91Èȱ¬

You know it's the end of term at Westminster, when MPs insert pantomime references into their exchanges.

Rhondda Labour MP Chris Bryant compared George Osborne to "Baron Hardup" and him to be more "Prince Charming" - only to be dismissed as a "pantomime dame" by the Chancellor, much to his annoyance.

There was more evidence of the season of goodwill at the Speaker's House, where I met John Bercow and his deputy Nigel Evans for a profile of the Swansea shopkeeper's son (Evans not Bercow!) to be shown on Wales Today.

He gave me a brief history of the Speaker's chair and the need for deputies: "It
used to be a commode and in the old days before they had deputies they could just draw a curtain around it and I'm sure all sorts of noises happened and then all of a sudden the Speaker could appear again so things could carry on but we're a little bit more sophisticated than that now."

He has also been widely praised for deciding to come out and declare that he is gay. He says he's been overwhelmed by the response since making his announcement.

"If anything I regret I didn't make the announcement earlier. I can't reclaim the 30 lost years that have gone now in the time period that I did not make that announcement and I do hope by doing what I've done as deputy Speaker of the House of Commons will encourage others who are contemptingat whether they ought to announce it to annonce it.

"I can only begin to tell you the amount of support I've had off people, people I know and total strangers - the text messages, Facebook messages, emails and personal hand-written letters, absolutely wonderful all of them and I'm so grateful for all of the support I've had from so many people."

Evans will be spending his Christmas Eve helping his sister out in the family shop in Swansea.

"I remember once trying to explain to Norman Lamont when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer that I used to go and help my sister out in a shop and he asked so many simple questions afterwards . Shop? And I had to explain what a shop was, virtually. Stand behind a counter He's say "Counter?" Operate a till. "A till?".

"But it really does ground me, it keeps my feet firmly where they should be," said the Ribble Valley MP.

Unlike Evans the News, I'll be taking some time off during the parliamentary recess. MPs return on January 10. Until then, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

UPDATE: You can now view the report here.

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Mention the word "referendum" to most people at Westminster and they tend to think of the one on voting reform due next May.

Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has his support for change to the alternative vote in that poll. Today, he wrote to party members in Wales about another referendum - the one on the Welsh assembly's powers to be held next March.

He also invited in a few Welsh hacks, myself included, to explain why he'll be campaigning for a "yes" vote in that referendum too. If the "yes" campaign win, it would kill off LCOs (legislative competence orders) and allow the assembly to make laws in devolved areas without having to ask permission from Westminster each time.

So why, I asked Mr Miliband, change a Labour-established system?

"I think it's part of the process of devolution. I think that devolution has been a success, the Welsh Assembly Government under Labour has been a success and now I think it's right to take the next step - and the next step is about Wales not having to come to London when it wants to make changes within the devolved policy areas, being able to make the changes itself. It's a better system, it's a fairer system and I think it's a system that respects Wales."

In his e-mail, he says devolution has strengthened the Union. I pointed out that there are nationalists in power in both Cardiff and Edinburgh - and the economic gap between Wales and the rest of the UK has grown under devolution.

"We have a very strong Labour-led Government in Wales and I think Carwyn Jones is an excellent First Minister, following Rhodri Morgan, and I think that the doubters have been proved wrong because the doubters said it would be better to have the old system, better to have Wales run from London even in devolved policy areas.

"And I actually think we have learnt from Wales, some of the work that's been done on the foundation stage of nursery education, for example, some of the other changes that have been brought in. And I think Wales is showing its own way forward on tuition fees at the moment, saying differently from the Conservative led government in London that actually we don't think the next generation should be burdened in the way that Westminster is arguing. So I think the Welsh Assembly Government, devolution has been a success now's the time to build on it."

Given his backing for the Yes for Wales campaign, I asked for his view on the Twitter spat over campaign tactics between Education Minister Leighton Andrews and Liberal Democrat Peter Black.

"I think Leighton Andrews was wronged-against actually in relation to this exchange as I understand it. Look, you know I think Twitter takes care of itself it's always a dangerous medium.

"The main thing is that we are fighting a positive campaign about how Wales can benefit from approving this referendum in March. I think it's the right thing to do for Wales and then it's on to the Welsh Assembly Government elections which are very important elections in Wales, about who is the next First Minister of Wales, obviously very much hope Carwyn Jones is re-elected."

Ed Miliband believes his party is "pretty united" on the issue, something Tony Blair could not say during the last devolution referendum in 1997. The difference this time, is that the Conservatives in Wales (at least in the assembly) are supporting a "yes" vote, even if David Cameron has said he'll be staying out of the campaign.

