“This is Dafydd Elis-Thomas’ old office,” Lindsay Whittle told us as soon as we entered his new basecamp inside the Senedd. The borderline emptiness of the large room left everything to the imagination. It wasn’t surprising considering he’d just won a historic election a week and a half before we met and was just reestablishing his footing in the building.
The first thing that hit us was the sheer scale of the office. We all had to admit that it was around double the size of what we’d expected. But, in reality, it felt fitting for the man who’d just won a vast majority of Caerphilly’s votes.
Sitting down at the round table in the centre of his office, we got to chatting, and while Ruaidhrí and Oliver led the discussion, I had a chance to look around. The most glaringly obvious thing to anyone who entered was the large amount of “Congratulations!” and “Llongyfarchiadau!” cards that spanned his entire windowsill. It drew my eyes away from the wrapped view of the back of the Senedd.
Whittle is clearly a man admired by many. I can only imagine that they’d been filled out by family, friends, and constituents alike. The Plaid Cymru poster on Whittle’s wall, right next to his desk, heartily exclaimed “Save Our Coalminers!” and calls back to a time when politicians truly cared about the working class.
Throughout the interview, my eyes constantly crept back to it. Every statement Whittle made was a clear reflection of the poster’s meaning. It was as though the poster was an external piece of him, telling us what he believed in before we even had a chance to ask him anything.
Whittle telling us that his office was that of ex-Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Elis- Thomas’ may have been an off-handed comment, but it certainly speaks of more. Elis-Thomas may be a controversial figure to some in Welsh politics, yet it’s undeniable that Whittle now has some rather large shoes to fill. From our interview, it seems he intends to do just that – in order to help his constituents in Caerphilly.
Its safe to say that the office mirrored the man, not flashy and straight to the point. If some brief reflections on his office have interested you, you ought to head over to the Gair Rhydd website and read the full interview for reflections on Wales of the day, some fun stories about his childhood and some broader reflections on the future of Caerphilly and Wales as a whole.