Aberystwyth at his invitation. He wants to talk about the issues that are important to the university in this election. He’s already aware of my position, as I addressed the launch of the University UK manifesto on my very last morning in the Commons.

I then attend the inaugural GATE conference at the National Library. This European project is trying to get more wood into building construction in Wales. As a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, I was part of an inquiry into sustainable timber, but my interest predates being an MP as I helped community assessment of woodland development in the Ystwyth Valley.

In the meantime, the advan has being doing the rounds. It pulls up in town and we start distributing postcards based on the billboard. The Liberal Democrats are also in town, but we soon outnumber them and they spend long periods talking amongst themselves.

During the morning, rumours reach me of the death of Plaid Cymru’s first MP and one of Wales’ greatest heroes, Gwynfor Evans. This is sadly later confirmed.

Then it’s off to the Aeron Valley, one of Dylan Thomas’s favourite haunts. We grab a quick bowl of cawl at the National Trust Llanerchaeron, which is a fantastic Nash house and then start canvassing Felinfach and Cribyn with councillor Owain Llywelyn. A very positive response.

Then it’s back to Aberystwyth for an hour or so in Llanbadarn Fawr with Paul James and Dafydd. Paul is the local councillor and a complete workaholic. His efforts on behalf of his community are legendary, as is his newsletter. I even had one voter complaining that she had been woken up by Paul delivering the newsletter at 7.00am that morning!

We finish a little earlier than usual we have the second hustings tonight at the Aberystwyth Guild of Students. A good turnout. The last time I came to meet the students only the union exec turned out. The Union’s rules on non-racist, non-sexist, etc debate were sorely tried. Particularly when the Veritas candidate called the Israeli people “Nazis” and the Labour candidate attacked me for wanting to see people die, apparently. This he based on my opposition to the Iraq war, which has killed 100,000 citizens, and his support for it!

The Plaid students put on a good show and I’m pleased with the evening.

20 April, Wednesday

I’m joined today by Cynog Dafis, the previous MP, and we set off for Llan-non. Our local councillor Meurig James takes us round the businesses and houses of Llan-non, Pennant, Cross Inn and Bethania.

It’s good to see indigenous businesses doing so well. Ceredigion has one of the highest levels of self-employment in the UK and traders such as farmyardlamb.co.uk, who sell lamb from their own farm directly in their shop in Llan-non and over the web, show the way forward.

We reach Ty Nant, home of the world-famous blue bottled water. It’s one of the most fashionable table waters in the world and they also produce Harrods’ own label water. I’m given a grand welcome and tour by Nic Taylor, the manager. I worked with Ty Nant on the water directive in Parliament which affected the business. As he said, “doing the unsexy work that helps our business”.

There’s disgust at the Liberal Democrat electoral communication which despite their claims to be positive, attacks me as being irrelevant and lazy. Since the workers here know what I did for them and my campaigning, voting and speaking record is far better than most Lib Dems, it goes down like a rat sandwich. Another own goal from a party only visiting Ceredigion every four years.

We stop off for dinner at the cosy and friendly Glanyrafon Arms in Talgarreg. I was here last year on New Year’s Day to see one of the last meets of the local hunt.

I’m due at Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn in Newcastle Emlyn this afternoon, keeping a promise I made to the sixth form to speak to their Politics class. As I arrive, I’m given a poem written that afternoon by Year 8 pupils Finn O’Connor, Max Wilkinson and Ben Phillips off their own bat. It shows a pretty good understanding of politics:

Prove you care, don’t vote for Blair

Treat the world with great care
An apocalypse will dawn tomorrow
Killing in the name of Blair
In the end, you’ll die with sorrow
One big lie from the government
It’s not peace, it’s oil they want
People fleeing in desperation
Escaping from this war ridden nation
Run, hide, do what you will
In the end, they’ve come to kill
People dying in despair
Not one person seems to care
Lives and families ripped apart
Not a shred of remorse from Labour’s heart
Another nation under the knife
British bombs creating strife
In the paper, on the news
Put in your vote, Labour lose
Telling lies, deceiving their country
Raising taxes and stealing money
As we near the end of this rhyme
Stop a minute and think of their crimes
We could change this hate and destruction
By putting in your vote for this election.

Let’s hope the adults in Ceredigion and Carmarthen East and Dinefwr take heed of their children’s appeal.

I spend an hour and half with the Politics class, discussing everything from party funding to the Royal Prerogative. An interesting moment comes when I’m asked about lobbying. The pupils tell me that they had attended an Electoral Commission event in Swansea when a lobbyist was supposed to explain the process to them. “But he was useless, he just wanted to talk about himself”. Since I was also at this event, I immediately identify him as my Labour opponent, who obviously has not made the impression he wanted.
The team in Adpar

On then to Adpar, which is on “my” side of the river from my colleague Adam Price. Last night we had 10 helpers out. Tonight we do two better. This is fantastic as we can cover so much ground. The main complaint is a dangerous bend between two housing developments with no pavement, which the council have been dragging their heels over. With the local councillor, Towyn, I promise to take the matter up.

The Tories and Lib Dems have been here today already, but many comment that we are the only ones to call at every home, not just known supporters. The response even pleases Cynog.

