All male Labour leader race 'no accident', minister claims

There is a campaign to "actively prevent a woman" from getting into the race to become the next Welsh Labour leader, a minister has claimed.

Eluned Morgan is currently one nomination short of getting on the ballot paper.

Local Government Secretary Alun Davies has said this was "not accidental".

Ms Morgan, a Welsh Government minister, member of the House of Lords and former MEP, said she wanted to be there "on my own merits".

Carwyn Jones is due to step down as both first minister and Welsh Labour leader in December after almost 10 years at the helm of Welsh politics.

Apart from Mr Jones - who is staying out of the contest - all assembly members have now committed to nominate one of the three candidates to put their name forward.

Only Health Secretary Vaughan Gething and Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford have crossed the threshold of the required five nominations by other assembly members to enter the race.

While Welsh Language Minister Ms Morgan is just short with four nominations.

Nominations have not formally opened - and with 16 expressions of support, Prof Drakeford's camp is facing increasing pressure to lend Ms Morgan the support she needs.

In a blog post to be published on Monday seen by BBC Wales, Mr Davies - who withdrew from the contest and is now supporting Ms Morgan - will say her failure to secure enough support so far is "not accidental".

"It is the direct consequence of a planned campaign to limit the choice available to members of the party," he will say.

"And it reflects very poorly on the whole of the National Assembly Labour Party."

Meanwhile, Mr Jones told BBC Wales Sunday Politics show having a female candidate for the top job was "not tokenism" and it would look "very, very strange" if all the candidates were men.

"I think it's crucial that there should be a woman on the ballot paper," he said at the Labour party conference in Liverpool.

"It's not tokenism, it's important to reflect as much as we can Wales as a whole.

"I hope that over the next few weeks a method can be found to make sure we end up with a woman on the ballot paper and that's something I would encourage others to look at."

This debate is getting increasingly heated.

Eluned Morgan's camp resent accusations of tokenism against an experienced politician who's been an MEP and sat on the shadow front bench in the Lords.

Mark Drakeford's supporters hate being lectured about who they should or shouldn't nominate.

Vaughan Gething's people say they're incensed at the lack of diversity in the contest.

But there's a bigger question here - why has the debate coalesced around a single female AM? There was a cluster of male candidates vying to stand. Some won out, some didn't.

It seems extraordinary that the party of twinning and all female short lists should find itself in this position. It suggests the talent pipeline isn't flowing as it should if it can't deliver a whole batch of female AMs just as keen to lead their party and their country as their male colleagues.

Ms Morgan said while she was "delighted" the first minister saw a need for a female candidate, "I have always said I would like to be on the ballot paper on my own merits if possible".

"The important thing is that there has been a very wide-ranging debate and a lot of support here at the Labour conference for making sure we have the broadest possible debate within the party, in terms of the future of the Labour party in Wales and the future direction of Welsh politics."

Sources close to Mark Drakeford's campaign have rejected Mr Davies' comments and have said they won't engage with "evidence free assertions."