Adam Price knew of serious problems within Plaid Cymru five years ago – Bethan Sayed
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price “knew” of serious problems within the party back in 2018, according to a former Senedd Member.
Bethan Sayed, who represented Plaid Cymru until 2021, says Adam Price waited “for problems to pile up” rather than deal with them immediately.
Her comments come after a damning report identified a need to “detoxify a culture of harassment, bullying and misogyny” within the party.
Adam Price says he is “sorry” for the findings of the report, which made 82 recommendations for improvement.
Referring to “misogyny” and “people complaining yet not being heard” Bethan Sayed told S4C’s Y Byd yn ei Le:”Adam knew they existed and he should have come in as leader and said ‘Right’, from the very start, and realise what he had to do, rather than wait for the problems to pile up and that it comes out in the press in such a way.”
Sexual harassment
On Wednesday, a report into the party’s internal culture found examples of “sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination” within the party, adding that they were not “isolated cases.”
A group, led by former Plaid politician Nerys Evans, started looking at complaints about the party’s internal culture last December.
The report found “a lack of collective leadership and governance across the party which has meant that these issues have worsened over the last few years”.
In response to the report, Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price has said: “I want to apologise to all those that have either experienced or witnessed unacceptable behaviour within the party.
“This isn’t the party that we want to be, but clearly a culture has been allowed within the party for too long that has has allowed unacceptable behaviour of this type to be tolerated in a way that it shouldn’t be.”
Y Byd yn ei Le is available to watch on S4C every Thursday at 9pm, or you can catch up on S4C Clic and BBC iPlayer.
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What utter nonsense and hypocrisy from Bethan Jenkins (Sayed), this failed politician. Sour grapes, retrospective blame, incompetence and extremely well-salted tears. Bethan says the problems were there in 2018, when Price became leader. True, of course. Were they there before he became leader? Without question – and does she lob any blame at the previous leader, fellow feminist incompetent Leanne Wood? No. Does Bethan somehow believe that Price ought to have spoken out prior to becoming leader in 2018, when he was in the same position as Bethan herself, and when criticism would then have been directed at her bosom… Read more »
The report when if ever it’s disclosed, will surely not cover the bullying of McEvoy led by Leanne – Nerys was a close friend
As I recall Bethan Sayed had robust outspoken style. Rather strange then that she didn’t pipe up at the time rather than wait 5 or more years before breaking the surface. Real cases of bullying and other abuse need to be addressed but there is an opportunity here for people to drag up all sorts of misdirections just to get in on the blowing of hot air that is inevitable. That can lead to real victims not getting the attention they deserve.
Cytuno.
“Robust, outspoken style?” I entirely agree with the rest of your contribution, but hot this comment.
Like the rest of Wood’s friends, she was there for the ride.
John, I was being my usual polite self with that description! Surely you would agree that she often had plenty to say.
Didn’t Bethan enter politics va working for Leanne? Did she stand up against the bullying attacks on Helen Mary Jones for her gender-critical stance and leading the founding of Woman’s Place UK in Cardiff; and the bullying campaign when Helen Mary inherited the AM seat? HelenMary was required by Leanne to end the Woman’sPlace activitism as price for joining the Plaid AM group, which Bethan knew well. After Adam Price took over and refused HelenMary support against transactivist bullying, Bethan along with the other unprincipled AMs stood aside.
The plot to oust Price is in motion. Who will they want as next leader? The favourite must be Delyth Jewell. Place your bets now!
It’s very revealing that every comment here trashing Bethan Sayed (and former plaid leader Leanne Wood) is from a man….nuff said! 😉
Come on Leigh, that’s cheap shot! You know full well that the whole Leeanne episode has nothing to do with gender. She was elected in a rigged election (join the party for a penny or two and straight away have a vote) which was peddled to her friends on the moronic left. After being elected she went out of her way to support left wing causes and campaigns, invariably not in Wales and made sure that her similar thinking friend (Bethan Jenkins) was adopted as a list candidate over far better individuals. She was incompetent and showed little if any… Read more »
I am a woman who used to be a member of Plaid, and like many others thought that Leanne was utterly dire, and embarrassing jumped on all the fads, levered in her maties and diluted Plaid Cymru. We thought that Adam would change things but he has never had the grit and gumption of those pre-USA days. There is hardly any support for Adam in the constituency or amongst party members there. Plaid’s best MP , Jonathon Edwards was bullied out, also Helen Mary and McEvoy ( he was a laiblity mind) by women as well as men and this… Read more »
This is an truly awful report for Plaid. It’s not how it was meant to be but with the UK General Election next year and the new constituencies which are going to make it tougher for Plaid, Adam Price will have to go and a new broom has to come in as leader. Otherwise Plaid will be on the ropes, hammered in the campaign and at ballot box. No amount of whataboutery by Plaid supporters can change that.
This would be true if the Welsh electorate were clued up and tuned in (or, conversely, the greater focus would demand greater scrutiny and may work in Plaid’s favour – we, the great unwashed, will never be privy to such valuable treasures as ‘the truth’, of course). Generally, we aren’t clued in, we aren’t listening, we don’t care. This episode will probably not factor in the election. Plaid will (hopefully) keep their seats in Y Fro, Tories will lose some seats to Labour. Rosettes get votes, not policy, not the individuals, not principles.
Criticism of Plaid Leader removed?Lets have some consistency here Nation Cymru !