As we canvass, I get a phone message from my Assembly colleague Elin Jones to say that the ITV poll in Ynys Mon has us narrowly ahead against Labour: 33% to 29%. It’s one of our target seats and this is very good news. Our candidate, Eurig Wyn (a previous MEP) would represent the island well.

Brython drives us home across the high plateau of south Ceredigion against the backdrop of a fantastic sunset across the countryside and sea.

Tuesday, April 19

An extra hour in bed to recover. First to the office, where the local press are asking what’s my response to New Labour’s complaint. Of course, we don’t have the complaint. The press fax it through. My Labour opponent is complaining that one of our members indulged in “yobbish” behaviour last Saturday on the street in Aberystwyth. I have already been told that words were exchanged - my Labour opponent used to sit on the same Plaid National Executive as me and some members are disgusted by him. I write back saying that I abhor all yobbish behaviour, whether it’s on the streets of Aberystwyth or else in a Cardiff hotel at 2.00am (Google it if you want to find out) and tell the same to the press.

Off to Borth. One of the few wards we did not win last time round. What will the reception be like?

John Hefin takes me round. He knows the patch well and we get a decent reception. Borth really needs a boost. It’s a seaside town which has attracted a number of artists and craftspeople of all kinds. But the tourist and caravan trade is getting slimmer each year. An exciting plan is to combine the much-needed sea defences with a reef that will create good conditions for surfing. I think this would be just what Borth needs, but some people don’t want any change.

I notice a small encampment of travellers on the car park, yet nobody raises this on the doorstep. Does this mean people are more tolerant than the press or Tories make out, or is it just because it’s the off-season?

I learn two things during my visit. Firstly, where to go to get fresh Cardigan Bay lobster and crab. We have some of the best lobster there is, but almost all of it is exported to the continent. I now know a good source. Secondly, that in Borth we have a craft furniture maker who has made work for a recent famous wedding.

On the way out I call with Lynne and Peter, who produce the wonderful Colourscape works. Their son was born in Bronglais at the same time as my daughter and we’ve kept in touch ever since.

Dinner at the Clettwr Café, where the Labour Party are also ensconced. I’m surprised to see Seimon Brookes with the Labour candidate. Seimon is the editor of “Barn” magazine. Only last night, I had read his editorial lambasting Plaid Cymru for siding with the leader of Ceredigion County Council over the referendum we had to have a mayor or not. A referendum called by Seimon and his friends. The Labour party is actually in coalition in Ceredigion with that self-same Leader, and also opposed the mayor. Yet, here he was driving the Labour candidate around. And people think politicians are two-faced?

On then to Y Waunfawr. I’m stopped by a farmer who had been unhappy with us, who promises me his support after watching my speech on hunting on the Parliamentary Channel. I suppose some may not be so pleased!

Down to Radio Ceredigion, they want a minute each on 10 topics. The last thing I want to sound like on radio is scripted, so I do my best as if I’m on the doorstep.

Penrhyn-coch and Rhydypennau finish off the evening. Two Plaid wards where the response is fantastic. I’m joined by Cynog Dafis, the well-respected former MP and one of the most formidable thinkers in the party. At the end of the evening, Cynog tells me he’s finished his autobiography. A discussion on “cofiannau” (the biographies of preachers, a feature of Welsh language 19C literature) leads him to extemporise on the link between Welsh evangelism and nonconformist radical politics. As he does, a car passes and a young woman leans out and shouts at me “I’ll vote for you if you shag me!”. From the sublime….

On the news at home, there’s a story that Dr John Williams, one of the founders of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth (where I used to work) was the Jack the Ripper. I suppose it’s another crackpot theory, but stranger things have happened.

Monday, April 18

A long and tiring day, which is why I’m typing this on Tuesday. In to the BBC studio at Aberystwyth for the “Today” programme at 6.50am. It’s the launch of Plaid’s manifesto, which as director of policy, I’m responsible for. There’s technical problems so I end up doing it over the mobile at 7.20am. In the meantime, I do BBC Breakfast News, then Radio 5 Live and Good Morning Wales. I get home in time to take the children to school.

Thankfully, I’ve got Brython today again to drive. We’ve chosen the National Botanic Gardens near Carmarthen for the launch. It’s a fantastic place which I first used to consult with young people on the Sustainable Wales document I produced. It’s also in Adam Price’s constituency.

How can you be late for your own manifesto launch? I manage it nevertheless by trying to find the back entrance to the gardens and getting lost. It all goes very well. The press are very impressed with the Gardens, some confessing it’s their first time there. Let’s hope their enthusiasm helps the Gardens. I catch some of the pictures later and they give the impression we wanted - a sustainable and modern representation of aspiration for Wales. It was also great to see politicians interviewed with the sound of running water in the background.

Plaid's manifesto launch.

I do interviews with Sky, ITV and the BBC. The only problem comes when the BBC want to film me “selling” the manifesto to the public. As the place is crawling with Bretons from Renne, this is difficult.

A promise by C4 to send a van to wherever I am to do a live interview that evening never materialises. I think someone must have looked at the map and realised that Ceredigion is a long way beyond Cardiff!

We hit Llandysul in the afternoon - the nearest point in Ceredigion to the Gardens. An excellent response along the main street. Though admittedly this is heartland territory, particular highs are the six votes of everyone in the Indian takeaway and a Birmingham shopkeeper insisting on a poster for his window, which just shows how much both Wales and Plaid have changed.

