Peter Hain's "Mark II" website introduces him as a "Labour politician and campaigner". In fairness to him he has showed recently that old campaigning spirit, particularly in the run up to the General Election on 7 May 2015. He threw his considerable political weight and reputation into securing a Labour win in the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire constituency, to try and win a seat that was held by the Conservatives.
Listed below are extracts from Hain's Twitter account dealing with his appearances in the constituency.
14 March - With the brilliant Delyth Evans campaigning for UKLabour in key winnable seat Carmarthen West South Pembs
14 March - Excellent Welsh Labour response for Delyth Evans in CWaSP. Labour vital marginal v Conservatives
20 March - With next MP for CWaSP Labour Delyth Evans and last one the popular Nick Ainger. Welsh Labour victory coming here
20 March - In Pembroke. Huge enthusiastic Welsh Labour vote for Delyth Evans people desperate to kick Tories out
28 March - In CWaSP Labour for Delyth Evans each time I come Welsh Labour vote stronger with Plaid & Tory switchers
1 April - Striking campaigning today how many Conservatives voting UKIP in South Pembroke CWaSP Labour but Delyth Evans Welsh Labour popular
1 April - Good response in Manobier (sic) Welsh Labour lots posters up and support for Delyth Evans. My former MP colleague Nick Ainger still popular
7 April - With Delyth Evans, Vaughan Gething in Laugharne CWaSP Labour campaigning
7 April - Excellent support Delyth Evans cwasp Labour Laugharne Llanmiloe Bancyfelin switch Plaid to Welsh Labour Tory UKIP
10 April - Strong canvassing team for Delyth Evans CWaSP Labour this morning
10 April - In Pembroke this morning tight Lab Tory fight high popular recognition Delyth Evans bodes well for win CWaSP Labour
14 April - Strong team including from Neath in Narberth Delyth Evans CWaSP Labour
20 April - With Delyth Evans CWaSP Labour our posters outnumber Tories 10:1 urban areas 5:1 overall. Delyth very popular high recognition
21 April - Strong Welsh Labour support in Carmarthen Town loads Delyth Evans posters up CWaSP
22 April - 30 minutes door knocking Johnstown CWaSP Labour two lifelong Plaid Cymru voting Welsh speaking Delyth Evans to beat Tories
24 April - Carmarthen today many Postal Voters already voted Delyth Evans vote buoyant compared 2010 in this Tory Lab marginal
5 May - Real surge for Welsh Labour & brilliant Delyth Evans Carmarthen key Tory/Labour marginal who next PM CWaSP
6 May - Strong Welsh Labour UK Labour team in Carmarthen rain & wind for Delyth Evans with Eluned Morgan CWaSP Labour
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By my reckoning that was a total of thirteen visits to the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire constituency, Peter Hain being accompanied by his "Talisman" on numerous occasions too. I know this because most of the visits were recorded along with the customary photograph, Peter Hain being paraded like a celebrity down there. I'm not superstitious myself but thirteen seems to have been a trifle unlucky in this case.
Because we now know of course that the positive signals given out by the tweets were basically a load of bollocks. A bit like the Labour campaign itself. The message Labour were apparently receiving on the doorsteps clearly did not reflect how the public eventually voted
So, what went wrong then? Because when the count was over in the Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire constituency, this was the result:
Conservatives 17,626
Labour 11,572
UKIP 4,698
Plaid Cymru 4,201
Green Party 1,290
Liberal Democrats 963
Vote percentages were as follows:
Simon Hart(Conservative) 43.68%
Delyth Evans(Labour) 28.68%
John Atkinson(UK Independence Party) 11.64%
Elwyn Williams(Plaid Cymru) 10.41%
Basically, the Labour vote went down 4%, the Tory vote was up 2.6% from 2010.
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire was number 62 on Labour's "106 seats" to win to get them an overall majority.
It's worthwhile going back a couple of years when these target seats were being mooted and Owen Smith said about the Wales target seats that Labour's plans were "ambitious" but "achievable" as it has held most of the targets seats in the recent past.
The party was aiming to win Aberconwy, Arfon, Cardiff North, Cardiff Central, the Vale of Glamorgan, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire and Preseli Pembrokeshire.
So just to recap on these eight "ambitious" but "achievable" seats let's have a closer look at the 2015 results:
Aberconwy - Conservative hold
Arfon - Plaid Cymru hold
Cardiff North - Conservative hold
Cardiff Central - Labour gain (from Lib Dems)
The Vale of Glamorgan - Conservative hold
Carmarthen East & Dinefwr - Plaid Cymru hold
Carmarthen West and South Pembs - Conservative hold
Preseli Pembs - Conservative hold
That is an abysmal, pathetic Labour performance, securing only one of their target seats and that from the poor old Lib Dems who took a hammering just about everywhere.
There are more theories flying about as to why Labour performed so badly than there are books written by Peter Hain but I like to think that a number of regular contributors to the Ferret were more savvy to what is wrong with this political party than the MPs, Trades Unions, Party workers, members - all of them put together. We've been calling out many of the things wrong with these clowns for a long time. Even at the expense of a Tory government in Westminster I have to say I feel a certain satisfaction. Because this 2015 election, with the Scotland results, the vote for UKIP, the Labour Party's spectacular failure, the Plaid relative stagnation - it has surely hammered the final nail into the politics of old - and it's now up to the respective Parties to listen to the voice of the often silent majority in this country. We've been ignored or taken for granted for far too long. Revenge is a dish best served cold they say. The 7 May 2015 was a bloody cold day for Labour!
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ADDENDUM 23.05.15
For those people interested in odd facts and statistics it's worth a look at those constituencies where Peter Hain threw his hat into the canvassing ring, at least according to his Twitter account.
In no particular order we have:
Neath - Labour hold
Carmarthen West and South Pembs - Conservative hold
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr - Plaid Cymru hold
Cardiff Central - Labour gain from the Lib Dems
Cardiff North - Conservative hold
Stockton South - Conservative hold
Hampstead and Kilburn - Labour hold
Battersea, Balham and Wandsworth - Conservative hold
Redcar - Labour gain from the Lib Dems
Gloucester - Conservative hold
East Renfrewshire - SNP gain from Labour (Jim Murphy's seat)
Peter Hain has a lot to thank the Lib Dems for, and I don't mean because the Liberals gave him his first foothold into politics in this country. Without the abject performance of the Lib Dems, then Peter Hain would have knocked on all those doors and had all those conversations - well, for nothing in the way of results. It does make you wonder if this canvassing lark is a waste of time and it's just an opportunity for the boys and girls in the Club to have a bit of a social and chew the fat over a cup of tea or something stronger occasionally.
Not one solitary canvasser came to our street. But we live in the Neath constituency so what's the point?
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