When Mark Drakeford took over as First Minister from Carwyn Jones in 2018, the London-based media were dismissive. “Slight and donnish, with light-sensitive glasses and a shock of feathery grey hair, Drakeford does not look like a prime minister,” said the New Statesman at the time.
Comments on social media and beneath news articles are often much less kind: people attempt to outdo themselves on how mean they can be with his name, D*ckford, Dripford and Drippy being some of the more common ones.
But I believe there is a strong argument that the First Minister of Wales is the most underrated politician in the UK, writes Will Hayward at WalesOnline. His political intelligence, instincts and, frankly, sneakiness are often overlooked and underestimated.
This is not to say that I think he gets everything right or is even doing a good job. Saying that someone is a good politician isn’t an endorsement of their performance in leading the country. It is possible to say that Tony Blair, Nigel Farage and Margaret Thatcher are/were savvy political operators at times but not endorse their actual politics.
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While slick, “modern” and high-profile politicians slip up, Drakeford has the ability to keep on trucking. More importantly for his party, he keeps on winning.
When he took over in 2018 the Guardian identified three issues facing the new First Minister. “Brexit will, naturally, be top of Drakeford’s list of priorities,” the newspaper wrote, saying that, “one of his first tasks will be to oversee a decision on a hugely controversial” M4 relief road. The Guardian added that he will have to “heal rifts in Welsh Labour following the death of Carl Sargeant”.
How he dealt with all those three issues all exhibited some defining parts of Drakeford the politician. Five years on, it is easy to underestimate how bitter some of the wounds were in the party following the Senedd Member’s suicide. This isn’t to say that people have forgotten and, of course, for those closest to Carl Sargeant the emotions will still be very raw, but under Drakeford it didn’t consume the party or remain an open sore.
Part of that is Drakeford’s impressive ability to unite his party; his fellow Senedd Members clearly like him. Though he is unequivocally from the left of the party, he enjoys support from across Welsh Labour.
![Mark Drakeford at last month's Senior Open Championship at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club](https://i2-prod.dailypost.co.uk/incoming/article27558205.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_The-Senior-Open-Presented-by-Rolex-Day-One.jpg)
This support should not be taken for granted. The recent history of the Labour Party is full of deeply bitter rows from different factions but under Drakeford that simply hasn’t happened - unlike the UK party under Corbyn (who Drakeford voted for).
How he navigated Brexit showed some of Drakeford’s political skill. The First Minister has an uncanny knack for both portraying himself as a man who is completely open to working with his political opponents in Westminster and also juxtaposing himself to them. Throughout the Brexit process this was the case.
The desire to show that he will work with a UK Conservative Government was not just a cynical tactic. Being in the heart of the devolutionist project since the Senedd was created, Drakeford has a real personal stake in making devolution work.
However, when he’s not going to get what he wants from London, he is incredibly quick to use Westminster’s perceived intransigence to his political advantage. During the Brexit turmoil he did this time and again. In doing so, he has masked a huge range of Welsh Government-caused problems in the NHS.
Perhaps the crowning achievement of this approach was the Covid pandemic. By a huge range of measures the Welsh Government handled Covid badly. Care homes, the firebreak lockdown, local lockdowns and failures to lockdown early enough in the winter of 2020 – these are among just some of the shortcomings in the way Drakeford’s administration dealt with the virus. Even now, however polls, still find that the one Welsh Government policy area with a net public endorsement is how it handled the virus.
In large part, this is down to how Drakeford projected himself throughout the crisis. “Here in Wales we don’t rush, we follow the evidence cautiously” was a familiar refrain. “Look how much safer we were than Westminster” was pretty much the entire Labour campaign in the 2021 Senedd Election - which was an unequivocal success for the party.
The pandemic also revealed one of Drakeford’s main political strengths - he does come across as straightforward and informed. Unlike Prime Minister Boris Johnson. who clearly didn’t know his brief, or the then Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething, who was dismissive of any questioning of their response, Drakeford did go out of his way to explain the rationale behind his decisions.
Journalistically, the best question you can ask Drakeford is “can you explain?” His previous career as a social policy professor bursts out and he will talk, and talk, and talk. You can see his press officers and special advisors desperately trying to stop him: his obvious interest in all things technical often causes him to say things he probably shouldn’t.
But this love of detail and minutiae also underpins one of his biggest strengths and weaknesses as a politician - overwhelming stubbornness. The fact Drakeford clearly believes he is the cleverest person in any room has given him the confidence to make unpopular decisions.
Deciding to cancel the M4 relief road was, whether you agree with it or not, a bold decision. During the pandemic he stuck to his guns when it came to banning the sale of non-essential items in shops despite a substantial public outcry. Again, this isn’t to say you necessarily agree with the decision. But the ability to make big calls is a trait good politicians all have.
This confidence can also show a more unpleasant side to the First Minister. He has a habit of appearing condescending when subjected to perfectly legitimate scrutiny. There have been multiple instances in recent years where, when questioned, Drakeford has adopted either a “how very dare you” demeanour or acted like a patient grandparent explaining to a child how they are simply failing to understand.
We saw this around the decision to take Betsi Cadwaladr health board out of special measures. Ditto the defence of Vaughan Gething not reading a key investigation into Wales’ pandemic readiness – and the repeated refusal to hold a Wales-specific Covid inquiry.
![In February 2023, the funeral took place of Clare Drakeford, wife of the First Minister of Wales](https://i2-prod.dailypost.co.uk/incoming/article27558264.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_JMP_WOL_tdy0tmn0try2funeral_Clare_Drakeford_0015JPG.jpg)
Perhaps Drakesford's biggest political strength has been his ability to be unequivocally himself. So many politicians have lost the ability to connect with the public because they, in their haste to be as unoffensive as possible, lost their relatability. Think about Gordon Brown forcing a smile onto his face every time a camera was on him.
In an age where many politicians are media trained into oblivion, Drakeford has embraced his lack of, for want of a better word, “slickness”. It has paid dividends. His rants at Welsh Conservatives leader Andrew RT Davies in the Senedd made him a viral sensation at the peak of Liz Truss’ economic meltdown. His clear “Welshness” has made many parts of Cymru naturally disposed toward him.
Policy-wise, he has almost managed to restrict his opponents’ ability to attack him. His support of home rule/devo max has left Plaid Cymru with nowhere to go other than a full-throttled support of independence. In doing so, he’s avoided the plight Scottish Labour found themselves with the SNP.
By the same token, his overt support for the Union has made it impossible for the Tories to attack him as a Welsh nationalist. Now he can’t claim all the credit for this. He gets a huge range of latitude for mistakes as, for the last half-decade, the parties opposing him have been something of a joke.
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This savviness has also been on show in his dealings with UK Labour. It has been reported that Scottish Labour regularly complains about how Mark Drakeford’s willingness to discuss changes to the Union, makes it harder for them in the north.
This desire for “clear red water” between Welsh and UK Labour (a phrase attributed to Rhodri Morgan but coined by Drakeford himself) was on full display at the last Labour conference. When Starmer started talking about perhaps not being able to increase funding for Wales, Drakeford noticeably stopped clapping and looked sombre.
The relative reception from the conference for both Starmer (polite but reserved) and Drakeford (raucous whooping) showed how well Drakeford has positioned himself and his party.
On a human level, it is possible to scrutinise Drakeford while also admiring how he has managed to carry on despite the tragedy that befell his family at the start of the year. Twice he has become visibly emotional in interviews with me when we broached the subject.
The fact he is still doing his job despite, as he described it, the “intolerable burden of grief” is a testament to his resilience. And that is a trait every politician needs.
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