Social Justice and Local Government Minister, Brian Gibbons has become the fifth Assembly Member to announce that he will not be seeking re-election in 2011.
The others are Environment Minister, Jane Davidson, Lorraine Barrett, Mick Bates and of course Rhodri Morgan. It could also be argued that Alun Davies decision to abandon Mid and West Wales to seek the Labour nomination in Blaenau Gwent amounts to the same thing but let’s not get too presumptious.
What this latest announcement does is to create some elbow room for whoever succeeds Rhodri Morgan as First Minister later this year. That election would inevitably provoke a Cabinet reshuffle, something that Rhodri himself has often shied away from.
The new First Minister will now know that there are two places he or she can fill straight away without giving offence or alienating support. If Rhodri’s successor was a Cabinet member themselves then there will be three vacancies that can be filled.
That gives the new Labour leader quite a bit of room to promote his/her own supporters without having to undermine the position of his/her opponents. Always a useful way to start a new job.
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