Sharp End 2 June 2014

'I've had better weeks.' That was the answer Kirsty Williams gave when I asked, 'how are things?' We met in her Brecon office to talk about the frankly terrible time the Liberal Democrats have been experiencing since the European Election results. Leadership plots, rogue peers, apologies, resignations and calls for resignations - none of them the fault of the Welsh party leader, of course, but still crucial questions for her. You'll see what her answers are because she's our main interviewee.

There's a row over Labour's decision to use an all-women shortlist in the Cynon Valley to select a successor to Ann Clwyd. They've always been controversial but what else is a party to do to try to ensure more women become politicians?

The author Polly James, who's originally from Neath, has written an entertaining novel based on her experiences working for an MP. She's very careful not to identify the MP and they're emphatically not from Wales! The Lib Dem AM Peter Black was an early fan of the 'Mid Wife Crisis' blog her book is based on, as was I, so we invited Polly to the Assembly and into Peter's office to lift the lid on life working for a politician.

Peter survived the experience and joins me in the studio along with the Conservative Assembly Member Antoinette Sandbach and Stephen Kinnock, who's Labour's candidate for Aberavon in next year's UK Election.