Rhodri Morgan | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Official portrait, 2007 | |
| First Minister of Wales[a] | |
| In office 15 February 2000 – 10 December 2009 Acting: 9 February 2000 – 15 February 2000 | |
| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Deputy | Michael German Jenny Randerson (Acting) Ieuan Wyn Jones |
| Preceded by | Alun Michael |
| Succeeded by | Carwyn Jones |
| Leader of Welsh Labour | |
| In office 9 February 2000 – 1 December 2009 | |
| UK party leader | Tony Blair Gordon Brown |
| Preceded by | Alun Michael |
| Succeeded by | Carwyn Jones |
| Member of the Welsh Assembly forCardiff West | |
| In office 6 May 1999 – 5 May 2011 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Mark Drakeford |
| Member of Parliament forCardiff West | |
| In office 11 June 1987 – 14 May 2001 | |
| Preceded by | Stefan Terlezki |
| Succeeded by | Kevin Brennan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Hywel Rhodri Morgan (1939-09-29)29 September 1939 Roath, Cardiff, Wales |
| Died | 17 May 2017(2017-05-17) (aged 77) Wenvoe, Wales |
| Party | Welsh Labour |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | T. J. Morgan Huana Rees |
| Relatives | Prys Morgan (brother) Garel Rhys (second cousin) |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford Harvard University |
| Cabinet | |
| Signature |  |
| ||
|---|---|---|
Leader ofWelsh Labour (2000–2009) First Minister of Wales (2000–2009)
.svg){kind=icon} | ||
Hywel Rhodri Morgan (29 September 1939 – 17 May 2017) was aWelsh Labour politician who was theFirst Minister of Wales and the Leader ofWelsh Labour from 2000 to 2009. He was also theAssembly Member forCardiff West from 1999 to 2011 and theMember of Parliament forCardiff West from 1987 to 2001. He remains the longest-serving First Minister of Wales, having served in the position for 9 years and 304 days. He was Chancellor ofSwansea University from 2011 until his death in 2017.
Hywel Rhodri Morgan was born at Mrs Gill's Nursing Home inRoath,[b]Cardiff on 29 September 1939.[4] He was the younger of two children born to the Welsh writer and academicThomas John (T.J.) Morgan and his wife Huana Morgan (née Rees), a writer and schoolteacher.[5][6] Morgan was born into aWelsh-speaking academic family.[7][8] His native language was Welsh, though he later became fluent in English, French and German as well.[4] His mother was one of the first women to study atUniversity College, Swansea (now Swansea University), where she read Welsh.[9][7] She became a schoolteacher inRhymney before settling inRadyr after her retirement.[9] Morgan's father also read Welsh at University College, Swansea, before readingOld Irish atUniversity College, Dublin (UCD).[5] He became a Welsh language lecturer at theUniversity College of South Wales and Monmouthshire (now Cardiff University) and a Welsh language professor at University College, Swansea,[4] where he also served as thevice-principal.[7] He met Huana at theNational Eisteddfod of Wales in 1926 and they married in 1935.[10][5] Their first child, Morgan's brotherPrys Morgan, was born in Cardiff in 1937.[11] He would grow up to become a history professor at Swansea University.[4] Morgan was also related to the academicGarel Rhys, who was hissecond cousin.[1]
Morgan was raised with his brother Prys in the village ofRadyr in outer Cardiff.[12][13] Until the age of 21, he lived with his family at 32 Heol Isaf,[4][1] in a house which sat on the main road of the village beside what is now aMethodist church.[14][1] Morgan was born in the first month ofWorld War II, and the conflict had a great presence in his life during his early childhood.[1][3]: 1 He retained vivid memories ofair raid sirens andprisoners of war into adulthood.[15] He also had a lifelong love for gardening which began when he watched his father grow vegetables for the wartimedig for victory campaign.[16][17] Radyr did, however, avoid the conflict's worst hardships.[18] Morgan had a mostly positive childhood, however he was often ill as an infant, and he almost died frompneumonia in 1942.[18][3]: 9 As a child, Morgan was nicknamed "fuzzy" by his family and friends for his curly, frizzy hair.[19]
