Hindsight is a wonderful thing

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Welsh Labour figures must be wondering what would have happened if they had put in greater effort in a number of seats they came unexpectedly close to winning.

Arfon is the classic example. I am told there was even a debate about whether Christina Rees should even visit the constituency during the campaign.

She did in the end, although presumably that conversation would never even have taken place if Labour realised it was going to be within 92 votes of winning the seat.

The same could be said for Preseli Pembrokeshire, Vale of Glamorgan and Aberconwy. Stephen Crabb, Alun Cairns and Guto Bebb all saw their majorities slashed to uncomfortable margins, particularly Mr Crabb who came within 314 votes of losing.

Darren Williams believes it is a reflection of the mindset within senior ranks of Welsh Labour which simply did not believe you could perform as well as the party did on a "radical, left-wing" programme."

Wise after the fact

Welsh Labour sources told me it is easy to be "wise after the fact", a fair point which many in other parties will no doubt sympathise with.

There has been no shortage of reflection after the vote.

The Pembrokeshire Tory MPs Stephen Crabb and Simon Hart, in different ways, have called for a re-think on Brexit. Mr Crabb, who as I mentioned earlier has just had a major electoral fright, believes membership of the single market needs to be looked at, while Simon Hart has floated the possibility of a cross-party approach.

This all touches on the central question following the election: to what extent will Theresa May soften her approach to Brexit in light of her failure to win a majority last week?

Meanwhile, the Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has taken to the airwaves this weekend to ramp up his complaints that the party in Wales was marginalised in the campaign.

Sources within the party at Westminster told me a period of naval-gazing about the structure of the party was not what anyone wanted, in other words there are far greater priorities at the moment.