Ed Miliband expects to campaign during the referendum, both as part of the official Labour campaign and the cross-party campaign.

Opponents of a "yes" vote, "True Wales" gave this response to Mr Miliband's comments:

"True Wales knows many members and supporters of the Labour Party who are dissatisfied with this approach of the Labour Party to more devolution. In their opinon there is no need to go any further with the present system of devolution, which has been imposed on us without the blessing of the electorate in a referendum.

"Mr Miliband has failed completely to understand the dangers of devolution. He has also betrayed the principle of legislation which gives a common law and common services to the people of England and Wales - a principle which has been a foundation of socialism and has contributed so much to raising living standards. Wales and England face the same issues and problems. Therefore, the legislation should be the same."

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Most people's wedding lists include humdrum items such as toasters and pillowcases. But a Conservative MP has suggested a more exotic gift for Prince William and his bride - a dukedom.

Monmouth MP David Davies raised the issue with the Leader of the Commons, telling the chamber: "Many of us will be looking forward not only to the royal wedding but also finding out what title will be bestowed upon the Prince of Wales (sic).

"Could the Leader of the House remind the Privy Council that the dukedom of Monmouth has been vacant since 1685, for reasons best glossed over, and I'm sure the residents of that county would be delighted to be associated in any way with the royal wedding."

Commons Leader Sir George Young said Mr Davies risked opening a bidding war with other MPs who want their constituencies recognised in a similar way: The bicycling baronet added: "I note your remarks....but it is way, way above my paygrade."

The first was executed for treason after leading the Monmouth Rebellion, an attempt to overthrow King James II.

On second thoughts, perhaps William and Kate would prefer a toaster.

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The Wales Office, the Whitehall department that looks after Welsh affairs, has been bending over backwards to stress its neutrality in the forthcoming referendum on the Welsh assembly's powers.

Short of flying the Swiss or Red Cross flags above Gwydyr House, it is hard to imagine what more Cheryl Gillan and her deputy David Jones could have done to emphasise their department's even-handedness in the March 3 vote.

As David Jones told the Politics Show earlier this year: "It's a quasi-judicial process and there will be a lot of people watching to see if the Wales Office makes any slip ups, so our position is that we stay absolutely neutral".

So far, so neutral. But this impartiality does not appear to extend to the process to choose a new British city to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee in 2012.

No sooner had the contest been announced than the Wales Office rushed out an official backing Wrexham's bid for city status.

David Jones said: "It is only natural that Wrexham should be recognised as a city - it is already seen as the 'capital' of North Wales and is already a favourite for many to win city status as the educational and industrial hub of North Wales."

So Wrexham appears to have the Wales Office vote sewn up. Or does it? Aberystwyth and Llanelli are now considering entering the competition. Only one town can win. So should the good people of Aberystwyth and Llanelli prepare themselves for disappointment or even a ministerial snub?

Not necessarily. A spokesman tells me: "The Wales Office will be backing all bids from Welsh towns for city status."

That's good to know. Quasi-judicial process or not, even I might struggle to appear strictly neutral should Penarth enter the competition.

And if Amersham throws its hat into the ring even Cheryl Gillan might find herself unable to wave the Welsh flag in cabinet.

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The experience of covering Welsh politics for more than two decades tends to make you more resistant to shocks. The jaw doesn't drop open as easily as it once did.

But sometimes there are stories that loosen the chin bones involuntarily. Take the reaction of the Welsh Education Minister to data suggesting the country is falling behind.

"There can be no alibis and no excuses," said Leighton Andrews, dispelling the idea that we have a political system where there is always someone else to blame. He didn't blame poverty, as some councils used to do to explain poor results, he didn't blame lack of cash, he didn't even blame that catch-all scapegoat for all Welsh ills - "London".

Instead, Mr Andrews calmly pointed out: "Countries with less money spent on education than Wales have done better than Wales.

"Schools, local authorities, and ourselves as government need to look honestly at these results and accept responsibility for them."

As if that were not enough jaw-dropping stuff for one week, out pops more, this time from the Office for National Statistics.

The news that Wales remains the poorest nation in the United Kingdom will have have surprised few. What slackened my jowls was the news that the gap between Wales and the rest of the UK appears to have grown under the last government.

Conservative Ministers have not been shy of pointing out that the gap grew under Labour ("the party of equality" - Ed Miliband).