In 1944, Morgan started attending Radyr Primary School. Having begun his education near the end of World War II, Morgan found his class in the first year of primary school was mostly populated byevacuees.[20][1] In 2005, Morgan remarked that the school was "like theLeague of Nations" because of the refugees and evacuees in Radyr.[15] The school was populated by a combination of evacuees and children from Radyr andMorganstown, another village in Cardiff,[20] with the children from Morganstown accounting for 66% of its population.[1] At the time, other children from Radyr would instead be sent toThe Cathedral School inLlandaff, which was aprivate school.[18] Morgan showed signs of intelligence at school, and he would betracked two academic years ahead of his peers, sharing classes with his older brother Prys.[18] He finished primary school in 1950 and passed hiseleven-plus examination.[1][21] He attendedWhitchurch Grammar School, becoming one of the few children from Radyr to attend a school inWhitchurch at the time.[22] At the grammar school, Morgan achieved high results in most subjects but science.[21] He finished his secondary education there in 1957[23] after winning a place atSt John's College, Oxford on an openexhibition for the study ofmodern languages.[18]
At Oxford, Morgan studied modern languages for two academic terms before becoming disinterested in the subject and changing his subject tophilosophy, politics and economics (PPE).[18][4] Morgan disliked the formal and ostentatious atmosphere of Oxford, and he later said he "had more respect for a semi-retired porter … than for thecollege president".[18][3]: 37 Morgan graduated from Oxford in 1961. He earned aBachelor of Arts degree withsecond class honours in PPE.[21][4] Morgan's American friends from his time at Oxford convinced him to apply for a place atHarvard University.[24] His second class honours was enough to secure him a place at Harvard to read aMaster of Arts degree in government.[18][4] Morgan's studies in the United States were paid for through ascholarship.[25] He graduated from theHarvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences with a Master of Arts degree in government in 1963,[26] before coming back to the United Kingdom in that year's summer.[18]
Morgan's interest in politics began when he was eleven or twelve years old.[27][24] He had convinced his mother to take him to a local political meeting. At the meeting he sawDorothy Rees, theLabour PartyMember of Parliament (MP) forBarry, shouted down bypublic school pupils who supported theConservative Party, which made her cry.[21][24] Morgan later recalled thinking: "I'm going to nail those bastards".[7][21] He was an active member of theOxford University Labour Club[28] and is said to have discouraged other students at Oxford from joiningPlaid Cymru.[29]: 2 By the time Morgan finished his studies at Harvard, he had decided to pursue his political interests practically rather than academically.[4] He joined the Labour Party in December 1963, where he became a member of theconstituency Labour Party forCardiff South East.[4][29]: 2
Morgan returned to the United Kingdom in the summer of 1963, where he took up his first job as a tutor organiser for theWorkers' Educational Association (WEA),[18][10] which was then a training ground for future Labour Party MPs.[4] He was responsible for organising the association's tutors inSouth Wales.[28] In December, Morgan attended a local Labour Party meeting where he met Labour activistsJulie Edwards andNeil Kinnock, the futureleader of the Labour Party.[30][4][7] In the same month, Morgan moved into a flat in Cardiff, which he shared with Kinnock and two other local Labour Party activists until 1965.[31][4][7] Together, the flatmates engaged inanti-apartheid activism.[31][32] In the1964 general election, Morgan campaigned with Edwards, Kinnock and Kinnock's partnerGlenys in support ofJames Callaghan, the Labour MP for Cardiff South East who later became prime minister.[8][30] Morgan pursued a relationship with Edwards and after three years of campaigning together they married on 22 April 1967.[18] They had their first child, Mari, in 1968, and a second child, Siani, in 1969.[21] They also had an adopted son, Stuart, who was born in 1969 or 1970.[33]In 1966, Morgan was considered for selection as the Labour Party'sprospective parliamentary candidate forCardiff North, though he was ultimately not selected.[4] At the time, Morgan did not have a strong interest in a parliamentary career,[4] and whilst Kinnock and other former WEA workers quickly became MPs, he instead wanted to spend time with his family.[18] By the time of the1970 general election he had a wife and three children, and he may have believed that a parliamentary career and its instabilities would take too much time away from them.[4] He left the WEA in 1965, taking up jobs as a research officer forCardiff City Council, theWelsh Office and theDepartment of the Environment in that order,[28] remaining in this field of work until 1971.