WELL well – it seems Plaid's guest gamble at party conference didn't quite work as the nats would've liked.
Welsh Ramblings, the Plaid staff blog, has spent the weekend telling us how impressed celeb-blogger Iain Dale was with their professional "Conf".
Credit where it's due - we might not like his politics but at least Mr Dale can be relied upon to speak his mind. The Tory archblogger wrote on his blog:
"The Plaid Cymru conference, which I attended over that last two days was interesting for a number of reasons, not least that you got the feeling it was a conference of a party in opposition rather than government...
"The party members seemed to be far more interested in slagging off Labour, who are their partners in government in Wales, than critiquing the Tories or LibDems.
"Perhaps it is because Plaid regards itself as a rival socialist party to Labour. And therein lies its main electoral problem.
"Plaid has made no move in this direction at all. Maybe it never can, but if it ever aspires to lead a Welsh government it will certainly need, not only to widen its electoral appeal towards the centre and to the right, but also to break out of its northern and western heartlands."
Ouch
His comments have clearly upset the Plaid Cymru applecart.
Welsh Ramblings replied:
"You clearly know little or nothing about the electoral politics of Wales.
"Plaid Cymru runs Caerphilly council - it's bar far the largest party on that local authority.
"Perhaps you should study Welsh political history and come back after you've studied a bit harder."
Morus from PoliticalBetting.com deserves praise for his brilliant riposte:
"You're entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts.
"Plaid
Cymru doesn't run Caerphilly Council - of the 22 councils in Wales,
Labour have a majority on two (Neath Port Talbot and Rhondda Cynon
Taff) and the Tories control two (Monmouthshire and the Vale of
Glamorgan). 18 are under No Overall Control.
"Caerphilly has 31
Plaid Cymru councillors, whereas there are 32 Labour councillors and 9
Independents. Not only does it not have a majority, it is not even the
largest party.
"Plaid doesn't 'run' Caerphilly council - it doesn't run any councils at all."
Oh dear... not quite so "professional" after all...