I get a phone message there that my candidacy has been accepted. It’s now official. I’m very pleased that my supporters include Liberal Party stalwarts, independent councillors and the President of the Guild of Students in Aberystwyth. I call into see Telynau Teifi. This is a community business to produce harps set up by Alan Shiers. I first met Alan during the by-election in 2000 when he told me of his vision of a harp workshop to train youngsters in craft and design. As a maker of hand-built harps he was frustrated and indignant that Welsh schoolchildren were learning the harp on mass-produced instruments from Japan and elsewhere. No one in Wales was making harps for the mass market.

Now, Telynau Teifi are almost ready to open. The old school in Llandysul has been turned into a modern factory with the most up-to-date CAD technology. I can’t wait to get a harp produced in Ceredigion down to the House of Commons for our St David’s Day reception, but first the election.

We then head up to Ffostrasol. Even better support. It’s great to canvass a village and then return along the houses seeing our posters already up.

Bed early.

Sunday, April 17

The end of a filthy day – cold and heavy rain here and yet it seems some in the London marathon were complaining of the heat. London often does seem a long way away from Ceredigion.

Did a lunchtime interview with Radio Wales, focusing on immigration and tax issues. How come immigration is such an issue in Wales, with some 2,500 asylum seekers here, and not pensions, with around 250,000 pensioners living in poverty?

Another campaign meeting in Aberaeron in the afternoon. People are pretty upbeat – the response on the street on Saturday and canvassing has been good. I get shown the Labour candidate’s leaflet. He claims his vision is to oppose all wind farms. Hmm, pity the Labour Energy Minister didn’t allow the people of Ceredigion or Wales to decide on the Cefn Croes wind farm only recently developed.

And how does that fit with the Labour manifesto statement that “We have a major programme to promote renewable energy”?

It seems smoking is not the only issue on which he doesn’t agree with his own party.

A quiet evening, a chance to finish my speech for the manifesto launch tomorrow. It all kicks off with the “Today” programme at 6.50am!

Saturday, April 16

As I write this I’ve just heard the R4 news say that no mainstream party supports rail privatisation. Does this mean the BBC thinks that Plaid Cymru is not mainstream or doesn’t know our policies?

Anyway, off the Cardigan at first. A cold and wet start but our workers are out distributing our street leaflet. I’ve designed this very differently this time. It’s in the form of a postcard with a “greetings from Ceredigion” message in support of Plaid Cymru. People take them happily as they look attractive and unthreatening.

The good thing is that we have a strong party and members are out on the streets of Aberystwyth as well. We’re the only party that can be in two or more places at once. Everyone else is just in Aberystwyth.

I call into the usual coffee morning in the Guildhall, which is in support of a new swimming pool in the town. All morning I get comments on the “Pawb a’i Farn” programme last night. All very supportive. People like to see conviction and politicians standing up for what they believe in. Though you wouldn’t believe this from the focus-group spin that most parties indulge in.

In the dentist's chair

Then back to Aberystwyth, stopping off in Aberaeron on the way. I’m due in a Welsh language student meeting. I’m the only candidate who turns up - though to be fair the Lib Dems do send someone. Unfortunately, no students turn up!

At least this means I can get to the Penrhyn-coch Eisteddfod. My agent first gets the signature of Sue Jones Davies for my nomination. Sue’s a well-known Welsh actress who appeared in Monty Python’s “Life of Brian”, and topless at that. Good job the local paper is not a tabloid, else we’d have a “topless actress comes out for MP” headline.

I get to spend an hour or so at the Eisteddfod. It’s fantastic, and almost incredible, that both the Welsh language and its culture have survived cheek by jowl with one of the most powerful cultures in the world. The first recorded Eisteddfod, as I said earlier, took place in this constituency in Cardigan in 1186 and it’s still going strong over eight centuries later.

A Welsh version of “Where the bee sucks, there suck I” by Buddug Williams impresses and she wins her category. The only doubt I have about eisteddfodau (this is the Welsh plural!) is that some children seem to be pushed very early on the stage. But there’s no doubt of their overall benefit in giving confidence and skills to young people. As the MP, I supported many local eisteddfodau.

As I leave, Iolo shows me a leaked email from the Lib Dem camp. More of this later, perhaps. Back at home, I cook for the first time in a week - a favourite Lebanese chicken dish. I’ve seen the children for less than 45 minutes during that time. Crazy.

We watch Dr Who again. This time the plot involves Big Ben being destroyed and the Prime Minister being killed by aliens. Good job that plot isn’t on the ballot paper, it would probably win hands down.

My daughter comes back late from a neighbour’s house with an invitation to join a karaoke party. After the election, perhaps!

Friday, April 15

Another early start (this is no good for me) to get to Hufenfa De Arfon or South Caernarfon Creameries in Chwilog by 9.30am for the launch of our rural policy. Turns out the launch is at 10.00am. I think the press officers are getting wise to my timekeeping. Hufenfa De Arfon is a co-operative which makes the good Caws Llŷn and Monterey Jack cheeses - an American style which they then sell back to the US.