[18] At the Welsh Office, Morgan authored documents to expand theM4 motorway through parts of South Wales.[34] He also contributed to the creation of theDriver and Vehicle Licensing Centre in Wales, as well as the relocation of theRoyal Mint and a part of theInland Revenue to Wales.[35] In addition to his work as a research officer at Cardiff City Council, Morgan was also a junior town planner.[4][2]: 55 He reported to the Cardiff City Planning Department.[26] In 1972, Morgan became acivil servant at theDepartment of Trade and Industry[36] where he worked forChristopher Chataway as an economic adviser.[4][3]: 55 He remained at the department until 1974.[26] In 1974, Morgan became the industrial development officer forSouth Glamorgan County Council, which he said was his "dream job".[4][3]: 59 He stopped working for the council in 1980.[4] From 1980 to 1987 Morgan worked at theEuropean Commission's Office for Wales as the head of its press and information bureau.[17][7][28] His ability to speak German, Welsh and French proved useful.[4] In this role, he was the highest paid civil servant in Wales.[37]
Morgan's work had permitted him to keep living in Cardiff while staying politically active as a neutral civil servant.[18] However, he was still interested in partisan politics, and he was thinking about standing as an MP.[18][4] In 1985, Morgan decided to stand for parliament after his wife was elected as a councillor for South Glamorgan County Council.[18] James Callaghan had announced his plans to retire from his seat,Cardiff South and Penarth, at the next general election, and Morgan intended to take over from Callaghan as Labour's candidate for the seat.[3]: 67 However, another contender had already been promised local support by the Labour Party. Morgan was encouraged to seek selection in the seat ofCardiff West instead.[4] He was successfully nominated for selection as Labour's candidate in Cardiff West, beating contenders such asIvor Richard, the United Kingdom's formerambassador to the United Nations, where he would stand in the1987 general election.[28]
In the1987 general election, Morgan was elected as the Labour MP for Cardiff West, defeating the incumbent Conservative MPStefan Terlezki, who had been elected in the1983 general election.[38][39] Morgan won the seat with a majority of 4,045 votes (9.1%).[40] He increased his majority to 9,291 (20.3%) in the1992 general election[41] and 15,628 (38.8%) in the1997 general election.[42] He was sponsored by theTransport and General Workers' Union[43] and shared an office atTransport House withAlun Michael, the Labour MP for Cardiff South and Penarth, following their election to parliament in 1987.[44] He was joined in parliament by his wife Julie following the 1997 general election, when she was elected as the Labour MP forCardiff North.[45]
Morgan made hismaiden speech in theHouse of Commons on 8 July 1987, during a debate on aFinance Bill.[46] The media developed a liking for Morgan;The Times reviewed the maiden speeches of the1987 parliamentary intake and placed Morgan's maiden speech into joint-first place.[18] He established a reputation for being a "maverick" and a witty and outspoken "loose-cannon".[47] In line with the majority ofbackbench MPs from Wales,[48] Morgan aligned himself with thesoft left of the Labour Party.[49][3]: 68 He was associated with the "Riverside Mafia", a group of soft left Labour councillors in South Glamorgan County Council which includedMark Drakeford,Jane Hutt,Sue Essex and Morgan's wife Julie.[29]: 4–5, 297 Morgan's main interests as an MP were industrial policy, regional policy, regional development, health, European affairs, the environment, and the conservation of wild life, particularly marine life and birds.[50] He also had an interest infreedom of information.[21]
An early challenge for Morgan during his parliamentary career was the controversialCardiff Bay Barrage project. Mark Drakeford and Jane Hutt were suspended by the leadership of the Labour group in South Glamorgan County Council for opposing the scheme.[51][29]: 5 The council had been promoting the project with theCardiff Bay Development Corporation, with both organisations claiming that the barrage would regenerate theCardiff Docklands. Its opponents, meanwhile, claimed that it would be costly and potentially damaging to the environment.[52] Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock and Labour MP for Cardiff South and Penarth Alun Michael, whose constituency included the site where the new bay would be formed, both supported the project.[53] However, the constituency Labour Party for Cardiff West, Morgan's own constituency, had voted to oppose the barrage, and the local Labour Party branches forRiverside andCanton were also against it.[53]
