David Maddox: ....and speaking of the Welsh

The leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams (pictured), was in Holyrood today to meet her Scottish counterpart Tavish Scott.

Ms Williams, 38, became the first woman leader of a major party in the Welsh Assembly.

She shares one thing in common with Mr Scott in that she is credited/ blamed for wrecking her party's chance of going into a rainbow coalition to run the Principalities. While her objections though were more working with the Tories rather than Plaid Cymru (the Welsh Nats), it was Mr Scott's supposed dislike of the SNP, before he became leader, that is rumoured to have been the main block to a coalition with them and the Greens.

But the visit did bring one slightly cruel suggestion from one of the Lib Dems political adversaries based on last weekend's European election results.

It was speculated that Ms Williams was visiting to get advice on how to reach the dizzy heights of the fourth place and 11.5 per cent of the popular vote achieved by her Scottish colleagues from the fifth place with 10.7 per cent of the vote her party managed in Wales.

But on the bright side, maybe George Lyon might be prevailed upon to represent Welsh Lib Dems in Brussels as well as the Scottish ones.

David Maddox: Why Labour hate the Welsh vote

Given the last few days this could be a blog about how Labour lost the popular vote in Wales for the first time since 1979 in last week's European election, the first time that the Tories have topped the principalities there, but its not.

Instead step forward Andrew Welsh (top left), the quiet Nationalist MSP for Angus current convener of the Finance Committee who has been a fixture in Scottish politics for the last 35 years (with an eight year gap between 1979 and 1987).

As the youngish MP for South Angus, elected aged 30 in 1974, he was part of the famous gang of Nationalists (top right, Andrew Welsh is second from the right) led by Winnie Ewing whose votes in the famous vote of no confidence in Callaghan's Labour government brought about the 1979 election and the start of the long years of Conservative rule under Margaret Thatcher (bottom left).

As a result, this morning in the Conservative sponsored debate in Holyrood calling for another general election, following the Nationalist one in Westminster yesterday, Mr Welsh has been a particular focus of attention for Labour MSPs.

They have been busy telling him and those outside Holyrood taking any notice, that the SNP "pact with the devil" in 1979 led to a particularly dark period in Scottish history, culminating in the poll tax being imposed North of the border.

So Labour MSPs in high dudgeon spent much of their time demanding that Mr Welsh apologise for letting Mrs T in. It goes without saying that Mr Welsh, in his usual style, politely and demurely refused.

The Labour could, however, have also pointed out, but they did not, that it led to the Nationalists being routed at the polls 30 years ago including poor old Mr Welsh losing his seat to the Tories. There was also the small matter of a civil war amongst the SNP's ranks with the emergence of the radical 1979 Group including present day party luminaries such as Alex Salmond, Kenny MacAskill, Stewart Stevenson and Roseanna Cunningham.

How times have changed and yet in Mr Welsh's voting habits not.