BELEAGUERED Chief Minister Laurie Morgan has vowed to change the way he runs Policy Council meetings – if he survives Fallagate. Deputy Morgan yesterday admitted that he had struggled to keep order at times.

‘Three problems have emerged in the three years. Each time I have drawn their attention to certain things, each time they say ﾓyes, you’re probably rightﾔ, things improve for a week or two and then degenerate again,’ he said.

His leadership has been criticised by the Wales Audit Office report and some of his own ministers – but Deputy Morgan thinks he can address that.

A self-confessed consensual chairman, he intends to introduce a code of conduct for ministers to sign up to which would allow him to discipline them in meetings.

‘I am going to act when the dust has settled. It’s fair comment that we do sometimes give the appearance of being dysfunctional. We have 10 very strong characters there, it’s not like a department, and it is a criticism we need to address.

‘I will insist that we have a proper code of conduct and that people do respect the chairman.

‘If everybody signs up, then I believe that they will respect it.’

Deputy Morgan was irritated by the Wales Audit Office’s findings that his leadership had been criticised by ‘several’ other ministers.

He challenged the seven ministers present at Monday night’s questions meeting to admit that they had raised concerns about his ability to run the Policy Council – no one did.

‘Never in three years have I been approached by a single minister and told that I should be tougher,’ he said.