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Cambria Politico has taken newly appointed Ynys Môn Conservative Candidate, Anthony Ridge-Newman, to task:

ARE THE Tories committing political suicide in Anglesey?

And even if the party is not committing suicide on the island, their choice of a rank outsider who has probably hardly been to the island, or indeed to Wales, demands that the gent concerned must be politically neutered before he sets foot in parliament.

According to the way that the Commons is currently operating, any MP from Wales can help strike down law-making proposals produced by the democratically-elected Assembly in Cardiff.

Unless Mr  Anthony Ridge-Newman, the newly-selected Tory candidate from Surrey, can reveal that he knows a hell of a lot about Wales, he should take a string of cotton to the Commons when (more probably, if) he ever enters it.  With the aid of a needle, he should tightly sow his mouth shut so that he never has any effect on anything to be with the governance of this country.

Ridge-Newman replies here:

For many personal reasons, my family roots in Pontycymmer are very special to me and my late mother.  If I had been a girl (no jokes please!) my mother would have named me after my Grandma Rachel Williams who was born and grew up on Cuckoo Street, Pontycymmer.  My cousin (the first girl of my generation) got the honour instead. The last time I was there, was not long before my mother died. She wanted me to take her there for obvious reasons. Every time we go there, it becomes more like a ghost town.  This has saddened me and is what has inspired me to get involved in the future of Wales. 

So what have we learned by this spat? That the Tories might have selected a Rachel Ridge-Newman instead? Not particularly illuminating. The Druid wants to hear about something called P-O-L-I-C-I-E-S, or in layman's language: "How the bloody hell do any of the parties propose to get Ynys Môn out of this mess"?

Anyway, as this discussion of who comes from where will obviously run and run on the island, lets take a look at all the candidates:

- Albert Owen (Labour): Holyhead, Anglesey
- Dylan Rees (Plaid Cymru): Carmarthenshire, South Wales
- Anthony Ridge-Newman (Conservative): Worcestershire, England
- Matt Wood (lib Dem): St Asaph, North Wales
- Peter Rogers (Independent): Wrexham, North Wales  
And a bonus extra: Ieuan Wyn Jones (Plaid Cymru AM for Anglesey): Denbigh, North Wales

So actually only Albert Owen is really from Anglesey. Its certainly a worrying sign that the island has not been able to generate more than one home-grown candidate - what does this say for any of the Political party's engagement with Ynys Môn residents? 

Anyway, can we now move on to discussing policy please?