Life without Hain

Translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick posted on the 25th of January:

For some reason Ive always believed that Peter Hain is a lot younger than Paul Murphy. I got a bit of a shock then when I realised that there are only two years between them with Mr Hain at 57 and Mr Murphy approaching his 60th birthday.

There´s a lot of talk in the Bay about how much of a difference appointing Paul Murphy (a dinosaur on devolution according to Ieuan Wyn Jones) will make to the development of the assembly over the months and years to come. Some AMs have already expressed their expectation that Mr Murphy will interpret the new system of legislation in the strictest way possible making it difficult for the assembly to increase its legislative powers comparatively quickly.

I have a feeling that these fears could be without foundation and that the superficial differences between Mr Hain and Mr Murphy, such as the age difference, could be less than they appear.

The important difference between the two of course is that Peter Hain is a fervent devolutionist. Paul Murphy at best is a sceptisc. But will this effect the way he fulfills his office?

There are a few things worth remembering here. Firstly Mr Murphy is a prudent man who likes to play according to the rules. Mr Hain occasionally was accused of interfering in the assembly´s own work. Mr Murphy isn´t likely to do that. He is also, by nature, a diplomat and during his period in Northern Ireland he showed himself to be effective in that role.

Anybody who expects Mr Murphy to throw LCOs in the bin in order to defend the sovereignty of Westminster has misread the man. If there is a controversial LCO (and there certainly will be a few) the new secretary´s natural response will be to seek a compromise between the assembly and Westminster. Due to his scepticism MPs will be more ready to listen to him than to his predecessor.

It´s also worth remembering that there was no close personal relationship between Rhodri Morgan and Peter Hain. Indeed Rhodri´s followers have never forgotten Mr Hain´s part in the bloody conflict between Rhodri and Alun Michael to lead Welsh Labour in the first assembly elections. Despite their different views on devolution Rhodri and Paul Murphy have worked together for decades and understand one another completely. Some AMs could end up being dissappointed in the best possible way by the new secretary.