Maybe the Prime Minister thought that if you patronise someone in Welsh, no-one will notice. Boris Johnson announced his arrival on the stage at the Welsh Conservative conference in Newtown on Friday with the words "prynhawn da blodyn, as I just said to the nice person from the BBC, which I thought was the right way to address her".
Does he call all female journalists flower? Maybe he calls them pet when he goes to the north-east, who knows? On Twitter self confessed Cardi @DonnaWarburton1 summed up the reaction many may have had when she wrote “Prynhawn da Blodyn”. Oh f**k off Johnson".
Perhaps it is all part of the culture wars that Mr Johnson's government likes to indulge, a deliberate affront to what some might see as political correctness and wokery. If so, another member of his cabinet had clearly got the memo, reeling off jokes about the waistlines and height of his senior Welsh Tory colleagues.
According to Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, the Welsh Tory Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies at an election count it was "16 stone of Welsh beef, not pork". While his predecessor as Welsh Secretary, Alun Cairns "broke the fastest track record in an Aston Martin on a booster seat". And he continued, "for those who are old enough...I'm looking into the gloom and seeing Glyn Davies and Byron Davies and a few others".
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The two-day event at Newtown College's The Hafren must have been a difficult event for the party coming close on the heels of local elections at which they lost 86 seats across Wales. That was more than 40% of their seats. It's probably not surprising that enthusiasm and crowds were lacking.
Conferences are usually in early spring, before elections and are an occasion to motivate the troops, speak of election wins and hammer home those slogans. But their usual spot in Llangollen was booked, so the conference instead took place in Newtown, the election has been and gone, and it wasn't motivational but picking up the pieces.
The first day started with the local trio of Glyn Davies, the party chairman, MP Craig Williams and MS Russell George on stage giving the welcome. When Welsh Senedd leader Andrew RT Davies followed them for his speech, the hall had just a scattering of people - not the swathes they would want for a keynote speech. His attempt to rally the troops was noble with Mr Davies trying to create clear blue water between his group and the UK party by deliberately highlighting the two distinct policies where they disagree with the UK party, he attacked Labour and trotted out the soundbites of UK Government policies - all as you'd expect him to do. But he also mispronounced Llangollen, eventually giving up - you can read about that here.
When Simon Hart praised Jamie Wallis for being the country's first transgender MP, there was just one person clapping in the now slightly more full auditorium. Mr Wallis, due to be on the panel talking about diversity, did not attend. His pending court case overshadowing his appearance.
Similarly, on Saturday, Sajid Javid took to the stage with the seats just a third full. It might not have been what England's health secretary had expected.
Boris Johnson's greatest strength has always been his people skills. You'd see people flock to the streets to see him, have a selfie, say hi. He almost caused a riot when he visited Newport Market in 2017.
In recent years, those visits have been curtailed add to that the security for set piece events like a conference always being tight. But long gone are the days of him strolling down a high street. When they do happen, in Wales at least, the majority of the press contingent are tightly managed.
Let's not forget his first visit to Wales after being elected Prime Minister was to a chicken shed at an egg factory where the press were shut in a corner and questions and access limited. When he went to Barry to campaign ahead of the 2021 Senedd elections, again, journalists were again confined to a Tory party office, waiting for their assigned slot. While we had heard rumours he was going on a public visit, anyone who knew where and when were sworn to secrecy and calls or Whatsapps ignored.
The visit outside of the conference hall was to a honey bottling factory on an industrial estate outside of the town. Access to see him tour the facilities - when he'd meet actual staff - was limited. Our holding room was a step up this time, in a cafeteria rather than an egg shed but these visits, a staple of any politician are to be seen in a place and say "of course we come to Wales" regardless of whether they meet "normal" people on the streets.
From a journalists' point of view however such set piece visits are forever a chaotic thing. On a political, rather than a Government visit, there's the eternal battle between the two over control and access. This time it was further complicated over battles over which broadcasters got interviews.
Usually doled out under a pool system, one of the big ticket broadcasters does it each time and shares the footage for all to use. This time, Newyddion, the Welsh language news programme, was given an additional chance, understood to have been arranged by his director of communications, Guto Harri.
A former BBC journalist, who also worked for ITV, he was given the director of communications job by the PM in February, and immediately made headlines by giving an interview on his appointment to Golwg, a Welsh language magazine.
It led to journalists frantically searching for their Google Translate button and the Prime Minister reportedly reprimanding his pal for leaking that he sang "I Will Survive" in their first meeting to discuss the new gig. Today the pair sat at the end of the table for an huddle of print journalists, where you get to attempt to get answers on one or maybe two topics. The first of the two topics we asked about was why people in Wales don't deserve a Bank Holiday for St David's Day, the Prime Minister said he had to "pass". It isn't a new debate, but that coupled with the new call from the Welsh Conservatives that HS2 should be reclassified to benefit Wales, showed two distinct ways the Welsh group are trying to distinguish themselves, and yet the Prime Minister knew little of one and batted off the other.
Boris Johnson left the Hilltop factory to a smattering of people who had seen the fuss that goes with his entourage, a few pleasantries were shouted and he was into the Range Rover and to the conference centre. The Prime Minister went on stage at 1.40pm following Simon Hart. The big announcement he made was about Trawsfynydd and a plan to look at a new nuclear energy facility there. It wasn't something that was the top of many political wishlists, and certainly not the issue of the day, however the Prime Minister tried to spin that investing in new nuclear facilities now will ease any potential future cost of living crisis. But given that for most people, this winter is the immediate worry, not the future ones it seemed an odd choice. There was no reference to the end of the Met Police inquiry into partygate, no apology and no real mention of the election results.
When Boris Johnson comes to town what you usually see is a scrum for selfies, a Prime Minister on blustering, but energetic form.
Today though, he looked tired. I sympathise to anyone with a young family, let alone those running a country, involved in a war with global consequences and a cost of living crisis threatening your political future, and that's not getting into those who have been subject to a police investigation, but as Simon Hart told conference, it is 700 days til a General Election, the equivalent to eight financial quarters and 100 weekends away. The people they need out on the streets need that Boris Buzz to motivate them. And you can't say they got that at conference. You'd struggle to argue the atmosphere was anything but flat. When Andrew RT Davies took to the stage for his keynote speech, you'd have done well to count 100 people in the hall at Theatr Hafren. By the time Boris Johnson arrived after lunchtime, it was, at best, half full. Whether it was the timing, the location, the post-election blues, who knows.
The Welsh branch of the Conservatives seem to be trying to go back to the drawing board, distinguishing themselves from London. There are questions already why they are doing that now and whether it will work, but something has to change, and it isn't just the tone of the jokes. To their credit, the Welsh branch seem to realise that, but will London listen and take their plight seriously?
