Welsh Parliamentary Party to rise from the dead?
Your starter for 10: Name the chair and the treasurer of the Welsh Parliamentary Party.
Give up? I thought so. The chair, when it last met, was Allan Rogers, who was MP for Rhondda until 2001.
The treasurer was someone called Ieuan Wyn Jones, also an MP until 2001, and now deputy First Minister in the Welsh assembly government, where he wields a slightly larger budget.
The source of this information is the Newport West Labour MP Paul Flynn, who wants to bring back the Welsh Parliamentary Party.
In a letter to the other 39 Welsh MPs, he writes: "The WPP is probably more representative of the democratically expressed views of the people of Wales than the Welsh Affairs Select Committee or the Welsh Grand Committee. It may have a significant role in expressing views on issues of national importance.
"The WPP is a unique parliamentary institution that was formed in 1888. Membership traditionally has included all MPs representing constituencies in Wales. In recent years the body was responsible for making appointments of MPs to the Courts of National Library of Wales and the National Museum.
"The WPP in 1995 successfully proposed and sponsored a change in Commons Standing Orders to enable the Welsh Grand Committee to meet in Wales and use the Welsh language."
"Traditionally the senior Welsh MP convenes meeting of the WPP. That is Ann Clwyd. I am the only remaining officer as secretary. The previous chairman and treasurer are no longer Mps."
History lesson over, Mr Flynn holds out the prospect of the WPP being re-born: "If the senior MP agrees, a meeting may be convened in the near future."
The proposal to exhume the WPP is born out of the frustration Labour MPs feel in opposition to a government implementing plans to cut a quarter of Wales's 40 MPs.
The Conservatives have yet to deliver their manifesto promise to hold more meetings of the Welsh Grand Committee (no street protests as yet to report) and the Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan, has rejected a request for a meeting of the Welsh Grand to discuss the cull of MPs.
Resurrecting the WPP would be one way of trying to persuade Mrs Gillan to change her mind - even if the WPP's chair and treasurer may have prior engagements.
Tune in to Sunday Supplement ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Wales on Sunday at 8am to find out more.
Hello. I'm David Cornock and I'm parliamentary correspondent for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Wales. This is the blog for the latest news and gossip from the Westminster village - with a Welsh accent.
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