The Regional Monitor

Wales remains a stronghold for the Labour Party: of the 40 Welsh constituencies, 29 are represented by Labour MPs, including the usual mix of veterans of the Commons and rising stars.
Ann Clwyd, chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party and the prime minister’s special human rights envoy to Iraq, represents Cynon Valley; former cabinet minister Paul Murphy, who was secretary of state at the Wales Office and Northern Ireland Office respectively, represents Torfaen; and Alun Michael, who was a trade minister until the recent reshuffle that consigned him to the backbenches, represents Cardiff South and Penarth.
Rising stars include assistant whip Huw Irranca-Davies, who won the Ogmore seat in a by-election in February 2002, following the death of sitting MP Sir Ray Powell. Labour’s majority fell dramatically from over 14,000 to just over 5,700, but this improved to over 13,000 on an increased turnout.
Others include Delyn MP David Hanson, formerly Tony Blair’s parliamentary private secretary and now a Northern Ireland minister; and Kim Howells of Pontypridd, who has held a variety of ministerial posts, but is now minister of state in the Foreign Office. Then there is Peter Hain, whose name has recently been bandied about as a possible future deputy prime minister, but who is currently Welsh affairs and Northern Ireland secretary.
The 2005 general election also led to a number of new faces sitting on Labour’s green benches in the Commons for Welsh constituencies, all of whom were women: Nia Griffith in Llanelli; Sian James for Swansea East; Madeleine Moon in Bridgend, and Jessica Morden in Newport East.
However Blaenau Gwent, once the seat held by NHS founder Nye Bevan, has been out of Labour hands since 2005. Peter Law, who represented the constituency in the Welsh Assembly, stood as an independent in the Westminster elections after it was decided that the local party should choose a candidate to replace retiring MP Llewellyn Smith from an all-women shortlist. Law overturned a Labour majority of over 19,000 to win the seat with a majority of over 9,000, despite being diagnosed with a brain tumour shortly after announcing his candidacy. He died in April this year, and a by-election to represent Blaenau Gwent both in Westminster and at Cardiff Bay will be held at the end of June.
Although Wales had been a relatively Tory-free area since 1997, the Conservatives did make gains in 2005. A Labour majority of nearly 3,000 in Preseli, Pembrokeshire became a Tory majority of 607 for Stephen Crabb, while in Monmouth, sitting Labour MP Huw Edwards lost to Assembly Member David Davies on a swing to the Conservatives of over five per cent. Gareth Thomas lost the constituency of Clwyd West to new Tory MP David Jones at the same election.
And Liberal Democrats have also done well – joining the party’s leader in Wales, Lembit Opik (Montgomeryshire) and Roger Williams (Brecon and Radnorshire) in 2005 was Jenny Willott in Cardiff Central, who won the seat from Labour’s Jon Owen Jones; and Mark Williams, who defeated Simon Thomas of Plaid Cymru in Ceredigion.
But having lost Ceredigion, Plaid Cymru actually saw swings in the vote from Labour to them: in Elfyn Llwyd’s seat of Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, there was a swing of 2.53 per cent, while in Hywel William’s Caernarfon constituency, there was a swing of 3.26 per cent. Adam Price saw the largest swing from Labour to Plaid, of 5.37 per cent.