News

Badger and the magic carpets

Published

11 years ago

February 25, 2015

WHAT a rum old week, last week was! Back in the news was Tony Blair, both boosting Ed Milliband and as the potential focus of the Sir John Chilag’s Badger85image long-running inquiry into the Iraq War. It is likely that as long as the current state of affairs continues at County Hall, the Audit Committee’s inquiry into shady dealings in Pembroke Dock will take even longer to conclude. Lest we forget readers, the Audit Committee looked at one property as a test case with the clear intention under the then committee chair, John Evans MBE of looking further if they found something amiss. They found a lot amiss readers. But in the period between discovering that council officers were complacent lazy and smug bureaucrats who had missed a scam so obvious that it raises questions about their ability to organize the proverbial in a brewery and the writing of the final report, Chair John Evans MBE left. He was dismayed by the council’s ‘lack of appetite’ to be honest and straightforward about the extent of their officers’ incompetence. Your friend Badger has it on particularly good authority from a number of separate people that there was a widely held view that two officers in particular had displayed a level of incompetence that went beyond mere dim-wittedness and strayed into the realms of almost unbelievable crass stupidity. Badger blows those officers names and he knows who mark the final decision not to discipline them.

We now have a new Chair of the Audit Committee. One-time legal representative of John Allen-Mirehouse and onetime partner in a firm that has previously advised our County Council, Peter Jones was the only applicant for the post of lay member of the Audit Committee who came forward during the Council’s extended deadline period. Badger wonders how Mr Jones became aware of the exciting opportunity to renew his acquaintance with Johnny M and the rest of the not so great and less than good members of the council. This newspaper asked the council for details at the time it announced Mr Jones’ appointment. It was told that the council had extended the deadline for applications for the lay member’s post as the original advert had attracted insufficient applicants. We can infer from that the ideal number of applicants was the total of original applicants plus one. Now, readers all of this might seem like ancient history re-heated but we are now getting to the crux of the matter.

Having found irregularities in the sample property, one would anticipate that a new chair would he keen to press on with the investigation and fulfil the Audit Committee’s role. For that role’s definition we need look no farther than the Council’s Annual Statement of Accounts: ‘The Audit Committee, made up of County Councillors and a -non-elected” independent Chair, considers matters related to the authority’s financial affairs and the appropriateness of its risk management, internal control, corporate governance and internal/ external audit arrangements. The Audit Committee provides the forum for formal and transparent scrutiny of these arrangements, whilst improving oversight and accountability of the authority’s governance arrangements.” So, Badger anticipates, readers might envisage a new Chair rolling up their sleeves and getting ready to crack on with the work in hand about the grants scandal in Pembroke Dock. Not a bit of it. Let’s all move on and forget all about it, seemed to be

the order of Mr Jones’ day way back in September 2014. It’s all a long time ago and things are all better now. Best not to dwell, eh? How usefully uninquisitive, readers. Mr Jones’ broom swept exceedingly clean. The carpets at County Hall must be getting mighty lumpy with all the things brushed underneath them: the Audit Committee’s investigation into the grants scandal in Pembroke Dock being just one addition to the towering pile of ordure lurking under the Axminster. And now the latest piece of idiocy. At public expense and miffed at being proved so often wrong 11. Jacob Williams, the Council \ legal team approached a banister to try to spike his goo, Naught> Councillor Williams had offered an opinion that the advice given that allowed ClIr Mike James to chair a meeting of the Audit Committee in December when the letter of the law prohibits it was dead wrong. So, off went the Council’s legal team to pool their own ignorance with council tax-payers’ money and scurry off to St John’s Chambers.

Bristol for some advice. Simon Morgan, for that was the barrister instructed to advise the Council’s legal team, is an experienced practitioner, called to the Bar in 1988 and in practice as a solicitor before that. Mr Morgan is not, however, a specialist in Welsh local government law. His mightily impressive CV -and it truly is impressive, readers -shows a host of experience in serious criminal cases and health and safety prosecutions. Able he undoubtedly is a specialist in the relevant field he is not.

On the face of his CV, calling on Mr Morgan was the equivalent of calling on a plasterer to sort out your central heating. And mighty strange was Mr Morgan” advice. You see readers. Cllr Mike James – to whom Badger attaches no blame for this farrago.