The Welsh assembly government set a target (by a different name) of reaching 90 per cent of the UK's prosperity level by 2010. Instead, despite billions of money in EU aid for our poorest areas, GVA per head fell from 77.4 per cent in 1999 to 74.3 per cent of the UK average on the latest measure.

At the advent of devolution, the former Welsh Labour leader Rhodri Morgan used narrowing the prosperity gap as a strong argument in favour of power being devolved from Westminster to Cardiff Bay.

There are plenty of other arguments for devolution and you could argue that the gap would be wider had there not been some control over economic development in Cardiff, although I suspect Welsh Ministers would not want to rely on that argument.

Perhaps the assembly government should, like David Cameron's administration, try to move on from pure economic data and try to measure general well-being - for example, we are happier as a nation thanks to more universal welfare, free prescriptions and free swimming.

Except most of the work on general well-being suggests that the happiest countries are more equal ones - and the latest figures suggest inequality has grown within the UK.

The silver lining is that these figures may be the ones that determine the next tranche of European aid - and continuing relative Welsh poverty could yet see more EU cash winging our way.

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The season of goodwill has arrived at Westminster where even Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan and her Labour shadow Peter Hain stopped sniping at each other long enough to exchange good wishes for Christmas.

The last Welsh Questions of the year threw up little to disturb the news bulletins, although it may be of historic note if Cheryl Gillan ends up resigning over her government's plans to deliver a high speed railway through her constituency.

Cardiff West Labour MP Kevin Brennan linked Mrs Gillan's objection to the high speed route with her (so far inconclusive) support for electrification of the railway between London and Swansea.

Would she resign if she doesn't win the latter battle? She appeared to read a prepared answer: "We have a prime minister who is well aware of my constituents' objections to route 3 and if the preferred route is route 3 he will expect me to make the arguments against it not least because we will be holding a proper consultation."

Cheryl Gillan told MPs last week that as a girl she had wanted to become a train driver (although possibly not a high speed one). Today, the Chesham and Amersham MP pointed out that Labour Ministers had objected to post office closures while in office, despite supporting a closure programme. Will that get her off the hook? Not if she votes against the Government in the House of Commons.

Julian Glover of The Guardian that her resignation would be taken in their stride by government whips, even if there is no obvious replacement.

Whether it was the work of the whips, or her parliamentary private secretary, the Conservatives put on a more co-ordinated approach to question time today despite the lack of Welsh Tories.

The MPs for Henley (John Howell) and Pudsey (Stuart Andrew) had come up with identical questions on employment. Steve Baker (Wycombe) and Karen Lumley (Redditch) tabled identical questions on policing. Great minds think alike. Perhaps.

Andrew Rosindell (Romford) asked about the Queen's diamond jubilee, and Adam Holloway (Gravesham) put a supportive query on aerospace. Andrew Turner from the Isle of Wight wanted to know about welfare reform in Wales.

David Amess was interested in the referendum next March on the Welsh assembly's powers. They speak of little else in Southend West.

Welsh Questions has seldom been so popular among the English. Seven of the first nine questions - chosen by ballot - came from English Tory MPs.

The rush from the English Tories to question Welsh Ministers squeezed out Tories from Wales. Simon Hart was the only Welsh Conservative backbencher to catch the Speaker's eye.

Aside from the knockabout there was the odd serious exchange. Wales Office Minister, David Jones praised efforts to stop young people using sunbeds, offering this advice: "It is a cancer risk, and frankly, is frequently not a very good look either."

Free image advice from a Government Minister; we must hope that contribution is recorded in the public administration committee's current- "Smaller Government: What Do Ministers Do?"

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Anyone suffering withdrawal symptoms a week after the last meeting of the Welsh Grand Committee could have eased those symptoms by attending this morning's debate in Westminster Hall on defence in Wales.

Labour MPs used the 90-minute debate to launch a concerted attack on the UK Government's decision to scrap the proposed defence training college in the Vale of Glamorgan.

The £14bn private finance project was scrapped as part of the strategic defence and security review despite previous cross-party support for a plan that would centralise technical training for the armed forces at St Athan.

Despite the previous Labour Government's commitment to the scheme - and spending around £100m of public money on it - delays of 18 months to two years meant contracts were never signed and the incoming coalition Government was able to scrap it.

Sian James, the Labour MP for Swansea East who sponsored the debate, compared that decision to recent vandalism of the cenotaph in St Athan.

Today's arguments were well-rehearsed, or "extraordinarily narrow and partisan" according to the Armed Forces Minister Andrew Robathan. He denied that his Government is anti-Welsh. ("Robathan is a Welsh name").

