‘I’ve been told I’d be a good First Minister’ – Drakeford
FINANCE Secretary Mark Drakeford has confirmed that people are urging him to stand for the Welsh Labour leadership when Carwyn Jones stands down.
And he has said he would be willing to consider it if circumstances made it important for someone “to step in and help out”.
It is widely assumed that Mr Jones will resign as First Minister during the current Assembly term. He will have served in that post for 10 years in December 2019, and may have to resign sooner if criticised in the official reports which have been commissioned in the wake of Carl Sargeant’s death.
Mr Jones’ departure would trigger a Welsh Labour leadership election.
As a respected academic and social policy expert, Mr Drakeford was one of Rhodri Morgan’s closest advisers and coined the term “clear red water” to distinguish the policy agenda of Mr Morgan’s Welsh Government from that of Tony Blair’s New Labour administration at Westminster.
Sources have told us that senior political colleagues have sought to persuade a reluctant Mr Drakeford to be a candidate in the election to choose Mr Jones’ successor, whenever that might come.
We put it to him that a number of people had told us that, with his background, he could do a good job as First Minister.
Mr Drakeford said: “First of all, I feel that I’m in the luckiest position you could be in politics, in the sense that I’ve no ambition in politics at all. I’ve had an incredibly good run through it. If I didn’t do the job that I’m doing today, tomorrow, there are still lots of things that I’d want to get on and do. Things that when you’re a minister you’re not able to talk about