A time when Rhodri was great

I first met Rhodri Morgan when he was a Shadow Welsh Office minister.

After a speech to Labour activists in a valleys rugby club Rhodri toured the room, talking, smiling and laughing. It was in the dark days of a conservative administration, and many, if not most in the room believed, that Labour could not win again. I was one of them. I was angry and felt the Labour party had let us down because it failed to win.

I was particularly angry with people like Rhodri. For some reason I felt that he and his fellow MPs had not tried hard enough. So when he came to the group I was with, I let fly. I think I told him his speech was rubbish because it meant nothing.

I must have looked odd. I had just returned from overseas and was incredibly tanned. I was dressed in a Miami vice style suit with waffle shoes. I was also probably slurring as I remember that we had taken advantage of the ludicrously cheep alcohol.

But rather than treat me with the distain that I deserved Rhodri Morgan defended point by point the speech. He then tried to cajole me and the group I was with to take the anger and turn it into something positive. It was a brilliant piece of campaign management. The work of a true leader.

Over time Rhodri has become increasingly embittered. He has been sucked down in to the morass of the Welsh civil service but it is easy to forget that when it mattered he was charming and consensual.

• We are again at a time when our members believe we won’t win but where are the Rhodri’s.
  Of the current batch who is touring the clubs and meetings of Wales?
• Who is seeking to build the labour party’s strength to take on the next election?

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