On 3 July 1989, Morgan announced his opposition to the barrage, stating that it was wrong "to subject my constituents to disturbance for something of extremely doubtful value".[54] Morgan was concerned about the differing opinions from geologists on the barrage's possible effects.[54] He was anaturalist who found the bay's mudflats to be of value, and he believed that damming it could cause a permanent increase in drainage, damp and rot.[52][28] Morgan also believed that the barrage could flood Cardiff West,[47] with the constituency having had a history of damaging floods as recent as 1979.[52] He became the spokesman for a group of Labour councillors inCardiff City Council and South Glamorgan County Council who opposed the project,[52] and in parliament he led a five year campaign against thebill which would allow for its construction.[28] Usingparliamentary procedure andfilibusters, Morgan was able to delay the construction of the barrage until the Conservative government finally pushed the bill through parliament in 1993.[55][28] Morgan's campaign against the bill generated animosity between him and Alun Michael, who had supported the barrage, and it made him appear less trustworthy to the morecentrist-leaning elements of the Labour Party.[28] In 1993, Morgan warnedJohn Redwood, theWelsh secretary, that a Labour government might stop the construction of the barrage before its completion. This prompted Michael to state that he was "fed up" with Morgan's "outrageous and irresponsible nonsense", adding that his remarks could deter employers from coming to Cardiff.[56]
In his first year in parliament, Morgan worked onstanding committees for the Finance Bill, theHousing Bill and theSteel Privatisation Bill.[18] Labour leader Neil Kinnock rewarded Morgan for this work[18] by appointing him to Labour'sshadow energy team on 10 November 1988.[57][58] He became a juniorshadow minister for energy, where he was given responsibility for Labour's response to the government's electricity privatisation policy. When taking the role, Morgan said he intended to scrutinise the government's plans for electricity privatisation as he found "no virtues in converting a public monopoly into a private sector monopoly" and wanted to find "a better deal for consumers".[59] During Morgan's tenure, the shadow energy team opposed electricity privatisation.[60] He spoke beyond his brief, asking why Wales received less investment thanCornwall andDevon and exploring a now disprovenconspiracy theory[61] that theSpandau prisoner believed to beNazi German deputy FührerRudolf Hess was an imposter.[28][62]
In the shadow energy team, Morgan initially worked underTony Blair, theshadow secretary of state for energy from 1988 to 1989.[4][63] He then worked underFrank Dobson, the shadow energy secretary from 1989 to 1992.[47][64] According toThe Independent, Morgan and Blair worked "harmoniously" together.[17] In contrast, theNew Statesman said Morgan "antagonised [Blair] at every step".[65] Morgan himself believed that he was "highly regarded" by Blair.[60] He supported Blair's attempt to get elected to theNational Executive Committee of the Labour Party in 1992 and voted for Blair during hiscampaign for the Labour leadership in 1994, which he won.[17][60]
.jpg)
On 30 July 1992, therecently elected Labour leaderJohn Smith appointed Morgan as ashadow minister for Welsh affairs.[66] He remained in this post after Tony Blair became Labour leader in 1994.[67][68] At first, Morgan worked underAnn Clwyd, theshadow secretary of state for Wales from July 1992 to November 1992.[66][69] He then worked underRon Davies, the shadow welsh secretary from November 1992, serving as his deputy.[29]: 3 He was also given responsibility for Labour's health policy in Wales.[70][71]
