Plaid Cymru’s former chair, John Dixon, has left the party after four decades as a leading activist.
It’s no secret that Mr Dixon has had his concerns about Plaid’s direction for some time.
He quit as chair last July, citing ‘a number of reasons for this decision, mostly political, and some personal.’
Even so, his was a notable absence at Plaid’s conference over the weekend and the ‘about me’ section of his blog now describes him as ‘a former Plaid Cymru member, activist, candidate, and national officer.’
Clues to what’s led him to break with the party after nearly 40 years can be found in his latest blogposting which bemoans the increasing homogenisation of Welsh politics and in particular Plaid politics:
I expect a lot of similarity between Labour, Conservative, and Lib Dem parties; that’s become normal; but with Plaid joining the consensus as a post-nationalist party – what is the distinguishing feature? Shorn of Obama-esque rhetoric about hope and change, the leader’s speech to Plaid’s Spring Conference as reported in the media seemed to be based primarily on the simple assertion that Plaid would manage things better.
It’s an outspoken post and I’d recommend you to read it in full and keep your eye on his blog, which has always been a thoughtful and free-thinking platform for views which haven’t always been welcome to party chiefs.
John Dixon is on record as saying he has no interest in undermining Plaid.
But he’s asking its leadership some difficult questions about what the party’s purpose is. And those questions won’t go away.
ITVAdrian 
Of course John would make an ideal Labour candidate. He should have joined Labour months ago. There’s a remarkably strong and united Labour team standing this year. It really is a pity John is not among them.
Plaid is shortly to return to its honourasble role as the party of protest.