Wales@Westminster Top 10

Cornock's Top 10 moments for 2003
By David Cornock
BBC Wales' Parliamentary correspondent

The following top 10 moments from 2003 are in no particular order, and have been chosen out of journalistic curiosity, rather than for their political significance (the assembly elections are covered elsewhere).

And thank you for your feedback on this weblog during 2003 - keep those e-mails coming....

1. The Iraq debate For the first time, Parliament voted before troops were sent into action. Tony Blair won the day, despite the opposition of more than a hundred of his own backbenchers. The Commons has never been the same since.

2. The Hutton Inquiry August has rarely been so interesting. The sort of investigation that could get even lawyers a good name, it also posed questions about the effectiveness of Parliamentary inquiries from "powerful" select committees.

3. Ron Davies' departure from the Welsh assembly "I was looking for badgers" has now entered the political lexicon. As a politician, Ron Davies was something of a wildlife expert, although not enough of one to realise that badgers are nocturnal animals.

4. Tony Blair's botched reshuffle The Wales Office and its secretary of state were killed off and exhumed on the same June evening. "We've no plans to change having a secretary of state for Wales," as the prime minister told voters during the last general election.

5. The Conservative reaction to that reshuffle Tory Assembly leader Nick Bourne: "Tony Blair has shown his complete and utter contempt for Wales by massively diluting our representation at Cabinet level."

6. The Tory leadership coup and Michael Howard's reshuffle He kicked Wales out of his Shadow Cabinet altogether. Nick Bourne's reaction? "There is no reason for the opposition to mirror the structure of the government."

7. Plaid Cymru's leadership election. Ieuan Wyn Jones resigned because he lacked the confidence of his AMs, only to change his mind and return to lead those AMs four months later.

8. The Northern Ireland elections Secretary of State Paul Murphy helped persuade 63% of the electorate to vote for an assembly that doesn't exist. Perhaps it is only when democracy is suspended that people realise its importance.

9. If you want publicity, first find a censor Peter Hain had to withdraw comments about taxation in a lecture after the advance version upset both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown simultaneously - no mean feat. Later, he had to change a lecture on Europe at the request of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. Both speeches received more media coverage because of the attempts to censor them.

And finally.... 10. The rise of the grumpy old men, as seen on numerous television programmes As someone who is proud to have been grumpy for more than 20 years, it is good to know that I am not alone. There are others out there who are equally grumpy about such vital issues as the inappropriate use of the apostrophe and people who use mobile phones in "quiet" railway carriages. Happy New Year!