Cheryl tells Labour MPs: You're barred
Parliament may have deprived Westminster of its annual St David's Day debate but at least MPs get two opportunities to celebrate our patron saint.
Plaid Cymru host a gathering tonight; the traditional harpist and (pre-election) quail's eggs are said to be on standby.
Last week, secretary of state for Wales Cheryl Gillan opened the doors of the Wales Office to mark her first St David's Day in the post.
I could tell you that anyone who was anyone was there, but Labour MPs would beg to disagree.
Indeed, some are so miffed to have been left off the guest list they have started tabling parliamentary questions about the evening.
The reveals that only two of the 26 Welsh Labour MPs were invited, but every single Tory and Liberal Democrat MP from Wales got to share the wine and nibbles.
Cheryl Gillan says the event cost £780 plus VAT and was attended by "representatives of key employers and the big society".
A Wales Office spokesman adds: "Representatives of all four political parties were invited to the reception, including the shadow secretary of state (Peter Hain) and the shadow Wales Office minister (Owen Smith).
"However, as part of our continued drive for cost efficiency and value-for-money, we decided there could not be an open invitation to all Welsh MPs and peers this year."
That suggests the taxpayer gets better value-for-money from a Lib Dem backbencher or Plaid Cymru spin doctor sipping the (Gwydyr) house white (a cheeky South African number first chosen by Cheryl Gillan's predecessor) than from a former Labour secretary of state for Wales who found himself struck off the guest list.
The value-for-money hope has taken a bit of a hit with the tabling of the parliamentary question; each costs an average of £154 to answer.
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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