91Èȱ¬

"Politicians are not slow to spot a bandwagon and in Wales bandwagons don't come much bigger than the one marked 'rugby'".

Not my words. They belong to David Williams, the man who wore the Political Editor's hat in Wales for many years and who

Guess what David? Plus ca change eh.

Last night someone else who has their doubts about the wisdom of (openly) mixing rugby with (party) politics forwarded this email to 91Èȱ¬ Wales:

David Pickering has pleasure in inviting you to a Dinner atr the Park House Club, Park Place, Cardiff
on Thursday 4th February, 7 for 7.30pm, in the Company of the Rt Hon Peter Hain, MP, Secretary of State for Wales, and Carwyn Jones, AM, First Minister for Wales

Cost £1,000 per person

RSVP to ... and that's the problem. It's to the PA to the Group Chief Executive and Chairman of the Welsh Rugby Union. It's their name, their PA, their email address, their telephone numbers.

Not on, says Nick Bourne who says Mr Pickering, who's well known to be a Labour supporter, should apologise. He's called on the WRU chair to cancel the fundraising dinner - and presumably with it the money destined for Labour coffers, of course.

Labour's chutzpah is straight from the rugby pitch: thanking Mr Pickering for his support and pointing out that with Michael Ashcroft's money flowing into Wales...

"We are very grateful to David Pickering for his continued support of Welsh Labour. Facing up to a Tory Party bloated by Ashcroft's millions in the next General Election will be a tough ask and Labour, like all political parties, needs to raise money. Obviously all donations made to the Labour Party through this event will be declared in proper compliance with the regulations."

Not perhaps the distance some within the WRU would like to see being put between their chair and Welsh Labour, in the light of yesterday's email.

As I was in the studio, about to discuss the affair on Good Morning Wales this morning - another email arrives from David Pickering.

"Following news speculation over an event organised by myself in support of Welsh Labour, I wish to confirm that this was done in a purely personal capacity. This event is not associated with the Welsh Rugby Union in any way shape or form. In light of that, I accept it was wrong to use the Welsh Rugby Union email address. This email was swiftly withdrawn upon realising the error, and was not intended to cause offence to anyone."

So that's that? Well the Tories, Ashcroft millions or not, have clearly spotted that £1,000 dinners in Cardiff clubs won't exactly resonate with Labour's core voters. It may not be the last we hear of it today.

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |
• - What's this?