He even produced his family tree (great-grandfather a doctor in Risca, grandfather headteacher of Llandaff Cathedral School, other relatives served in the Welsh Guards).

Labour MPs complained that defence spending in Wales - at £390m a year - is below that of other parts of the UK.

The Plaid Cymru MP Jonathan Edwards introduced that showed a decline in defence jobs under Labour.

When Labour came to power in 1997 there were 3,330 service personnel and 5,100 civilian defence staff based in Wales. Those figures have now fallen to 2,930 and 1,970 respectively.

The Carmarthen East and Dinefwr MP said there were almost as many British service personnel based in Cyprus as there are in Wales - and seven times as many troops in Germany as in Wales.

Mr Robathan told the debate the Metrix project at St Athan was never going to be affordable but he said the base would still be considered for other training work.

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The effect can be a bit disconcerting, particularly when smaller photographs are used on Twitter. Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne (above left) looks as if he has adopted an exotic floral arrangement; Roy Thomas of the Kidney Wales Foundation (centre) looks a dead cert for a Mikhail Gorbachev lookalike competition and Lee Waters of Sustrans (right) appears to have a fascinator on the top of his head. Such are the perils of conspicuous allegiance, the digital equivalent of wearing your heart on your sleeve.

They are all demonstrating their support for the "Yes for Wales" campaign which is hoping to deliver a vote (via a cross rather than a tick) in favour of giving the Welsh assembly more powers in the referendum next March.

As of yet, opponents of further powers have yet to acquire a twibbon. Perhaps they will join the backlash against twibbons that has already begun. You can already acquire a "No to Twibbons" twibbon, which may be contradictory but you get the point.

Nor is there a "neutral" twibbon to allow those government Ministers - such as Cheryl Gillan and David Jones - who are determined not to take sides in this argument to show that they are above the fray.

Those of us whose occupations demand impartiality on controversial issues need not feel left out. I've added a seasonal twibbon to my own image to join in the fun, although in my case a twibbon is definitely just for Christmas.

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It should be the easiest question any politician could face: will you support the government of which you are a member?

But these are different times, with the Minister responsible for the UK Government's higher education policy preparing, possibly, to abstain in next week's key votes on (his) plans to raise university tuition fees in England.

The Welsh Liberal Democrat MPs have all said they will not support the policy. One, Mark Williams, has said recently that he will vote against. Roger Williams is still agonising. Jenny Willott (she's the lady in red in the picture) was quoted in the last week: "I have said all along I will vote against any rises in tuition fees. The Browne Review in its current format, although there are parts I agree with, is not something I can support."

Except, she says she was misquoted. It is true she had previously said on TV that she would consider abstaining. The Lib Dems' head of media contacted the Echo about its report. He was given a copy of the reporter's shorthand note. The reporter, Ed Walker, has heard nothing from the Lib Dems since and the MP has not as yet demanded a correction.

Her office say Jenny Willott is "in the process of writing" to the Echo. Almost a week after publication, the Lib Dem rapid rebuttal unit is still cranking through the gears.

An official Welsh Lib Dem picked up on her comments and also on the clarification she later issued.

The stakes are high for Jenny Willott. Not only does Cardiff Central contain thousands of students, were she to vote against the Government she would also lose her job as a junior member of it - as parliamentary private secretary to Energy Secretary Chris Huhne.

So how will she vote next Thursday? She has said she's waiting to see the motions - one of which has apparently been published. She is not returning calls on the subject. Her office decline to ask her on behalf of the media.

All parties have changed their stance on tuition fees over time and it is a tough decision for Lib Dem MPs. My guess is that Jenny Willott will abstain, as Lib Dem MPs are allowed to do under the coalition agreement, but it may be a few days before we discover her decision.

UPDATE: Jenny Willott has posted an update on her position

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Jonathan Evans was a rising star in the last Conservative Government and there has been some surprise that as one of the few Tory MPs with ministerial experience he was overlooked by David Cameron after May's election victory.

Instead, he has busied himself reviving the Tories' Parliamentary Mainstream group in the Commons - a group that "seeks to extend the appeal of the Conservative Party so that it commands the ground occupied by the broad mass of the British People."

But could he be one of the few MPs who would be disappointed to get a call from Downing Street in the next Cabinet reshuffle?

For the Cardiff North MP currently earns more per month than the Prime Minister, thanks to his business interests outside Parliament. The lists monthly payments of £12,500 (gross) for his work as non-executive chairman of Phoenix Life Holdings Limited and Pearl Group Holdings (No.2) Limited and of their UK subsidiary companies.

