David Deans
Political reporter, BBC Wales News
BBC
Owain Williams has been at the centre of a spat over a selection in Cardiff
Wednesday marks Eluned Morgan’s first year in charge as first minister.
Other than leading her party into the next Senedd election, her basic task was to mend a Labour group trashed by a nasty row over a £200,000 donation, from a man prosecuted for illegally dumping waste, to her predecessor.
The arguments in her group have been reined in, publicly at least, with the occasional spat here and there.
But a dispute over a selection in Welsh Labour’s power centre of Cardiff – after would-be candidate Owain Williams was rejected – has threatened to reignite infighting and rows in the party.
Prior to him being fully ruled out, I’ve learned that Williams was the subject of an internal row which, we are told by sources, involved the first minister herself allegedly intervening on his behalf.
Others, meanwhile, are arguing in private about whether or not it is a continuation of the split between those who supported Morgan’s predecessor, and those who supported her now health secretary, Jeremy Miles.
Mark Drakeford’s decision to retire at the end of 2023 triggered an election which saw Jeremy Miles battle Vaughan Gething for the leadership.
Miles lost to Gething, in circumstances where the latter’s campaign was boosted by, in Welsh Labour terms, a huge sum of cash from a company connected to a man convicted previously of illegally dumping waste.
Mutterings off the record at the time grew into a frenzy as the months went on, resulting in resignations in the Welsh government cabinet that forced Gething out.
Gething has disappeared from the limelight, and will be leaving the Senedd next year. But Miles remains in the cabinet and is standing again.
How was Eluned Morgan alleged to get involved?
Fast forward to the last few weeks, when Welsh Labour has been figuring out who will stand where, in the new large constituencies for the new larger Senedd.
Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf stretches from the capital’s leafy northern suburbs, down to Roath near the inner-city, to Trowbridge and Llanrumney in the east.
It is one of the most competitive selections for Labour in which Owain Williams was thought by some to be a bit of a front runner.
He is a management consultant who went to Oxford, wrote Miles’ leadership manifesto and is a regular Labour commentator in Welsh-language media.
But he hit a snag.
His application was ruled out of order – a decision upheld by an appeal panel of Welsh Labour’s executive committee.
The reason, I’m told by a source, is because his home address in the Vale of Glamorgan did not match his party membership in the Westminster parliament Cardiff North constituency.
That is a breach of Labour rules that date back to efforts to prevent entryism from Militant tendency.
I am told that Williams says he informed his local party but that his details had not been updated in time.
A source doubted that this was the motivation – instead saying they felt the initial disqualification was driven by Williams’ closeness to Jeremy Miles.
The source said there was “no other sensible interpretation. People’s individual reactions since this has made it very clear that that’s what’s going on.”
The individual felt that Williams may be seen by some as part of an effort by Miles to help secure a future leadership bid, should a vacancy arise from a Labour defeat post-election.
The leadership theory was rubbished by the same source, calling it “fantastical on many different levels”.
But a different person aware of what went on rejected claims that the initial rejection had anything to do with a Miles/Gething dynamic: “I don’t think Vaughan’s people are that organised.”
“If people want to be candidates, you know what the application process is, do it right,” they added.
Eluned Morgan said she was a “big fan” of Owain Williams
Despite all this blocking Williams from getting on to the longlist for the seat because of an administrative issue, he made it anyway.
Two sources – on each side of the argument – have told me they believe this followed the involvement of the first minister – and complaints from at least one minister – Jeremy Miles.
It is something that has not been confirmed or denied by Morgan’s office.
One of them said they felt ministers became involved because they saw it as a “battle for the control of the party” and were concerned by an alleged attempt to prevent someone from the pro-devolution wing of the party from becoming a candidate.
The implication being that the officials that took the decision look more towards Westminster than Cardiff, at least in the source’s view.
But the other person aware of the refusal, and who was unhappy with the alleged intervention, complained “of a process that has seemingly been overwritten by the will of the first minister”.
They accused Williams of having opened “lots of doors for himself to get himself back on this list – something other party members don’t have the ability to do”.
What does Morgan or the people around her say about whether she had become involved in the selection itself?
On Tuesday I attempted to seek comment on the above points from both Morgan and Miles. I have not received a response.
Welsh Labour’s press office said it would not add to its previous comment on the issue.
It said: “Ranking for all those seeking re-election has completed. All those who have applied to be a candidate for the remaining slots have gone through robust due diligence procedures and the process of shortlisting those candidates is ongoing.”
‘Most people I know agree’
Williams’ bid was ultimately unsuccessful, and he failed to make the constituency’s shortlist.
When she was asked about the issue on the Eisteddfod maes in Wrexham, Morgan did not attempt to avoid the topic, saying she was a “big fan” of Williams, and that she would like him to be a candidate.
She was among the notable figures in the party who went to bat for Williams.
Alun Davies, the Blaenau Gwent MS who has been involved in putting together Labour’s 2026 manifesto, said on X: “It is now clear that there is a significant lack of confidence in the Welsh Labour selection process.
“Most people I know in the party agree with [the first minister].”
But one source speculated that Williams’ administrative problem early on – that allegedly got ministers involved – probably counted against him when he came up against the mix of local and national party officials which dealt with the shortlisting.
The sense that involving ministers might have annoyed local officials was cited as a potential pitfall by another person I spoke to. Another source rejected the sense that he was rejected because Williams was pro-devolution.
The selection for Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf now goes to the stage where the party needs to decide the order in which the list is presented to the public.
The higher up that list the better the candidate’s chance of making it to Cardiff Bay next May.
How exactly that is done has not been decided.