I’m a sucker for a good political book, in fact, I’m a sucker for any political book, good or otherwise. I’ve read Alastair Campbell’s diaries, the Benn diaries, and joining the political diarist ranks is Mike Parker, Ceredigion’s Plaid Cymru candidate in 2015 with his book ‘The Greasy Poll: Diary of a Controversial Election’.
It’s a great read, and it does delve into Mike’s thoughts and feelings during a turbulent four years between pledging support for Leanne Wood, friend and Plaid Cymru leadership candidate, and the fateful election results night in Aberaeron.
The story of an Englishman, born in Kidderminster running for a Welsh Parliamentary seat is fascinating enough, let alone when you consider he was the candidate for Plaid Cymru, the party set up in 1925 as the ‘Welsh Party’, referred to in Welsh-speaking circles as ‘Yr Plaid’, ‘The Party’.
What makes it all the more interesting, is Mike’s confliction with the bedrock ‘Welsh Language first’ stance of Plaid, ruminating out loud at one point about what is more important, the Welsh Language or tackling poverty.
His differences of opinion with Assembly Member Elin Jones and former MP Cynog Dafis feature throughout, both on electoral tactics, Elin advising him against making political capital out of Mark Williams’ lack of learning Welsh, and Cynog’s unhappiness with the lack of equality and prevalence of Welsh in Mike’s campaigns and some events.
As an Englishman, with the most basic of grasps of Welsh, it’s easy to see Mike’s point, particularly when he holds an ‘Evening with’ event with Leanne Wood in English to attract people to Plaid from outside their typical support base, but gets criticised because there’s no simultaneous translation available.
I think eventually, he reaches the same conclusion I do, after an event in Talybont in March 2015, where he comes up against a “spry” 95-year old who is disappointed with the Welsh coverage in a Plaid leaflet for Mike, waving a Labour Huw Thomas leaflet at Mike with fury.
It’s not the waving of the leaflet that hit home, but in fact how it’s easy to forget how culturally ingrained it is, when it’s not ingrained in your own culture. These people, worried about the future of the Welsh Language, fought tooth-and-nail for its survival and promotion; from the Trefechan Bridge protests in 1963, to the on-going work of Cymdeithas yr Iaith and have issues like the ‘Treachery of the Blue Books’ in their immediate cultural hinterland. It is the raison d’etre for Plaid Cymru so will and should take high importance.
From what I gather in the book, Mike’s issue seems to be that the Welsh language can provide a barrier to people getting involved with Plaid Cymru, voting for them and wanting to associate with them as a party, his issue with Mark Williams not having learnt Welsh is one on principle not political capital, and he picks up on the SNPs decision not to have independence referendum ballot papers bilingual with Gaelic present. As an author who has made his living from language, and has since learnt Welsh, you cannot accuse him of not understanding the importance of it, and realising the importance of Plaid needing to attract untypical voters to the party.
For me, the book’s fascinating because unlike the Campbell and Benn diaries, I remember a lot of the public events mentioned in this. I was part of the march against University pension changes, I was at the aforementioned ‘Evening with Leanne Wood’, and I recall hearing about some young upstart student newspaper editor interviewing Mike. I wonder what happened to him eh?
The emotion it rejuvenated in me particularly was outrage over
the Cambrian News hatchet job, taking 14-year-old words from an article out of context, overlooking a racist issue in Mid-Wales, and setting back Mike’s campaign. I remember the outrage from then, and I’m still in disbelief. What irks me as a Labour member is the way that people of principle like Peter Hain jumped on the issue. If there is a need to speak out against racism, you would hope Hain would be leading the way rather than parroting the party line for a political end.
One touching thing that Parker has in common with the aforementioned diarists is having a crucial rock of support by his side. As Benn had Caroline, Campbell had Fiona, Parker has Preds. Whether needing picking up during a tough day, or struggling to get the aged Landrover going (Great Midlands manufacturing there!) Preds was there to get him back on track (or on the road in that case!) It’s one of the personal things about Mike that he lets the reader in on, and it adds a great human aspect to the book.
Overall it’s a fantastic read, giving a great insight into the dynamics, characters and culture of one of Westminster’s most fascinating and beautiful constituencies. It’s a must-read book for any potential Parliamentary candidate or political anorak, as it covers the humdrum day-to-day hustings, local meetings, local concern groups, run-ins with the press and internet trolls that are a staple diet of any candidate in the modern age, combined with Mike’s unique personal take, and bewilderment with it all. That, and Ceredigion’s apparent fixation with an earring. Who knew?
‘The Greasy Poll: Diary of a Controversial Election’ is written by Mike Parker, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster candidate for Ceredigion in the 2015 General Election. It’s produced by Talybont publisher Y Lolfa and is available for the great value price of £9.99.
Speaking From My Soapbox 