Williams’ refusing to give up the point, Mr Jones enquired whether Jacob Williams was a lawyer. A wily old legal campaigner, readers, Mr Jones would not ask a question to which he did not already know the answer. His put-down, disguised as a question wanted those present to draw a clear inference: Lawyers are all terribly clever chaps – in the case of the acting head of legal. an honorary chap – and that mere mortal councillors should not enquire too closely of their expertise 1 e s t Icarus like they plunge to their farrago – was not Chair of the committee in Mr Jones’ absence; he was only chairing a meeting of the committee. You might think that is a distinction without a difference.

The Wales Audit Office did, It backed ClIr interpretation of the relevant regulations. Now Mr Jones is a mighty experienced lawyer, also. He found it within himself to attend last Thursday’s meeting. Mr Jones’ response to the conflicting advice was pretty straightforward. He backed the officers. He stuck with the status quo. The legal advice given by the council’s own legal officers was correct. Mr Morgan was correct. The WAO was correct. It was all the fault of the government for drafting such imprecise guidance. No harm, no foul. And then, with pomposity that bespoke his exasperation at ClIr

doom,. Rather like the child in Hans Christian Andersen’s Nay tale, Cllr Williams was having none of it. The emperor not only had no clothes but was so blinded by his own magnificence that he could not conceive his exposed position. The idea that literacy and an eye for detail was all ClIr Williams required escaped the Audit Chair. Cllr Williams is surely right that, where regulations are ambiguous, there should not be a rush to interpret them in favour of a convenient status quo; rather. calm reflection as to whether it is worth the risk of taking unlawful decisions in the event the regulations are breached. Ever willing to do a chap a favour however Johnny M proposed that the carpets at County Hall would not be damaged by having one more thing swept under them. Best not to be too curious. eh readers? Best not to dwell.

News

Senedd election candidates confirmed as vote.wales goes live

Published

8 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Voters can now check who is standing in their constituency ahead of polling day on May 7

A TOTAL of 675 candidates will contest the Senedd election on May 7, with voters across Wales now able to see exactly who is standing in their area through the newly launched vote.wales website.

The nomination period for candidates closed at 4:00pm on Thursday (Apr 9), and full details of all confirmed candidates are now available online.

At this year’s election, Wales has been divided into 16 constituencies, with each one electing six Members of the Senedd under a closed-list proportional voting system. Voters will receive one ballot paper and will be able to vote either for a political party or for an individual independent candidate.

Under the new system, the number of seats won in each constituency is intended to broadly reflect each party’s share of the vote. That means, for example, that a party receiving around half the vote in a constituency would be expected to win three of the six available seats.

Political parties were allowed to put forward up to eight candidates in each constituency, while individuals were also able to stand as independents.

In total, the 675 candidates standing for election are competing for 96 seats in the next Senedd. They represent 16 political parties, along with 30 independent candidates.

Voters can use the postcode search on vote.wales to find out who is standing in their constituency. The website also allows users to check where their polling station is, what accessibility features are available there, and which constituency they belong to.

People wanting to see who is standing in other parts of Wales can do so through the site’s “Browse by constituency” section.

Vote.wales is a new website created for this year’s Senedd election and is intended to give voters clear and reliable information before polling day. It is managed by the Electoral Management Board for Wales, which is part of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru.

From Thursday, April 16, candidates’ leaflets will also be published on the site, allowing voters to see not only who is standing, but what they are standing for.

The website also includes information on how to vote, who is entitled to vote, and what powers and responsibilities the Senedd has.

Shereen Williams MBE OStJ, Chief Executive of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru, said: “We created vote.wales to give people all the information they need before the Senedd election on May 7.

“Now that candidates have been confirmed across Wales, people can find out exactly who they can vote for with a simple postcode search.

“We’re grateful to all the Returning Officers and election staff across Wales who are working so hard to deliver this election. It’s thanks to their hard work that people can now go to vote.wales to see who is standing in their constituency.

“If you have any questions about this election, vote.wales is the place to go. Voting confidence starts here.”

Who is standing?

In the Ceredigion Penfro constituency, voters will be choosing from candidates representing the Welsh Conservatives, Gwlad, the Heritage Party, Plaid Cymru, Plaid Werdd Cymru, Reform UK, Welsh Labour and the Welsh Liberal Democrats, along with three independents.

