Life after FM, leaks and local councils

With so many others talking about the future of Carwyn Jones, it is interesting to hear the man himself answer some questions on the subject for the first time.

It is only fair to acknowledge you cannot win as a political leader in this situation, as we have seen with Prime Ministers in the past.

Refuse to answer the question and you pass up on the opportunity to put a lid on speculation, or give a timetable and watch your authority drain away.

To make matters more complicated for the First Minister, any nod in the direction of departure would be seized on by critics as an admission that he should have handled the sacking of Carl Sargeant in a different way.

The pledge to get through the inquiries is confirmation of how everyone - supporters of the First Minister and critics alike - are now locked in to them.

In the meantime his focus on securing Welsh jobs in the US, in contrast to what he says the opposition parties at the assembly have been talking about in recent weeks, is an attempt to seize the moral high ground and portray himself as a First Minister batting for Wales on the world stage.

It is not quite the full accusation of game-playing, but it is not far off and something the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru would have been aware of.

They knew Labour numbers were low in the assembly, partly because of the absence of the First Minister and Mark Drakeford, who was in Brussels, and they took advantage with the vote on publishing the Welsh Government's leak inquiry.

It was probably just on the right side of guerrilla tactics. Anything more opportunistic and they'd have been accused of forcing key votes when ministers are trying to promote Wales abroad.

As it turned out, Labour refused to play ball anyway by abstaining in the vote.

The official line was that publication could reveal the identity of those who took part in the inquiry, and the leader of the house Julie James also followed it up by saying the leak inquiry will be handed over to the QC looking into the circumstances surrounding the sacking of Mr Sargeant.

In other words, while it may not be about to enter the public domain, it is not being locked away in a drawer in Cathays Park either.

Another development this week was the confirmation by the Local Government Secretary Alun Davies that a key part of the Welsh Government reform of councils is being scrapped.

He told Assembly Members he will not force them to work together on a regional basis - a condition which was a central feature of the changes proposed by his predecessor Mark Drakeford.

Mandatory regional working was part of a Welsh Government white paper on council reform, which also includes giving the vote to 16 year olds.

Mr Drakeford said last summer that part of the bargain for the 22 Welsh councils continuing to remain was a greater commitment to working together.

Alun Davies has been dropping large hints of late that change is coming, and this was another one.

Last month, he said nobody in local government would argue that 22 was the right number and the debate had gone on too long.

He will now make a statement to assembly members about his future plans after a broader discussion about the role of local government, which I understand will get underway during the cabinet on Tuesday.

This is a big call for ministers: do they plough on with a potentially divisive re-organisation of local government at a time when there are already divisions in the party over Carl Sargeant and whether one member one vote is introduced to elect the next leader in Wales?

Or do they want to portray themselves as a government willing to take on tough decisions, as well as a new generation of Labour council leaders? Oh to be a fly on the wall next week.