I’m joined by my colleague Hywel Williams, who succeeded Dafydd Wigley as MP for Caernarfon. Our policy focuses on establishing a West Coast Authority to get wealth out of Cardiff and the A55 corridor in the north. I’m very concerned that the Government wants to “repatriate” European funding which communities such as mine can now access directly. Quite frankly, I don’t trust any UK government to look after peripheral areas such as west Wales. After all, they don’t look after their own areas now. Blaenau Gwent, the Labour stronghold in the south, has been completely ignored by Labour. The Authority would plug the gap left by the lack of a decent regional policy. After all, the UK has the greatest regional inequalities in the EU.

Then starts a series of criss-crossing journeys across the north. I do over 250 miles today. Firstly, retracing my steps to Penrhyndeudraeth, to take part in “Dau o’r Bae” a Welsh language radio show on politics. As well as the usual questions, we get challenged to do four “lateral thinking” tasks. Thankfully, the programme spares us all the embarrassment of saying how we did. I think I got 3 of the 4 right.

Here’s one of the questions for you to try: My mother still makes tea with the old saying “one spoon for each person and one for the pot”. We used to buy a packet of tea every week but since grandmother came to live with us we have to buy two packets every fifth week and one otherwise. How many people were at home before grandmother arrived?

A 4

B 5

C 6

D 9

E 11

Apparently, questions such as these are now being used to judge university admissions. Email your answer to simon4mp@tiscali.co.uk and I’ll let you know if you are right!

Then I stop off for dinner at Y Wylan in Porthmadog. We often stop here as a family on the way to our annual clan gathering in Llŷn in August. I treat myself to pudding as I’m losing weight.

Then on to Caernarfon and Hywel’s office to work on our manifesto launch next Monday. I speak to Kirsty Buchanan of the “Western Mail”. She asks me if our manifesto will contain the dreaded words “hard working families”. I assure her not. She tells me of the Respect party launch and Galloway’s claim that he had a Mercedes because a Rover couldn’t do the job.

The main reason I’m staying in the north is because I’m taking party in the first election “Pawb a’i Farn” - a Welsh language Question Time - in Denbigh. The programme goes well. The Tory bangs on about the wonders of Irish economic policy until I point out that this is because it’s an independent country, which is Plaid policy. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems have put up an Assembly Member rather than a Parliamentary candidate. Surely it can’t be that they have a lack of Welsh speaking candidates? I know my Lib Dem opponent can’t speak any Welsh, despite standing in a seat where 60% of the population speaks Welsh and saying last time round that he was learning. I learnt Welsh in four years. Why can’t he?

The main disturbance happens when part of the set falls apart on live TV, which prompts me to remark that Prescott’s fist must have come back to north Wales.

I drive back to Aberystwyth in a bit of a daze to be honest. I start to put petrol in my car in Rhuthun, which is unfortunate as it’s a diesel. Thankfully, no damage is done.

Campaigning in Cardigan

I pick up a hitchhiker in Tre’rddol as it was very late, tipping down and I thought he may keep me awake! The news on the radio is that Peter Law, the Labour Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent, may indeed stand as an independent candidate. Peter opposed the all-women shortlist in Blaenau Gwent but only a week ago pulled out of his threat to stand as he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour. He went in for immediate surgery.

If he stood he could change the politics of Wales as Labour would lose their majority in the National Assembly, but on a purely personal level I hope he does not. Health is more important than politics. He should take a 6 month break.

Thursday, 14 April

This a blog, not Bridget Jones, nevertheless the election campaign has already lost me 5lbs. 11stone, 12lbs v.v. good!

Aberaeron this morning. We’re doing a story on dentistry and I visit one of the few NHS dentists still available in the county. He doesn’t want his picture in the paper, but allows his hands in rubber gloves, gripping some nasty instruments, to come perilously close to my mouth.

I’ve dealt with hundreds of case of poor access to dentists over the last few years. What happened to Tony Blair’s promise of a dentist for everyone? Another one broken. It’s common for Ceredigion residents to be told to travel over 70 miles one way to get a dentist. Later that same day, a voter shows me his teeth (never mind kissing babies, this is what we really face!), and tells me of over £1,000 worth of private treatment.

I tell him of my campaign and he puts up my poster. Just for the record, I can’t get an NHS dentist either. If I get back, I want to ask Blair whether he uses an NHS dentist himself.

On to Sarnau and Tanygroes. I call on Dr Geraint Jenkins, the past head of the Museum of Welsh Life, who’s trying to set up a trust to find a future for Cardigan Castle.

I was delighted when the County Council bought the castle and it then featured in the “Restoration” programme. As the home of the first recorded Eisteddfod, and the seat of royal power in south Wales (I mean Welsh royal power), it is of national significance. An aspect disgracefully not acknowledged by CADW, the Welsh historic monuments board, which needs a good kick up the historical front.

We agree that the current favoured option for the castle and the Georgian house inside, to turn them into some glammed-up holiday cottages, is a travesty of history and culture. The local Tivyside newspaper are also supportive of the Cadwgan Trust and I want to help them find a real national mission for the castle.

I call in to Llwynhelyg Farm Shop, recognised as one of the best in the UK. It’s a regular stopping off point for me to fill up the boot with local meat, veg and cheeses. Tesco is less than 10 miles down the road, but the shop does well and it makes you feel good just to walk in.

