"But it isn't as simple as just [personal reasons] and it would be dishonest of me to pretend that it is; there are some significant political reasons as well. There are a number of ways in which I feel that the party has moved, or is moving, in a direction which I cannot support, but being a national office-holder has fettered my freedom to say so."
To my mind this admission from Plaid's own Chairman that the party is moving in the wrong direction is quite a bombshell and one that needs to be heeded by both its senior figures and rank and file. Indeed Dixon's resignation caps what has been a fairly disastrous couple of weeks for Plaid Cymru, featuring Ieuan Wyn Jones's announcement of the much derided and anti-small business Economic Renewal Programme (which tellingly Dixon damns with very faint praise in his blog) along with the scrapping of International Business Wales, which it turns out had actually been doing a great job of bringing investment into Wales.
It is easy to say that John Dixon's resignation is a big loss to Plaid Cymru - indeed it is. However, I would go further than that and say it is also a loss to Wales as a whole. Like it or not Plaid Cymru is a government coalition partner in the Welsh Assembly and will be a part of our national political life for a long time to come - accordingly we need it to be staffed by clever intelligent people like Dixon or we will all suffer in the long term.
