Disowned Disaster

So Rhodri Morgan has decided to "do a Bourne" and disown Peter Hain, Eluned Morgan, Alun Davies, David Taylor and the Aneuringlyndwr website and video. Anyone who dares suggest that he had recommended the website were being "naughty" apparently. He had not seen it and had not heard of it until the press got it.

You know what, for one of the first times ever, I actually believe him. It was clear from the moment he refused to comment in a radio interview that Rhodri had not seen the website pre-release. What is not so believable however is his claim that only mischievous media and bloggers would believe that he had approved of it. Clearly he had approved it - but there's a big difference between approving and actually knowing what you approve.

As the website itself says:

"This brand new political website is definitely one to watch!"
- Rt Hon Rhodri Morgan AM, First Minister for Wales

You can see how it happened now:

Peter calls Rhodri up - "Rhodri darling, I've got a new website going up. Gonna be great, it'll make a big impact. You know how I got so pissed off with Plaid's Walescan nonsense and you said we needed to copy them, well this is it! Eluned's helped me do it, she's so excited. Between you and me now, if this thing works then Eluned's gonna be huge - could solve your lack of replacement problem in a heartbeat! We're doing an Obama here, Rhoderz, gonna be huge with the kids and all! We're going to time it's release so that it's all over the news, Dragon's Eye and everything - might even get a Mule front page out of it! OK if I put up a quote from you saying how exciting it all is?"

Rhodri: "Yeah sure Peter, whatever, go for it. Got to go now, having supper with with my autobiography's ghostwriter"

So now that Rhodri has denounced this laughable own goal, will he ask Peter Hain, Eluned Morgan, Alun Davies and David Taylor to apologise to Bourne and Ieuan - just like Bourne apologised to him? A Labour politician apologising - yeah, right!

Exciting Young Team!

So as we've now worked out aneuringlyndwr is the brainchild of everyone's favorite researcher David Taylor. Apparently he was asked to do so by Mr Permatan himself. But wait a sec....

1. Who was this student Eluned Morgan credited the project to? Or the exiting young team Hain told us was behind it? Was he talking about himself and David Taylor? You may be many things Peter, but exiting and young are hardly the words I'd use!

2. The website itself says that

"Aneurin Glyndwr is published by: D. C. Phillips, Cwmllynfell SA9 2GP."

Whoa there! Who's Mr Phillips now? Is he a new part of this exiting young team of Hain and Taylor? Or just a stooge who agreed to have his name used to hide the real creators of the website (not that Peter Hain would ever use a random person's name to hide the true identity of the person behind it....oh no, wait, damn!).

3. The website also states that:

"We receive no money from the Labour party, or any political party, and are funded by advertising, sponsorship and donations from private individuals."

But isn't David Taylor a Labour employee and therefore, by very definition, paid for by Labour? Oh no they'll say, he was just doing this in his own time, the fact that he is a Labour employee and did this project at the behest of a Labour politician is mere coincidence.
But those posts on the website: Monday 15:46, Tuesday 13:06, Wednesday 15:42, Thursday 15:34 and 16:00 and Friday 11:01 - sound like office hours to me right (unless Mr Taylor was Nick Bourne's researcher of course, because as we all know thanks to Aneuringlyndwr Mr Bourne only comes out at night).
So what's up? Does David Taylor work on Aneuringlyndwr as part of his work, and therefore paid for by Labour? Or has Leighton Andrews just discovered that his top man is bunking off work to play around on the Internet? Maybe Leighton will now sack David for waisting time at work, just like those Natwatch victims were sacked (purely a comparison of course, no direct link!)

4. David Taylor is Leighton Andrews lackey. In the cabinet Leighton Andrews is Ieuan Wyn Jones' lackey. Tip to Mr Taylor, dressing up your boss' boss in a clown outfit is not a great career move!

Interesting times!