I note the Liberal Democrats launched their manifesto today and talk about local produce, which is a bit rich from a party that accepts cash from McDonalds. But no surprise really. They’re campaigning hard on getting rid of the Council Tax but voted against that policy when it was proposed by Plaid Cymru councillors on Ceredigion county council last month!

Back to Llwyncelyn and a good response as parents come back home with their children. Two girls playing football insist on having a photo taken with me “just in case I become PM”. Then back to Aberystwyth to canvass Rheidol ward and do a quick interview with Radio 5 Live on immigration policy.

Tomorrow, I travel to the north to launch our policy for rural west Wales, with some real surprises.

Wednesday, April 13

Need some time to recover, so catch up with emails and letters first before being picked up by Brython in the campaign vehicle to go back out to Eglwysfach and Ffwrnais in the north.

A good reception, though many are out. I call and save one voter from a Jehovah’s Witness and then get canvassed by her myself! I thought they didn’t vote? This is not what I mean by the role of faith in politics.

By the way, there’s no sign yet of issues such as abortion raising their head.

Heading back to Aberystwyth, we call in to Clettwr Café, which has just been taken over by a young female entrepreneur (who was that anti-Welsh Tory who once said, in all seriousness, that there’s was no Welsh word for entrepreneur?)

As we chat, we realise that we have met before. She used to work in Local Agenda 21 when I ran Jigso, a project for sustainable rural communities. True to her earlier vocation, she has revamped the menu to focus on local produce. I really hope she succeeds.

As Director of Policy for the party, I deal with some crisis calls regarding party policy in advance of a major announcement on Friday. Then on to Bronglais hospital to keep a commitment made before the election to support their “Clean Your Hands” campaign.

Bronglais has the lowest rate of MRSA in Wales, yet this has already been brought up on the doorstep with me. People read the Daily Mail and think their local hospital must be in the same state. I congratulate and thank Eleri Ebenezer, the Trust chair, for their hard work and note carefully their warning that hospital infection is far more than MRSA.

Jump back into the “cerbyd” as we call it and down to Ffosyffin to meet Moefryn Maskell and canvass. Very good response. A lot of new people from the Midlands who are nevertheless very happy to support “now we’re in Wales”.

I’m down this way because we have our first hustings tonight in Aberaeron with the Federation of Small Businesses.

Stop off first to clear my head and think about what I need to say at the Celtic Café. It’s packed and I get lots of encouragement. You will have detected by now that food – and where it comes from - is important to me. I live to eat.

Across to the Feathers Hotel for the hustings. Stopped on the way by BBC’s “Dragon’s Eye” team. They’re doing a story on the Labour candidate’s links to the tobacco industry. I say it’s hypocritical to stand on a policy platform seeking to ban smoking in public places whilst lobbying the Assembly and Parliament NOT to have such a ban.

The FSB are keen that this issue doesn’t dominate their hustings and we have a decent debate on the issues. Approached at the end of the meeting by a local garage owner, again from the Midlands, who “discovered” Plaid last year and is now fantastically keen. We won well in 2001 but the feeling is even more positive this time. Dare I start to hope?

Home and treat myself to a beer. Iolo calls by to get me to sign my papers and go over nominations. We’re getting a good cross-section of support, including one of the independent councillors who’s stood against us in the past. In a rural area such as this, knowing that so-and-so is supporting Plaid Cymru still counts.

Type out two days’ blog listening to Morrisey, particularly “Irish Blood, English Heart”, a first class song about patriotism, with the refrain: “I’ve been dreaming of a time/when the English are sick to death of Labour and Tories”. I wonder?

Tuesday, April 12

Another early start to travel down to Cardiff for our national campaign launch. I drive down with Ellen ap Gwynn, our candidate in Montgomery and the wife of my agent, Iolo.

We get there in time and I chair the press conference with our President, Dafydd Iwan and Parliamentary Leader, Elfyn Llwyd, speaking. We then head across to the Oval basin outside the new magnificent Millennium Centre to pose for photos. We’re all dressed up in Welsh rugby shirts – “the team for Wales”.

Some are embarrassed, so I keep quiet that it was my idea to do this. Though when I thought of it in January, I didn’t dream of such a wonderful 6 nations victory, which does make it look like that we are milking it a bit. Apparently, the Lib Dems (or one of them) got there first with a lone candidate posing with 10 toy lions trying to make some tenuous connection between the Lions rugby team and the Lib Dems. There’s probably more filling in the toy lions than in Lib Dem policy, but choosing a British Isles rugby team to represent Welsh policy shows how rudderless the Libs are now they are not in coalition with Labour.

I then head across to the National Assembly to record a “manifesto in a minute” for Radio 1’s Newsbeat. At first go, I’m way over a minute. Next, I come in at around 45 seconds. Three tries for a Welshman, and I hit 56 seconds. This is deemed good enough.

The party had written the script, though I chopped and changed it a lot. My idle thoughts driving down had been to do a minute based on song and band names, eg “We’re Keane that this election should be about Hopes and not Fears”; “If your dream manifesto is Unwritten, Take a Chance on us”; ending with “Plaid Cymru, the party that does give a f***”. Wiser counsel prevailed.

After lunch in the Millennium Centre with Ellen, where we can both eat the wonderful organic soup produced in Lampeter by Julian Evans of the Knobbly Carrot company, we head back to canvass in Lampeter itself.

