Jacob Williams https://jacobwilliams.com

This afternoon I was contacted by a friend (and avid reader of my site) asking whether or not I’d seen yesterday evening’s BBC Wales news, as there was a report in it that might interest me.

I hadn’t, but he told me the clip in question is now available to see on the BBC website, and that I should go and watch it.

I don’t know if he thought I was a floating voter, but the feature profiles the two candidates for the Commissioner post in Dyfed-Powys (where we are faced with a straight choice between Labour or Conservative) and outlines some of the tough challenges facing the successfully elected commissioner and difficulties in fulfilling election pledges.

Interestingly, Dyfed-Powys, North Yorkshire and Staffordshire are the only police forces out of the 41 contested with only two declared candidates. As a result, whilst all others in England and Wales will be electing using the ‘single transferable vote,’ on 15th November we will be electing one of the Chrises -Gwyther or Salmon- via the traditional first-past-the-post method.

Enough of that, back to the news clip. I did actually find it quite valuable, because until I watched it, I hadn’t seen or heard a squeak from either of the candidates. Though, for me, the most interesting part of the video comes right at the end, where the focus turns to the politics of these newly created posts and whether or not they should have been created in the first place.

The reporter reads out a statement from past Chief Constable Ian Arundale, who told her that the concept is “fundamentally flawed,” and “simply a way for the government to get more political control of the police,” ending by saying that other countries like the USA have proven that it is a “poor and sometimes dangerous route to follow.”

The reporter then says “and he’s not alone in that opinion,” before cutting to something I certainly wasn’t expecting. Cllr. John Davies, wearing his hat as member of the Dyfed-Powys Police Authority pops up and says:

“I think the reservations that I hold regarding the whole concept of police commissioners whether it’s about accountability and accountability to who, is a real question mark: to people, to policing, or to party politics? That’s the question that remains unanswered, and can only be answered post-election.”

Yes, this is the same John Davies who sought the Conservative party’s nomination for this election, before he withdrew at the very last minute due to a lack of party support. The story goes that the local party members were deeply insulted that he had not actually been a signed-up member, and yet wanted the benefit of their party’s resources, support and canvassing manpower to boost his chances.

As he obviously places so much value on having big-name party-political machinery behind him, the question that remains unanswered to me is: why didn’t he stand as an IPG candidate?