For the man who, off-the-cuff, coined the best political quotation of the 1990s ("Does a one-legged duck swim in a circle?" - when asked if he'd like to be first minister of Wales rather than the hapless Blair-approved Alun Michael) last night's performance on Question Time by Rhodri Morgan was a curiously strangulated affair.
Asked for his opinion on Iraq, the Labour first minister refused to give a straight answer, saying that since going to war was not a matter devolved to the Welsh assembly, he didn't have to give a view.
For a man usually regarded as having the Welsh gift of the gab, and something of a leftie to boot, this seemed a strange silence.
Especially since, as Plaid Cymru have been quick to point out, Mr Morgan didn't mind answering questions on other "non-devolved" issues, such as the incitement to religious hatred bill, president Bush's State of the Union address, climate change, and, er...the Top 100 sexiest men In the world.
More seriously, six of the 100 British troops killed in Iraq have come from Wales.