Meeting up with local members, we have a fantastic evening, polling over 50% support. We end up with fish and chips at Lloyds, which has won national prizes. They’ve just expanded with a new café. I’m always in two minds with cod – is it OK to eat to support sustainable fishing or should it always be avoided? I do order it and it’s superb, as are the chips.

We’re joined halfway through by Hag Harris the local Labour county councillor and the only Labour councillor in Ceredigion. We get on well personally and discuss his candidate’s recent troubles. Off the record, I’m afraid!

Drive back home and collapse into bed.

Monday, 11 April

The news this morning is that my Labour opponent has been forced to apologise to his party for a drunken argument with "Notting Hill" actor Rhys Ifans over the Iraq war. Funnily enough, though Rhys is a bone fide Plaid supporter, I only met him for the first time when he came to our St David's Day Parliamentary reception this year. My Labour opponent, on the other hand, I have known for a long time as he started his political journey with me in Plaid Cymru, before going off in a mighty strop.

I don't think this contretemps will interest many Ceredigion voters, but they may question the fact that a Labour candidate takes money from tobacco companies as a political lobbyist and feel he hardly represents a spin-free and clean pair of hands. They may also wonder why he was in a Cardiff hotel bar at 2.00am when he could have been in Ceredigion resting before a day's campaigning. Clearly, Labour are not serious about this seat.

He has, however, already told me that he's refused a 'non-aggression' (ie gang up on Plaid Cymru) pact offered by the Liberal Democrats, which casts their national claims to be campaigning positively in doubt. Not that it was ever believed for a moment here as the Lib Dems have a habit of spreading nasty and false personal stories around at election time.

After a morning in Cardigan, my canvass leaflets arrive from the printers as promised during the afternoon and I find myself in the beautiful Dyfi Valley. I'm driven there by Brython, my election driver and the most placid man I have ever had the fortune to meet.

Most voters seem bewildered to be confronted so soon by a live candidate. I come across a Tory considering voting Plaid 'because we now live in Wales'; two Labour stalwarts who are very interested because Blair has betrayed them over Iraq, and many incomers who are delighted with Plaid.

The main issue here is the Glandyfi road improvements. A tortuous series of bends which don't allow for lorries or buses to pass, and this on the main coastal link between north and south Wales. There seems to be a rumour that the National Assembly is getting cold feet on the project which is something to follow up.


The campaign team

In the evening, it's back to Aberaeron for a meeting of our campaign group. It's a chance to reinforce the right canvassing line and emphasise the information we need back from the doorstep. This election we are going back to brass tacks after several phone canvasses. The public seem so tired of unwanted phone calls, and to appreciate a personal call to the door much more. So often we get the remark, 'you're the only ones who call'. I'm sure for some it makes a difference that we care.

An early start tomorrow for our national campaign launch in Cardiff. The Tories launched today with a pledge both the hold a referendum to abolish the National Assembly and to win more Tory seats on that Assembly.

Hmm, and I thought it was Kennedy who was eating all the cakes'

Sunday, April 10

We don't campaign on Sundays in Ceredigion. Volunteers, the public and even the candidate deserve a day of rest and a bit of the Welsh Sunday, which I remember as being interminably long and boring, remains.

The Observer has a story on how Charing Cross hospital will close after the election due to the impact of private diagnostic centres in the NHS. I reflect on how right Plaid Cymru was to reject pushing this particular panic button as some siren voices were urging us.

We light the fire, perhaps for the last time, and sit watching Dr Who, which my son complains is too short. It's great to see him enjoy so much something of which I have very strong memories.

I do an interview live for the Westminster Hour, where Andrew Rawnsley seems to think we lack ambition for wanting to win our greatest number of seats and votes ever! At least the reporting is straight. Unlike the World at One, which today did the obligatory male voice choir in its report on Plaid Cymru. To be fair, I'm sure this was only because they'd mislaid the clip from How green was my valley?

Saturday, April 9

Saturday saw the campaign really kick off. A coffee morning first of all in Waunfawr at which I was joined by Plaid's president Dafydd Iwan. I also meet for the first time (thought we've exchanged emails) Christopher Harvie, an academic at the University of Turbingen in Germany who remains a Plaid supporter in Aberystwyth. His knowledge of Scottish politics is immense and he gives me a copy of his book Mending Scotland and tells me that he is speechwriting for the SNP during this election. That's one postal vote in the bag!

Iolo, my agent, has turned up with Plaid's battlebus, a local farmer's landrover done up in posters and flags. Excellent! Down then to the streets and the usual leaflet spot of Siop y Pethe, the original and best Welsh book shop run by Megan and Gwilym Tudur. We hand out nearly 1,000 leaflets in less than two hours and the welcome is warm with many stopping to talk, despite the bitter cold.

In the afternoon, my agent and I film the video message. Each campaign I do a clip for the website. I don't know how many votes it wins, but it's great fun. My son, Griffri, holds the lights. I've decided to do a pastiche of the pop video holding up and discarding cards with my main election commitments written on them. Iolo's not too sure and we end up with a compromise. I have to do it indoors and the wind would play havoc with the large cards!

We do the main themes for this constituency no tuition fees; a citizen's pension for everyone; affordable homes; tackling climate change and the war in Iraq and trust.