In the Welsh affairs brief, Morgan targetedquangos in Wales for their allegedcronyism, unaccountability and lack of democracy.[28][29]: 3 These quangos were unelected, publicly funded organisations whose leaders were appointed by the Conservative government.[72][29]: 3 UnderJohn Redwood's tenure asWelsh secretary, theWelsh Office was criticised for presiding over a large increase over the amount of quangos in the country, with people sympathetic to the Conservative Party often appointed to lead them. In 1979, there were 44 quangos in Wales. By 1994, there were 111.[73] Quangos came to dominate Wales.[28] In 1994, Morgan claimed that government plans would result in there being more people sitting on quangos than local councillors in the country.[72] He refused to vote for theWelsh Language Act 1993; the act's main purpose was to set up a new quango called theWelsh Language Board. Morgan said Labour would abstain on the act "because we hope to have the opportunity before long to do the job properly. That will be done when we revisit the question of a Welsh language measure when we are in Government."[74] WhenWilliam Hague was Welsh secretary, Morgan staged a protest with other Welsh Labour MPs outside the 1996Conservative Party Conference, where he claimed that the total cost of the quangos in Wales had reached £51.5 million.[75]
To tackle the cost of the Welsh quangos, Morgan stated in 1996 that a devolvedWelsh Assembly established by a Labour government would combine four quangos, theWelsh Development Agency, theCardiff Bay Development Corporation, theDevelopment Board for Rural Wales and theLand Authority for Wales to create an "economic powerhouse".[76] The idea of establishing a devolved Welsh Assembly had been supported by Morgan, who was one of its leading proponents.[77] He was involved in talks with the upper ranks of the Labour Party on devolution,[18] becoming an important figure in drawing up its devolution policy for Wales.[29]: 3 In the Welsh affairs brief, he campaigned for Welsh devolution,[8] helping move the proposal for a Welsh Assembly further up the Labour Party's policy platform.[78] He was a member of theCampaign for the Welsh Assembly[78] and supportedWales Labour Action, apressure group within the Labour Party that called for the establishment of a Welsh Assembly.[79]: 40
Morgan's opposition to the Welsh quangos, as well as his attempts to stop the construction of the Cardiff Bay Barrage, alienated the traditionalists within the Labour Party in Wales. These actions also made him a known troublemaker towards the Welsh political establishment. In Cardiff, Morgan faced hostility from the local political establishment in the Labour Party.[29]: 3–4 He ultimately found the 1992–1997 parliament more challenging than the previous parliament.[4] He had a difficult relationship with some of Tony Blair's inner circle,[18] including his close confidant Alun Michael and his closest adviserPeter Mandelson.[60][77]
In the1997 general election, the Labour Party secured a landslide victory against the Conservative Party, returning to government after 18 years in opposition.[80] Morgan had been aspiring to become a government minister since at least 1994,[81] and when Labour returned to government he was expected to be given a role in the Welsh Office as a junior minister.[18][82] However, in what was viewed as a surprising decision, Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to give Morgan a role in the government.[83][84] Ron Davies, the Welsh secretary in the new government, had wanted to keep Morgan in his team as a junior minister, but Blair refused to appoint him to such a role.[85]: 23 At the time, Blair's official explanation was that Morgan, aged 57, was too old for a ministerial career.[60][86] However, in a 2017 interview withBBC News, Blair revealed that he did not appoint Morgan to the government because they disagreed on policy, adding that he viewed himself as aprogressive politician bringing change while he viewed Morgan as a traditionalist.[84] Morgan returned to the backbenches[85]: 219 where he was elected chair of the House of CommonsPublic Administration Committee as aconsolation prize.[21][87]
In his later parliamentary career as a backbencher, Morgan provoked the Labour government for its hesitance to ban the advertising of cigarettes, its unenthusiastic approach to freedom of information and for the party'sparliamentary selection process.[28]
Labour's election manifesto for the 1997 general election included a commitment to hold a devolution referendum in Wales to determine whether to establish a devolved Welsh assembly.[88] In the1997 Welsh devolution referendum, Morgan campaigned for theYes vote.[89] He was also considering standing for election to the assembly if the referendum passed.[77] The referendum resulted in a narrow majority in favour, which led to the passing of theGovernment of Wales Act 1998 and the formation of the devolvedNational Assembly for Wales in 1999. Morgan decided to put his name forward as Labour's candidate for the assembly seat ofCardiff West, which had the same name and boundaries as his seat in the House of Commons. He was subsequently identified as a likely contender to become the first leader of the assembly, known as theFirst Secretary of Wales.[90]
