2. Statement by the First Minister: Resignation Statement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:03 pm on 11 December 2018.

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Photo of Carwyn Jones Carwyn Jones Labour 3:03, 11 December 2018

Can I thank Gareth for his comments? And Andrew. Over many years, we jostled—fortunately for me, not physically—[Laughter.]—on the other side of the Chamber. But, certainly, he's absolutely right to say that there were many conversations that took place behind the Speaker's chair, as I think they call it in Westminster, that were needed in order to get business through, and for that I very much thank him. 

For Leanne—I know Leanne spent many a week frustrated at the answers that I gave, which I suppose for me should be a source of pride. [Laughter.] But I know from her perspective, as I've said to her before, she has done an immense amount to raise the profile of women in politics in Wales. It was with great envy that I watched her in all those election leaders' broadcasts, when she was on network television and I wasn't—[Laughter.]—and she brought great credit on herself when she was involved in those debates. And certainly, for a long time afterwards, people thought that she was, in fact, the First Minister—and who knows in the future. 

And finally, of course—. Oh, Vikki, of course, thank you for the words that you said. 

And finally, John. When I heard that John was going to speak, I felt the same feeling I did when I got married and the best man was about to speak—[Laughter.]—because John knows many, many things over the years that we've done. But of all the things I can tell you about John, the one piece of advice I'd give you is never let John book you accommodation. We went to Blackpool some years ago, and John booked the accommodation. It was £10 a night. We shared a room. When we arrived, the hotelier said to us, 'We pride ourselves on the fact that the hotel doesn't have any meters in the room', and that was the selling point, apparently. The hotel had a shower—one shower—that you accessed by walking straight off the corridor into it through a curtain, if I remember rightly. [Laughter.] It was quite an interesting experience. So, John is many things, but a luxury tour operator, I suspect, is not what lies ahead. [Laughter.] John, I've known you for all of those years, and we've had good fun and ups and downs, of course, but, nearly 20 years on, we would've been stunned, wouldn't we, to think that we would sit here in a Parliament with such powers, given where we were back in 1999? It was the potatoes originating in Egypt Order, and we talked about undersized whiting—that's what we were talking about in the Chamber. Who would've thought that the day would come when we would talk about human transplantation and changing the system of consent?