In a rare display of unity between English and British nationalists, I'd like to join with this Unionist in commending Matt Wither's demolition job on the despicable Peter Hain.
Political colleagues and opponents alike haven’t failed to be impressed by the audacity which Mr Hain has shown by presenting himself as the valiant white knight on topics which, curiously, hadn’t seemed to have driven him much before.
The obvious first example is Hain’s great passion for the referendum on further powers for the National Assembly. If it were down to him he’d hold it this afternoon, so keen is he to get going.
He’s claimed that Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan’s “handling of the whole issue now means that even a March vote could be in jeopardy”.
That would be the same Peter Hain, then, who was Welsh Secretary for much of the time the legwork for a referendum should have been put in, but apparently he couldn’t find a pen in the Wales Office in order to get down to work.
If he was anymore two-faced he'd be cast in the next Batman film.
Equally curious is his fury that the UK coalition Government – in office for four months – have not scrapped the Barnett Formula, the brain-scrambling mathematical equation which decides how much cash gets sent to Wales each year.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg have shoved “much-needed change to the Barnett formula into the long grass after an election five years away”, he fumes.
How “much-needed” are the changes to the Barnett Formula? Well, not enough for the last Labour Government – in office for 13 years and of which Hain was a prominent member – to do anything about.
And perhaps he could have a word with the politician who, last year, said that “the level of funding delivered by the Barnett Formula is more or less fair” and added: “Those who are saying get rid of Barnett, throw everything up in the air and see where it lands, have got to understand there are consequences for the English regions as well.”
The name of that politician? Er… Peter Hain.
Not that we should be surprised at any of this, after all it was the same Peter Hain, lifelong supporter of CND, who backed Gordon Brown's decision to replace Trident when he was keen to be Brown's deputy. He also lied on national TV. Peter Hain is, and make no mistake about it, an horrendous little shit.