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There are times - and this is one of them - when a Welsh dresser in a kitchen somewhere in the Llanuwchllyn area becomes the most familiar Welsh dresser on tv.

It belongs to Plaid's Parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd. He invariably sits in front of it when the cameramen roll up and political journalists want to know Plaid's thinking on impeaching Tony Blair/opposition to war in Afghanistan/doing any kind of deal with Labour/doing any kind of deal with the Tories.

For those who can't stop watching the News Channel at the moment then you'll have spotted that the dresser was back and may yet make another appearance if Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg fail to strike a deal. You'll have listened carefully to Mr Llwyd's words too I bet and noticed - as I pointed out in the last entry - that while Plaid talk in terms of talking to Labour ... just in case, they never did rule out talking to the Tories.

That's what Alex Salmond did on Friday. The message from the SNP leader yesterday?

"The assumption by some that the only option now available for a new UK
Government is a Tory-Liberal pact is not correct.
"There are alternatives and far more progressive outcomes available should
politicians have the will to seize the moment. Plaid and the SNP are indicating
that we do."

What do we read into those words from a Welsh perspective?

Mr Salmond and Mr Jones make it clear they would strive to strike a deal with Labour first. Sign up here for the progressive majority? Here we are, front of the queue.

Should that collapse and should any sign of a deal between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have long since collapsed too, then this way there is a door left open for Plaid: one that allows them to talk to David Cameron ... who would by then be working out whether a minority government can survive.

Plaid would, of course, have to go it alone. The Tories are, as a friend put it so vividly, "so much more toxic" in Scotland than in Wales. Yet neither would Plaid surely fail to spot the many dangers of propping up a government that would be about to - what was it again Mr Jones - inflict a series of "slash and burn cuts to Wales's budget (that) will hit our businesses and economy hard" ... as the Plaid press release put it just five days ago. How many millions would make Plaid calculate that it's worth it?

The chair in front of that dresser could yet become a pretty uncomfortable place to sit.

from a figure in the Labour movement whom it's easy to imagine would one day become a key figure in the Labour movement in Wales.

His take on the party's performance in Wales - lowest percentage since 1918 but a very decent haul of seats - is proof that not everyone is prepared to join in the act of giving a collective sigh of relief.

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