To paraphrase one of the best quotes used by the keynote speaker at this week’s Awards for Achievement ceremony, the means to success is to strive to be the very best, but never to accept that you have achieved it.

The logic is that once people believe they are at the top of their game, they lose momentum and start to go backwards.

It is a philosophy understood well by the chief minister, who had the temerity at the last States meeting to suggest that this government could do better. It was failing to deliver as effectively as it should to the people it represents, he said.

Outside the Assembly there are very few who would not agree with that. Overspends, wastefulness, procrastination, arrogance – there are many areas in need of improvement.

And a series of independent reports have concluded, like the chief minister, that the Assembly is far from perfect.

But instead of a round of applause for Deputy Trott’s candour – for he has been a big part of that same government – several deputies chose to respond with cries of ‘shame’, as if the very mention of failure was an insult to their tender ears.

It was presumably those same deputies who went on to barrack the Public Accounts Committee for daring to invite outsiders in to see if this government provides value for money.

And it was those deputies who preferred to force the Wales Audit Office to look into the future with one eye poked out.

Instead of working with a clean slate, the WAO must draw its conclusions for how government should operate on a dirty scrap of paper.

The ‘shame’ deputies are no doubt egging on the plotters who would seek to bring down the PAC chairman for his foolhardy belief that things could improve.

From their point of view, the benefits of toppling Deputy Gallienne are clear.

A new chairman would half-heartedly present a hamstrung WAO report and, without support from its own sponsor, the report will fail – and the head-in-the-sand contingent can get back to their perfect government.