I then meet up, very briefly, with my wife who's been at the opening of the Rapaport exhibition at the National Library. He was a photo-journalist who spent some weeks in Aberfan after the disaster there in 1966. My wife edited the book that accompanies the exhibition. I'm sorry to miss the exhibition, but looking at the book reminds me of Tom Earley's bitter poem Requiem, "mourn for the children who in earth are laid/by that sad mountain which their fathers made". Funny that this campaign is reminding me so much about the valleys of south Wales.

Back to the office then to clear the last of the parliamentary emails. I reduce the pile from 680 to just 50, unfortunately finding one or two that should have been answered weeks ago!

Friday, April 8

Another early start as it’s the press launch of my local campaign and this after wrapping up work at 2.00am last night. The only local press in Ceredigion is weekly, so if something’s not done today, there’ll be nothing in next week’s paper. I’m late, which is not unusual, and the subject of much leg-pulling by my staff and agent.

The launch goes well: a good healthy breakfast in Plas Antaron, a small hotel round the corner from my house in Penparcau, Aberystwyth. The only disappointment is the lack of broadcasters. Aberystwyth is home to a BBC studio and an independent station, Radio Ceredigion, but neither is interested. Thank goodness for the Cambrian News and freelancers! I launch my personal manifesto for Ceredigion but I explain that I won’t be campaigning publicly today as we are respecting the moratorium for the Pope’s funeral.

However, I still have constituency engagements to fulfil and so it’s off to town to meet with the Wallich Clifford community. They are fairly new to Ceredigion and doing sterling work with the homeless and vulnerably housed. They are controversial, however, as they are seeking to establish "wet" accommodation where residents are allowed to drink alcohol.

We discuss the prejudices against the homeless and they explain the research they are running for the National Assembly. Already a breakfast run has identified up to 15 homeless people just in Aberystwyth. The final research will come out in the summer. We agree to meet up after the election to discuss the results. I make the point that I feel the public are confused by the myriad agencies dealing with homelessness and drug and alcohol abuse even in a rural town like Aberystwyth. Each, of course, has its own approach – "wet" versus "dry" for example – and so public confusion or ignorance can breed real antipathy.

Back to the constituency office to clear up correspondence and then out to get a bite to eat. I am accosted several times by acquaintances and strangers wishing me well. The feeling on the street has been good like this for several weeks now but everyone seems to think I will win easily and I keep reminding them only if people go out and vote!

My final official engagement as an MP is speaking at a seminar for transport for people with disabilities, organised by tireless campaigners, Rif and Ann Winfield. They are old Liberal Party (and I mean Liberal Party) stalwarts who recently accompanied me to lobby Jane Kennedy to keep the Work and Pension offices open in Aberystwyth, Lampeter and Llandysul. Both agree to sign my nomination papers!

Simon Thomas, with Jane Kennedy and Rif and Ann Winfield


Now, I’m off to the football with my daughter: Aber Town v Haverfordwest. Let’s hope the Seasiders win. Tomorrow, I’ll be pounding the streets and roads with Plaid’s President, Dafydd Iwan.

Thursday, April 7

An early start and a brisk walk to Parliament by 8am to take part in Universities UK launch of their manifesto. I’m to give Plaid Cymru’s response to the needs of the higher education sector in just three minutes.

I tell them that they are living in cloud cuckoo land if they think that we can have both variable top-up fees and increased public investment in higher education. The Government forced through top-up fees precisely because the long term agenda is to save on public money going to universities.

The revelations this week under the Freedom of Information Act that the Government was really aiming for tuition fees of over £5,000 shows this. I said this was why Plaid Cymru remained opposed to top-up fees and would oppose them in the National Assembly. I wonder how many English students thinking now of applications for 2006 will be tempted to come to Wales where there will be no top-up fees this side of our General Election in 2007?

As I leave a vice-chancellor of an English university says I talked the most sense out of all the speakers there. I often think Plaid would do rather well in parts of England…

I do some work in the Library before returning to my office to clear out papers. This is my last day in Parliament and there’s a certain wistfulness about the calls of ‘good luck’ from fellow MPs of all parties and wondering whether this is the last time I’ll see the place. Whether I do or not will be for the Ceredigion voters to decide and sentiment certainly won’t play any part in their thinking.

I have dinner with Penri James who’s an old political colleague and leader of the Plaid Cymru councillors on Ceredigion County Council. He tells me it’s his first time in the Commons since Cynog Dafis won the seat in 1992. Both as a senior lecturer in agriculture and a wise head I value his opinion and we have a good chat about politics and life.

I pick up the family to get the train back to Cardiff where I’ve left the car. The trains are all to pot (just how many times can there be repair work at Patchway?) and we have to divert via Gloucester. This is an attractive but time-consuming journey.

Driving back to Aberystwyth, we stop off to visit my mother in Aberdâr. Looking in the fading light at the now-reclaimed coal tips that provided much of my childhood playground, and thinking back to the opencast protesters yesterday, I reflect on how little a threat to our environment windfarms really are. No doubt, like the last election, my Liberal Democrat opponent will make much of his opposition to wind energy, despite their claims in Parliament to want to tackle climate change. But really, how does a base of concrete and a metal structure that can be taken away at the end of its generating life compare to the misery of working underground or living with the dust or noise of an opencast mine. Is the sight of a windfarm on the horizon really more distressing than the foreshortened lives of my mining forefathers?

