Bourne hangs on in there

So far, at least, Nick Bourne has not turned on his new best friend Ieuan Wyn Jones for re-opening talks with Labour. He's been ever so diplomatic. In fact, I hear that he's said that the terrible three (Jones, Bourne and German) still talk on a daily basis and share detailed information about the progress of Plaid's talks with Labour. (Whether Plaid's members will be so pleased to know that Bourne and German probably know more about what's going on than they do is not something on which I shall speculate at this point).

On the basis of those daily chats, Bourne believes that the Rainbow has far from evaporated, and is something to which Plaid will return. Presumably, these little tête-á-têtes also give Bourne the opportunity to feed in his views on what other stumbling blocks Plaid could find to a deal with Labour, thus, as he would see it, enabling Jones to return to his preferred option with additional justification.

That would fit with the interpretation which I have heard often; namely that the main architect of the Rainbow is none other than Nick Bourne; that he, more than anyone else drove it to the point where it looked to be about to happen. Some unkind souls even suggested that he was outclassing and out-manoeuvring Ieuan Wyn Jones, who was like putty in his hands.

But there is an intriguing possibility on the horizon – that Jones may end up looking like the master poker player, with Bourne as his patsy. Having negotiated the All-Wales Accord with Bourne and German – and having got both of those parties to sign up to a full law-making parliament for Wales in the process – he's then gone back to Labour and got them signed up as well. So, Tories left on the political sidelines, Bourne well and truly stitched up, Plaid in government, and all four parties supporting a 'yes' vote in a referendum. Quite a feat by any standards.

Future historians will probably, of course, reveal it to have been an accidental triumph, but, hey, the results of many battles and even wars have hinged on less.

At what stage does Bourne stop hanging on in there and start spitting blood?