Prof Smith's appointment 'followed correct procedures'

The Tories tabled the motion after Mr Pugh appointed Professor Dai Smith as the interim chairman of the Arts Council for Wales.

It follows a row begun when Mr Pugh said the outgoing chairman would not be automatically re-appointed.

The Conservatives say they are focusing on the minister's "incompetence".

The censure motion is the latest in a chain of events which began in January when Mr Pugh announced that Geraint Talfan Davies, a former BBC Wales controller, would not automatically be given an extension in the role as arts council chair.

Mr Pugh told the BBC the motion was probably to do with the Conservative Party's "internal jockeying" for positions on the regional list of assembly candidates for next year's elections.

Conservative arts spokeswoman Lisa Francis was elected in 2003 in third place on the party's mid and west Wales list, a position which would be vulnerable if the party were to win constituency seats in the region in 2007.

Geraint Talfan Davies' term finished at the end of March

Ms Francis told The Politics Show: "We need to focus on what has really been his incompetence in this matter and I believe that that's what a censure motion will do."

As well as the arts chair row, the motion is also expected to criticise Mr Pugh's attitude towards the Welsh language.

Other parties seem unlikely to support the motion. Liberal Democrat culture spokeswoman Jenny Randerson said the government could ignore a censure motion, which she called "gesture politics".

"The thing that will really make a difference is to get the appointments commissioner to look at it," she added.

Motives

Mr Pugh told the BBC's Politics Show the timing of the censure motion was "a little strange".

"It was last week I made the appointment - why they chose to make the censure motion after the appointment is beyond me.

"The appointment was made fully in accordance with the code of standards for public appointments," he said.

He said it was not strange that Prof Smith, a member of the Arts Council, be chosen as an interim chair until a permanent replacement for Mr Davies was appointed.

He questioned the Conservatives' motives for the motion, adding: "[They] are currently selecting their candidates to head up next year's assembly elections so they are all very, very keen to get some airtime.

"I rather suspect it's to do with this rather than the substantive matter of the arts council.

"If this was about, for example, the budget of the arts or ways the venue enhancement programme was being measure, perhaps you could see where they are coming from.