Lindsay Whittle stood for election in Caerphilly 13 occasions since 1983 – and on the 14th try, he lastly succeeded.
Within the course of, the 72-year-old native boy – nicknamed “Mr Caerphilly” – humiliated the Labour Occasion, which had held the Senedd seat since its creation in 1999 and the Westminster constituency for over a century.
Born within the miner’s hospital, Mr Whittle lived in a council home and grew up within the city, positioned to the north of Cardiff, that he now represents.
A lifelong Plaid Cymru activist, his curiosity in politics was first piqued within the Sixties. He mentioned he even missed an O Stage (GCSE) examination within the Seventies as a result of he was out canvassing for the occasion.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
1:21
Watch Lindsay Whittle’s victory speech.
Mr Whittle was first elected in 1976 to characterize the Penyrheol and Trecenydd ward on Rhymney Valley district council, and he was re-elected repeatedly till the council was abolished in 1996.
He then contested the Penyrheol ward on the brand new Caerphilly County Borough Council, created in 1995, and was elected to characterize it seven occasions. He served because the council’s chief for 2 intervals between 1999 and 2004, and has additionally served as Plaid Cymru’s group chief on the council since 2022.
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
1:20
Plaid Cymru is ‘prepared to guide Wales’, occasion chief Rhun ap Iorwerth advised Sky Information.
However, regardless of his success on the native degree, Mr Whittle was solely capable of safe election to the then Welsh Meeting as soon as in six makes an attempt since its creation in 1999, changing into an MS on the South Wales East listing 2011, earlier than shedding his seat in 2016.
In these 5 years in Cardiff, he was appointed Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Social Companies, Youngsters, and Equal Alternatives, and he was capable of work on his key political pursuits of housing and native authorities, in addition to combating homelessness.
Picture:
Lindsay Whittle in entrance of the Caerphilly Fort after his victory. Pic: PA
Election by the individuals of his hometown of Caerphilly has at all times eluded him, nonetheless, having misplaced the 13 different elections for Westminster and the Senedd that he has stood in all through a lifetime in Welsh politics.
However that each one modified final evening when he was elected with a majority of almost 4,000 votes to take over from the late Hefin David, the beloved Labour consultant to whom he paid tribute in his victory speech.
Picture:
Lindsay Whittle talking to Sky’s Jon Craig on the election evening depend in Caerphilly. Pic: PA
Chatting with our chief political correspondent Jon Craig as daybreak broke over the city he was born in and now represents, Mr Whittle mentioned: “I would need to be a poet to put into words how I genuinely feel about the honour that all the people of Caerphilly have bestowed upon me.
“Virtually half of the individuals who went out to vote, simply 2% in need of half of the individuals, put their confidence in Lindsay Whittle and Plaid Cymru. I can not let you know what an honour that’s.”
He added: “Retirement is just not for me. I am not the type of man who relaxes on seashores. The truth is, I do not assume I ever calm down. It is individuals. It is people who make me keep on.”