Following the result of the 1997 devolution referendum, Morgan immediately decided to run for the leadership of theLabour Party in Wales.[4] This meant that he was also running to become the inaugural first secretary of Wales, as Labour was expected to win the most seats in the first election to the assembly.[4][91] Leading the assembly had been a long-held ambition of Morgan's.[92][79]: 202 However, the favourite to become first secretary was the Welsh secretary Ron Davies, who was viewed as the architect of the government's plans for the devolved assembly.[93] In March 1998, Davies announced his intention to stand for a seat in the assembly and run for the post of first secretary.[94] Morgan then called for a leadership election to determine who the party's candidate for first secretary would be.[95] Senior figures in the Labour Party in Wales feared that a leadership election could split the party and instead preferred to avoid an election, with Davies running for the post of first secretary unopposed. However, Morgan continued to insist on a leadership election, stating that he had already announced his intention to become first secretary before Davies did.[95][79]: 202
Campaigning for the1998 Welsh Labour leadership election began in March 1998 and lasted until September.[96] In his leadership pitch, Morgan cited his administrative experience in London, Europe, local government and the Welsh Office.[93] He also presented himself as the "new beginning, anti-establishment" candidate and as the "unity" candidate.[94][95] Davies had the support of Tony Blair and the party machinery of the Labour Party[4] and was viewed as the establishment candidate.[97] Morgan also presented himself as the "democratic" candidate, as he had campaigned for the election to be held under theone member, one vote electoral system.[97] However, senior figures in the Labour Party in Wales decided to hold the election under anelectoral college withblock voting, which was decried as "undemocratic" by Davies' opponents.[98] Support for Davies came from the large trade unions such asUnison and theTransport and General Workers' Union and from the majority of Labour MPs, MEPs and Welsh assembly candidates. Support for Morgan came from the smaller trade unions, the constituency membership and the party grassroots.[97] Ideologically, both Morgan and Davies were on the soft left of the Labour Party.[97]
In September 1998, Davies won the leadership election, therefore becoming the Labour Party in Wales' candidate for first secretary.[99] Morgan had won the most nominations from the constituency Labour parties,[4] as well as the membership vote across the constituency parties which held a membership ballot, but the electoral college left him with 31.78% of the vote to Davies' 68.22%.[99] Davies would resign from the cabinet and the leadership six weeks later after being involved in an alleged gay sex scandal onClapham Common. Tony Blair appointed Alun Michael as Welsh secretary and planned for him to become the first secretary without a leadership election.[4] Blair appointed Michael, aBlairite, to prevent Morgan from taking the leadership.[18] Michael invited Morgan and another likely contender for the post,Wayne David, to serve with him as his deputies. Morgan declined Michael's offer and insisted on another leadership election.[92][4] Blair met with Morgan and tried to convince him not to stand, but Morgan rejected this appeal and continued his leadership campaign.[100][4]
The1999 Welsh Labour leadership election took place in February 1999. It was a repeat of the 1998 leadership contest in several ways.[4] Morgan once again presented himself as the "anti-establishment" candidate. He also presented himself as the choice of the Welsh people. In contrast, Michael was widely seen as a reluctantparachute candidate from London who was imposed on Wales by the Labour Party leadership. In actuality, both Michael and Morgan were native Welsh speakers from Wales who shared a long-standing commitment to Welsh devolution. Morgan was described as the left-wing "Old Labour" candidate while Michael was described as the centrist "New Labour" candidate. Although Michael had by this point become a Blairite, both candidates had their origins in the soft left of the Labour Party. There was also some animosity between them, as Morgan had been a leading campaigner against the Cardiff Bay Barrage project while Michael had been a leading campaigner in support of it.
