Juggling Act

I think that Vaughan Roderick (translated by Ordovicius) may be asking the impossible of Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones today.

With the possibility of a Lab-Lib Dem coalition apparently back on the table, Jones needs to ensure that Mike German does not pick up the phone to Rhodri - or else all is lost for him, as Labour get their preferred alternative, and the Lib Dems clutch at that straw. But what does it take to prevent German making that call?

On the one hand, Jones has to ensure that Rhodri Morgan believes that he is negotiating (in all honesty and sincerity) a deal which could see Plaid entering government as Labour's junior partners. On the other hand, he has to convince German (and also presumably the rainbow's chief architect, Nick Bourne, who is lurking somewhere in the background) that he isn't really serious about Labour, and will return to the Rainbow in due course.

As if that wasn't enough, he has to convince his own party that he really does have an open mind, and is approaching both sets of talks with a willingness to see what comes out of them, and then make the best judgement for Wales and for Plaid.

They say that 'narrative' is all in politics these days; but poor Mr Jones has to run with three mutually conflicting narratives simultaneously – the game could be up the minute any one of the three different audiences cease to believe him. Quite an act if he pulls it off!