Wales is rich in energy, but at least the wind and sun are perpetual and don’t harm our health or environment.

Wednesday, April 6

Well, Gwen - my wife – did bring back some dates but also seems to have brought back the runs. So a busy day at Westminster turns into a bit of a nightmare as I try and juggle several meetings, parliamentary questions and media interviews with looking after the children. Thank goodness for the family room in the House of Commons and some lego bricks!

The day starts with a meeting with the chair of the fallen stock scheme. Farmers can’t bury dead animals on farm anymore. Environmentally, I think this is disastrous. There’s never been a problem with on-farm burial, particularly in upland sheep areas, and the fuel used carting dead animals millions of miles a year will only add to climate change. I strongly support European legislation for the environment, but this one is ridiculous. And how come Spain and Italy got an opt-out for their upland farmers and the UK Government failed miserably here?

Then, we have the last Welsh Questions and Prime Minster’s Questions. I get to ask a question to Peter Hain about the closure of the creamery at Llangadog which will be a real blow to the dairy industry. He fumbles for his briefing; he doesn’t have one, and his reply is waffle with ice cream on the top.

PMQ’s is fierce, gloves off stuff. Michael Howard wins hands down as he asks Blair about his broken promises on tax rises and tuition fees. Comic relief comes when Howard challenges Labour MPs to show who’s putting Blair’s picture on their election material. The bare half a dozen hands raised – and no-one in the Cabinet least of all Gordon Brown showed their support – speaks volumes for the broken trust that Blair represents.

After dinner with the children, it’s off to the Wales Office to meet Minister Don Touhig to discuss Plaid Cymru’s housing proposals. On the way, we run into Merthyr residents protesting against opencast development. They are delighted to see us as Plaid Cymru has lead the way in the Assembly for a buffer zone for their homes. Pictures are taken and a joyous "Hen wlad fy nhadau" is sung on Whitehall. I leave with boosted morale, but also thinking, "where’s the TV cameras when you need them?"

The meeting goes well as everyone agrees that we need to bridge the affordability gap for homes. Let’s see what the next Government does about it. I also get Don to agree to write to the National Assembly about the difficulties with the fallen stock scheme.

A round of media interviews follow; I sign off my canvassing leaflet – ready on Monday from the excellent Y Lolfa printers (we always use local printers unlike the other parties who centralise their printing), and get down to some emails.

Two emails reflect the ups and down of political life. First there’s the good news of a centre for eating disorders to open in Cardiff tomorrow. Fantastic news. I started campaigning on this after an Aberystwyth family told me how they had to travel to London to see their daughter as Wales did not have one treatment centre. But then I hear that Lord Whitty has cried off his long-arranged meeting with me on Monday, claiming election "purdah", despite the fact that Parliament does not prorogue until 5.00pm that day.

We were supposed to discuss the state of the diary industry. A meeting made all the more timely by the Llangadog closure. Purdah? More like frit.

Tuesday, April 5

Well it seems at long last that we are to be dissolved or is it to become dissolute? Either way I think a dose of Alka-Seltzer is called for after the headaches of the last couple of days.

As Tony trots along to the Palace, I’m in the picturesque market town of Cardigan at the southern tip of my constituency. Cardigan is the old county town, but although it’s lost a lot of the administrative functions to Aberaeron and Aberystwyth, it still retains the most historic feeling and most wonderful built environment of all the towns in Ceredigion. I wonder therefore if the plans to put a bloody great modern shopping centre in the middle of town will become an election issue? Since Parliament has nothing to do with planning in Wales any more, it is difficult to see what any candidate will be able to say that makes a difference.

Blair calling the election for today means that I get the privilege of first appearance on Plaid Cymru’s national campaign trail. After a brief chat with staff and catching up on some e-mails, it is off from Cardigan on the torturous journey to Cardiff and the Mosque in Riverside. When I first joined Plaid Cymru I only knew of one Muslim member of the party. Now of the five Muslim County Councillors in Wales, three are Plaid Cymru members. Both the Muslim community and Plaid Cymru have benefited greatly from this interaction which has taken off considerably, not that some people since the war in Iraq, but really since the September 11th attacks and the now forgotten but still illegal and completely ineffective war in Afghanistan.

At the Mosque I get a very warm welcome. I get the opportunity to say a little bit about the role of faith in politics, my own mind changing trip to Palestine three years ago, and how we in Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales are determined not to let fears and distortions about refugees and migrants pervert the real political debate here in Wales. Cardiff was the location for the particularly horrendous Labour party leaflet in 2004 which whipped up hatred against gypsies, and for which Peter Hain has yet to apologise after insinuating in Parliament that Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats were doing the same.

I have just completed the Guardian questionnaire for parliamentary candidates in which I was asked what would I be if I didn’t win this election. Thinking about how much this job hinders and twists family life I put down full time father, but if I am honest my appetite for this job is not the lifestyle it entails is undiminished.

Before long I will be getting the train from Cardiff to London where unusually my family are waiting for me. They have just returned from a week’s holiday in Tunisia while I stayed at home finishing off Plaid Cymru’s manifesto for this election and putting the final touches to the campaign. I hope that they brought back some nice sweet dates for me as this looks like being a bitter campaign.