Although it has yet to be officially confirmed, it now seems certain that last Wednesday Bob Clay, former MP for Sunderland North, was selected by the Llansamlet branch of the Swansea Labour Party to fight the by-election made necessary by the death of councillor Dennis James. As I speculated here might happen.

For those unfamiliar with Bob Clay, he is a public school-educated Trotskyite and admirer of George ‘Indefatigability’ Galloway. He is married to Uta, an Austrian, who was elected to serve the same ward at last year’s council elections. The Clays washed up in Swansea about five years ago, and moved to Llansamlet in August 2012, three months after Uta had been elected to represent the ward in the May council elections. More on the Clays and the farce that is Swansea Labour Party can be found, in chronological order, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

The reason for the delay in officially confirming the glad tidings may be due to the fact that not everybody is overjoyed with the decision of the ‘local’ branch. For example, were I David Phillips, the Labour leader of Swansea Council, the thought of Bob Clay behind me could only conjure up images of steel blades and shoulder blades (or, possibly, lamp posts). Then there’s the reaction from further up the feeding chain . . . what will Carwyn and the gang have to say? Though if it goes as far as ‘London’, then the earlier over-turning by London of Uta Clay’s suspension by Welsh Labour suggests the Clays may have friends in high places.

If the selection stands, and Bob Clay is elected, then Swansea will have to suffer yet another councillor who doesn’t know the city and who will, like so many others, use his position to promote himself and his pet issues. Reminding us that the Labour Party in Wales is going the same way as the Anglican church – the only way it can maintain a semblance of structure and a facade of strength is through relying on English immigrants for both its ‘clerics’ and its ‘communicants’. So much for ‘local’ government, and ‘Welsh’ Labour.

Finally . . . As you know from my previous post, as part of a re-evaluation of my life and in order to reduce the time I spend at my computer, I have closed my Twitter and Facebook accounts. So I am unable to check that another Swansea councillor, ex-student  John Bayliss, has also closed his Twitter account, @JohnCBayliss. If true, then it was almost certainly done on instructions ‘from above’, for John Boy is becoming an embarrassment to the Labour Party, especially since his recent reprimand from the Local Government Ombudsman for “inappropriate and disrespectful” tweets.

Poor Swansea!