 | |
| Premiership of Rhodri Morgan 9 February 2000 – 10 December 2009 | |
Rhodri Morgan | |
| Cabinet | Interim government 1st government 2nd government 3rd government 4th government |
| Party | Welsh Labour Party |
| Election | 2003,2007 |
| Appointed by | Elizabeth II |
| Seat | Tŷ Hywel |
A committed supporter of Welshdevolution, Morgan contested the position of Labour's nominee for the (then titled) First Secretary for Wales. He lost to the thenSecretary of State for Wales,Ron Davies. Davies was then forced to resign his position following an alleged sex scandal, whereupon Morgan again ran for the post. His opponent,Alun Michael, the new Secretary of State for Wales, was seen as a reluctant participant despite also having a long-standing commitment to Welsh devolution, and was widely regarded as being the choice of the UK leadership of the Labour Party.[101]
Michael was duly elected to the leadership but resigned a little more than a year later, amid threats of an imminent no-confidence vote and alleged plotting against him by members of not only his own party, but also Assembly groups and Cabinet members. Morgan, who had served as Minister for Economic Development under Michael,[82] became Labour's new nominee for First Secretary, and was elected in February 2000, later becoming First Minister on 16 October 2000 when the position was retitled. He was also appointed to thePrivy Council in July 2000.[102]
Morgan stepped down from theHouse of Commons at the2001 General Election.
Morgan's leadership was characterised by a willingness to distance himself from a number of aspects of UK Labour Party policy, particularly in relation to plans to introduce choice and competition intopublic services, which he has argued do not fit Welsh attitudes and values, and would not work effectively in a smaller and more rural country. In aspeech given inSwansea to theNational Centre for Public Policy in November 2002, Morgan stated his opposition tofoundation hospitals (a UK Labour proposal), and referred to the "Clear Red Water"[103] separating policies in Wales and inWestminster.[104]
On 1 May 2003, Labour under Morgan's leadershipwas re-elected in the Assembly elections. Morgan managed to win enough seats to form a Labour-only administration (the election was held underproportional representation, and Labour won 30 of the 60 seats in the Assembly and the overall majority was achieved whenDafydd Elis-Thomas AM was elected Presiding Officer of the Assembly) and named his cabinet on 9 May. In that election, Labour easily took back all of the former strongholds they lost toPlaid Cymru atthe height of Alun Michael's unpopularity in 1999.
In his second term, Morgan's administration continued its theme of "Welsh solutions for Welsh problems", a marked contrast to theBlairite public service reform agenda.[citation needed] Instead of competition,Welsh Labour emphasised the need forcollaboration between public service providers.[105]
Labour was the biggest party with 26 out of the 60 seats, five short of an overall majority. After one month ofminority government, Morgan signed acoalition agreement (One Wales) withIeuan Wyn Jones, leader ofPlaid Cymru, on 27 June 2007. Morgan became the first modern political leader of Wales to lead an Assembly with powers to pass primary legislation (subject to consent from Westminster).[citation needed]
In July 2005, Morgan announced his intention to lead the Welsh Labour party into the 2007 general election, but retire as leader of Welsh Labour and First Minister sometime in 2009, when he would be 70.[106] On his 70th birthday (29 September) he set the exact date as immediately following the Assembly's budget session on 8 December 2009.[107]Counsel GeneralCarwyn Jones, Health MinisterEdwina Hart andMerthyr Tydfil and RhymneyAMHuw Lewis entered a leadership contest to elect a new Labour leader in Wales.[108] On 1 December 2009 the winner was declared as Carwyn Jones,[109] who assumed office as First Minister on 10 December 2009. Morgan remained a backbench AM until April 2011, when the third Assembly was dissolved before thegeneral election on 5 May 2011.
