Wales, a one-party state, prepares for a transition of power
THE resignation of Carwyn Jones on April 21st took almost everyone by surprise. Wales’s first minister had been in the job for nearly a decade and only last month had told reporters that he had no plans to quit. Even some of his fellow Labour cabinet ministers had not got wind of his plans.
His departure seems to be a belated consequence of the suicide last November of Carl Sargeant, a former Welsh cabinet minister. In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein affair and the subsequent run of allegations of inappropriate behaviour by politicians, unspecified complaints were made against Sargeant. Mr Jones promptly sacked him. Four days later, Sargeant took his own life. His death shook Welsh politics and led some to call for Mr Jones’s resignation. One of the three probes set up in light of the death is looking at how he handled the dismissal.
An unfavourable verdict would stain a reasonable record. Mr Jones steered a poor country through...Continue reading