Never one to hog the limelight, Dafydd Elis-Thomas thinks he can help Prince Charles to govern
WITH the UK facing constitutional upheaval Wales can breathe a sigh of relief, after Dafydd Elis-Thomas stepped forward to lead the nation.
Having finally realised he is no longer the presiding officer of the National Assembly the Plaid Cymru AM has allowed a sense of duty to persuade him to put his name forward for another top job.
“I think the events, dear boy, as Harold Macmillan said, have made it absolutely essential that I do the job now, because we are facing, as the UK media are saying, a major constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom,” said Elis-Thomas in reference to Scotland’s proposed independence referendum, adding: “Please, call me Lord.”
Plaid officials are now trying to figure out how they can break it to Elis-Thomas that the job on offer is leading the Welsh nationalist, republican party – as in leader of the third largest group in the Assembly – rather than being First Minister.
They also hope to explain to the 65-year-old that the Principality is a high street building society while Wales is a country with elected governments rather than being a territory ruled by a prince.
But for the moment the modest would be leader is dreaming of just what he can contribute to talks at the top table: “I think one of the key things we’ve just been talking about really is the nature of the principality of Wales and its relationship with the Crown of England, something which I have read and studied all my life. I’ve had some influence on the attitude of the United Kingdom monarchy.
“And therefore I think I’m in a very strong position, through my understanding of the constitution and indeed through my work for the first 12 years of the Assembly as presiding officer, I think I’m able to have a conversation about this with anyone in the UK and in Europe.
“Therefore, I think being able to ensure that Wales’ position isn’t marginalised in any argument between England and Scotland within the United Kingdom is a job I’m really looking forward to fulfilling.”
Meanwhile Plaid Cymru is looking for someone who can help it decide if it should change its English language name that no-one was aware of and lead it to an election victory or at least return more AMs than the Tory party.
Not that such mundane matters are occupying Elis-Thomas’ thoughts who continued blabbering on: “I’m of course a great admirer of François Mitterrand, as is, I think, fairly well known. And I think he had a fairly effective career. I don’t envisage myself as the president of a republic. I’ve been president of a National Assembly, that’s more than enough.”
welshnewsnot 
I wonder which part of François Mitterrand’s career Dafydd Elis Thomas admires most. It seems to me as a fairly ill-informed observer that their two careers have been moving in opposite directions with Mitterrand’s trajectory starting on the right and finishing mildly on the left and DET’s travelling in the opposite direction. Or maybe it’s just a mirage…..