For the Welsh Conservatives, the candidates are Paul Windsor Davies, Samuel Deri Kurtz, Claire Victoria George, Brian Andrew Murphy, Gill Evans and Claire Malaina Jones.

Gwlad has selected Gwyn Wigley Evans, while the Heritage Party candidate is Elizabeth Davies.

Plaid Cymru has put forward Elin Jones, Kerry Ferguson, Anna Nicholl, Cris Tomos, Colin Nosworthy, Clive Davies, Owain Jones and Matt Adams.

Plaid Werdd Cymru is standing Amy Nicholass, Tomass Jereminovics, James Henry Purchase, Morgan Hope Phillips, Rosie O’Toole and Kezia Autumn Hine.

Reform UK’s candidates are Susan Claire Archibald, Paul Marr, Michael Timothy Allen, Elisa Bessie Gonzalez Randall, Peter Martin John and Bernard Holton.

Welsh Labour has selected Eluned Morgan, Marc Tierney, Joshua Phillips, Margaret Greenaway, Tansaim Hussain-Gul, Luke Davies-Jones and Peter Huw Jenkins.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are standing Sandra Louise Jervis, Alistair Ronald Cameron, Tom Hughes, Lee Dennis Thomas John Herring, Andrew Christopher Lye and Maggie Robinson.

The independent candidates in the constituency are Aaron Carey, George Alexander Chadzy and Paul Haywood Dowson.

Voters have until April 20 to register to take part in the election. Unlike some other polls, photo ID is not required to vote at Senedd elections.

News

Billionaire donor returns to UK to keep backing Reform

Published

8 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Ben Delo says new overseas donation cap is designed to curb support for Nigel Farage’s party

CRYPTOCURRENCY billionaire Ben Delo says he is returning to Britain so he can continue donating millions of pounds to Reform UK, after Labour unveiled plans to cap political donations from Britons living overseas.

Mr Delo, 42, who is currently based in Hong Kong, has already given £4 million to Reform this year. But under new government proposals, overseas electors would be limited to donating £100,000 a year.

The businessman has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s government of trying to tilt the political playing field in Labour’s favour by making it harder for Reform to attract major backing from wealthy British supporters living abroad.

Writing in The Telegraph, Mr Delo said he would relocate to the UK in order to continue funding Nigel Farage’s party and help it build a serious war chest before the next general election.

Mr Delo is widely known as a co-founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform BitMEX, which helped make him one of Britain’s youngest self-made billionaires.

He has also spoken publicly about having Asperger’s syndrome, saying he finds much of modern politics difficult to interpret because of what he sees as evasive and unclear language. He contrasted that with Mr Farage’s more direct style of speaking, which he said he finds easier to understand.

Mr Delo said his financial support could help Reform expand its staffing, improve campaign preparation and spend more on events, advertising and organisation ahead of the next national vote.

He also suggested the new donation cap could be aimed at limiting support from other wealthy overseas backers, including businessman Christopher Harborne, who has also donated substantial sums to Reform.

Mr Delo argued that while Labour continues to benefit from large donations linked to the trade union movement, the new rules would make it harder for rival parties to compete on equal terms.

The government says the proposed changes are part of a wider effort to tighten electoral law and reduce the risk of foreign influence in British politics.

Mr Farage welcomed Mr Delo’s decision, saying the funding would help Reform continue developing as a party that is serious about government and capable of attracting the expertise needed to prepare for power.

Mr Delo said he hoped other wealthy expatriates who want to support political causes in Britain would also consider returning to the UK.

News

St Davids Cathedral welcomes new organ to Lady Chapel

Published

9 hours ago

April 11, 2026

Tom Sinclair

Instrument by Peter Collins now in place as cathedral prepares for tuning and inaugural recital

ST DAVIDS CATHEDRAL CHOIR has announced the installation of a new organ in the Lady Chapel at St Davids Cathedral.

The instrument, a Peter Collins EOS9 organ, has been installed by Gary Owens Organ Builders.

Sharing the news, the choir said it was delighted with the addition of the “beautiful” organ and thanked the builders for their “time, professionalism and energy” in completing the work.

The cathedral says the instrument will now be left to settle for a couple of weeks before receiving its first tuning.

Further details about the dedication of the organ and its inaugural recital are expected to be announced soon.