Morgan marriedJulie Morgan (née Edwards) in 1967. Julie would later have her own political career as an AM and MP, joining Morgan in the House of Commons in 1997.[4][45] The couple had two daughters, Mari and Siani, and an adopted son, Stuart. Mari was born in 1968 and became a scientist while Siani was born in 1969 and became a charity worker.[7] Stuart, born in 1969 or 1970,[33] was troubled and had multiple convictions.[7] Morgan also had eight grandchildren[110] and aLabrador named William Tell.[111][112] His elder brotherPrys Morgan was a history professor at Swansea University[18] and his second cousinGarel Rhys was an academic.[1]
Following marriage, Morgan settled atDinas Powys. From 1986, he then lived with his wife and children at Lower House, a former farmhouse in the countryside ofMichaelston-le-Pit.[113][16] The home was known for being untidy and disorganised,[113] with friends reportedly describing it as a "tip".[114] The couple also had a caravan inMwnt, on the coast ofCeredigion, where the family holidayed each summer for at least 40 years.[82][115] Morgan was a long-time friend ofNeil Kinnock, leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.[116][3]: 299 In their younger years, they were part of a rock band together.[117] They shared a flat in Cardiff from 1963 to 1965.[7] Morgan was also a long-time friend of the former AMSue Essex.[118]
In July 2007, Morgan had anunstable angina which caused a partial blockage in two of his arteries and aheart attack.[119][29]: 20 He was admitted to hospital where he underwentcardiac surgery and had twostent implants to unblock his arteries.[120][121] Even though he left hospital within the week, doctors said he would not be fully recovered for a few weeks.[122]
Morgan collapsed on the evening of 17 May 2017 while cycling onCwrt yr Ala Road,Wenvoe, near his home. Police and paramedics were called to the scene and he was pronounced dead.[123] He was 77.[124]
Morgan's family held ahumanist funeral for him, in line with his humanist beliefs, at the Welsh Assembly on 31 May, which was open on a first-come first-served basis to the public, as well as broadcast on screens outside the Senedd and online. The funeral was televised and billed as a major national event. The ceremony was led by Morgan's friend and former Welsh Labour colleagueLorraine Barrett.[125][126] A private service of committal was held atThornhill Crematorium's Wenallt Chapel in Cardiff the next day.
 |
Morgan was awarded severalhonorary degrees for his service to the United Kingdom, including the following.
| Country | Date | School | Degree |
|---|---|---|---|
 Wales | 26 November 2007 | University of Wales | HonoraryDoctor of Laws (LL.D)[127] |
| Wales | June 2009 | Bangor University | Honorary Doctorate[128] |
| Wales | 2009 | Aberystwyth University | Honorary Fellow[129] |
| Wales | 2010 | Cardiff University | Honorary Doctorate[130] |
| Wales | 2010 | Swansea University | Honorary Doctorate[131] |
| Wales | July 2011 | University of Glamorgan | Honorary Doctorate[132] |
He was also appointed Chancellor of Swansea University in 2011, a post he held until his death. He had close links with the university as both his parents had graduated from it in the 1920s and his father and brother also taught there.[133]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)From his maiden speech his brilliance was not in doubt. But he was seen as a maverick, a 'loose cannon' who tended to strike out wittily.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCardiff West 1987–2001 | Succeeded by |
| Senedd | ||
| New constituency | Assembly Member forCardiff West 1999–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| New office | Minister for Economic Development and European Affairs 1999–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded byas First Secretary of Wales | First Minister of Wales 2000–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Leader ofWelsh Labour 2000–2009 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