This role takes 20 hours of his time each month, an hourly rate of £625. This reflects his expertise as an insurance lawyer. "My role is to ensure these companies are in accordance with the Financial Services Authority," he said.

The £12,500 gross (on top of his MP's salary of £65,000) is rather less than he earned as chairman of the Phoenix Group (formerly Pearl Group) before his election to Parliament last May.

From next month he will be confining his work to chairing the subsidiary companies - at a reduced rate.

Readers of the will be aware that Mr Evans is not the highest-paid MP although the former Welsh Office Minister will presumably be coping with life on the backbenchers rather better than most.

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Had he shown up this morning, he would have doubtless been tickled to hear shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain run through his repertoire.

Mocking the Prime Minister's plans to measure the UK's well-being through a so-called "happiness index", Mr Hain recalled that Ken Dodd's recording career had begun with "Happiness" before moving on to "Tears" and ended with "Brokenhearted."

It also included "Promises", "Until It's Time For You To Go" and "Let Me Cry On Your Shoulder" but you can push a comparison too far - and no jokes about Diddy Men please.

This morning's meeting of the Welsh Grand followed weeks of wrangling between Labour and the Conservatives over the committee, the topic for debate and the cast list.

Treasury Minister Justine Greening was given the short straw of defending the spending review to an opposition-dominated committee. She had not finished her statement before Peter Hain was tweeting his critical verdict on it - "specious waffle". (The Neath MP may have a senior railcard but he knows how to get down wi' da kidz when it comes to modern communications).

Not to be outdone, Secretary of State Cheryl Gillan told the committee that everybody has got the YouTube moment of encounter with Jeremy Paxman on their iPod. That and some heavy drum and bass, no doubt, although I may be misjudging her musical tastes.

The debate focused on the spending review, unveiled on October 20. The intervening six weeks allowed all sides to rehearse arguments that have changed little since then.

There was the odd pantomime moment. Cheryl Gillan: "I am not some sort of Viceroy".
Chris Ruane: "Oh yes you are".

Former Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy told government whip Brooks Newmark: "Go back to where you've come from". (Braintree in Essex, in case you were wondering).

Those of us with Welsh Grand "buzzword bingo" cards will have ticked off "Barnett consequentials", "savage cuts" and "ring-fencing". Peter Hain referrred at one point to "bouncebackability" a phrase coined by the football manager Iain Dowie.

The MPs are back at 2.30pm for another two-hour session, making four hours of debate in all. That's still shorter than one of Ken Dodd's celebrated live performances although a couple of hours in the Welsh Grand can feel rather longer. Bring your own tickling stick.

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There may be a political in Wales that we are hard done by when it comes to public spending but today's suggests it has yet to cross Offa's Dyke.

The Mail has caught on to the news that English students will pay more to study at Welsh universities - more than Welsh students, more than French students, more than the Irish on identical courses in Wales.

It uses the news to point out that public spending in Wales in 2007/8 was more than £1,042 per head - or 14 per cent - higher than in England "as a result of the controversial Barnett formula".

That would be the Barnett formula that all Welsh parties believe is unfair to Wales, even if they make that point more loudly in opposition than when they are in a position to do something about it in government.

The Barnett formula is population-based, and doesn't reflect need, but the Daily Mail take on it reflects a widespread perception in England that the formula is unfair - to the English. In politics, perception can be (almost) everything so that may yet have an impact on the prospects for changing it.

It does mark a change to see "slap in the face for/snub to England" headlines. The former Labour MP Kim Howells says in an excellent 91Èȱ¬ Wales documentary (still available here for a few days): "Ever since I can remember in politics the thing that I have disliked most is the whinging that we as Welsh people wallow in; we love it, we love whinging about big brother who lives across the other side of the severn or the wye the english as if they are responsible for everything that goes wrong in Wales.

"It's complete nonsense of course - in so many ways we are the victims of our own, this terrible identity crisis or whatever the hell you want to call it."

Dr Howells was one of the few retiring MPs to, how shall I put it, advertise his availability for the House of Lords after stepping down from the Commons last May.

The peerage has yet to arrive, he believes as a result of his u-turn on Afghanistan - the former Foreign Office Minister now supports withdrawal of British troops.

He tells the programme: "I suspect I'm probably a casualty of crossing Gordon [Brown] on Afghanistan but it's never bothered me."

Such insouciance should allay those cheeky enough to interpret his observation as a whinge about the Scot!

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