Second Fiddle Keir No, not Sir Keir Starmer . . . Wales abounds in myths, and none are so pervasive as those related to the Labour party, of which Keir Hardie is just one instance. Hardie was elected as MP for Merthyr Boroughs in 1900 (after trying his luck at being elected elsewhere) But a few important points about the constituency at this time need to need to be borne in mind. Firstly, Merthyr Boroughs was, by virtue of the various Reform Acts a very large constituency in terms of its electorate, and by the early 1870s, it had a much higher proportion of inhabitants entitled to vote than neighbouring parliamentary seats. And this led to the constituency returning two members to Parliament, a notion that may seem strange to the modern ear. Secondly, the constituency had a very long radical tradition dating back at least as far as the 1831 uprising and which which persisted into the twentieth century. This radical tradition appears to have wor...