Time & Perspective Quote by Ron Davies

“Unity” is the safest word in a politician’s toolkit, and Ron Davies uses it here the way you use a doorstop: not to open anything, but to keep the whole structure from slamming shut. The line is studiously noncommittal. “What I’ve said in the past” signals continuity and discipline, a pre-emptive defense against accusations of wobbling. It also quietly admits there’s controversy already on the table; you don’t invoke past statements unless the present is volatile.

The phrasing “approach this matter” drains heat from whatever “this” is. It’s bureaucratic anesthesia, designed to lower the temperature inside a party that’s about to fracture over process, power, or principle. And “on the basis of unity” is the real tell: unity isn’t presented as an outcome to be earned through argument, but as the starting condition. That flips the burden. Anyone pushing a sharper position can now be cast as the one threatening cohesion.

In the context of Labour’s late-20th-century internal tensions - especially around constitutional change and the politics of devolution in Wales - Davies’ intent reads as managerial as much as ideological. He’s staking out the role of mediator, implying that the party’s image of collective purpose matters as much as the policy itself. The subtext is a warning and an invitation: fall in behind a shared line, or be seen as the faction that made Labour look divided when it could least afford to.