Rhodri

Rhodri Morgan

Description

Rhodri: A Political Life in Wales and Westminster is the political autobiography of Rhodri Morgan. This posthumously published account of the political life of the father of Welsh devolution is delivered with the fluency and wit that was so characteristic of the man himself. The first First Minister of Wales and Welsh Labour leader revisits the early influences that shaped him politically and which led him to Westminster, and his relationship with the New Labour project and the party establishment’s campaign to prevent him becoming Labour leader in Wales – before ‘the people’s choice’ eventually prevailed. As First Minister of Wales from 2000, he led three terms of Labour Government in Cardiff Bay (with the political, as well as health, challenges of two coalition arrangements), and navigated his own path into clear red water to present a distinct alternative policy agenda to the New Labour Government in London. Written with his typical lack of ostentation, this book allows us to read the final reflections by Rhodri Morgan on political life in Wales, in Westminster and beyond, with unique insight into the first ten years in the history of the National Assembly of Wales.

Sujets

• Political
• Lettres et linguistique
• Biography
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786831484
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

Extrait

A Political Life in Wales and Westminster

Rhodri Morgan

UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2017

© The Estate of Rhodri Morgan, 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4UP.

www.uwp.co.uk

British Library CIP Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN eISBN

9781786831477 9781786831484

The University of Wales Press acknowledges the financial support of the Welsh Books Council.

Typesetting and layout by Chris Bell, CB Design Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Melksham Cover photograph by Terry Morris Cover design by Chris Lee

Contents

Foreword Kevin Brennan and Mark Drakeford

List of illustrations

1 The Cradle of Belief1939–1963

2 The Next TwentyFour Years1963–1987

3 MP Morgan: Mainstream or Maverick1987–1997

4 Leadership Contests1997–1998

5 They Got Us Surrounded1998–1999

6 Getting the Show on the Road1999–2000

7 Earning Respect2000–2003

8 The Heyday That Wasn’t2003–2007

9 Working with Plaid2007–2009

10 No BackSeat Driving 2010–2017

Index

vii

xvii

1

41

77

119

137

157

185

259

287

329

341

Foreword

UR FRIEND AND MENTOR Rhodri Morgan left this book very largely, but not finally, finished when he died so unexpectedly on 17 May 2017. O He had been working on the final details right up to the day of his death. A preface had been planned, to explain the approach taken in the book, and to thank those many individuals who had contributed to it. Now, some of that at least falls to us. Our main qualification for doing so is that we knew and worked with Rhodri throughout his career as a public politician, and continued to do so right up to his death. For the present task, this is only a very partial set of credentials. The book is far more than an account of elected office. It is quite certainly not – and was never intended to be – a book of historical record. Rather, it is an account of a life from the unique perspective of the person who actually lived it: personal, compelling, individual in tone as well as content. In the early weeks after his death, reading these pages proved at times a painful experience in a way never intended, because the author’s voice can be so unmistakably be heard. Readers and students many years from now can be confident that the text reads as its author spoke. In life, Rhodri enjoyed gossip and storytelling, and used figurative language to illustrate his point. Many historians have written of how the great Texan president Lyn don Baines Johnson would secure the attention of interlocutors by grabbing their lapels and holding them close. In later years, as Chancellor of Swansea University, Rhodri formed his own links with the University of Texas, including with members of the Johnson family and, though never physical in his approach, Rhodri’s con versational technique was actually not so different to the Texan’s. He grabbed your attention, drew you in close, and held you there with the strength of his words rather than the force of his hands, until the encounter was over.

viiiRhodri

How, then, was this book produced? The essential answer is by recollection, amplified by conversation. Much has been written, both during Rhodri’s career and since his death, about his phenomenal memory, and all that you have read is true. He had an astonishing ability to absorb, retain and recall information of all sorts, from complex technical research to apparently casual conversation. Moreo ver – and even more remarkably – he had an ability to summon up and synthesise material across time and across apparently disparate subjects. During the period of the gestation and preparation of this autobiography, we have lost count of the number of people who have told us of conversations in which Rhodri drew out and discussed events that he wanted to pin down for inclusion in the book. Nev ertheless, a core group of people have been involved throughout its production, and because Rhodri is now unable to thank them himself, we want to make sure that we do so on his behalf. As readers will discover, a significant portion of this book is given over to explor ing the family experiences that shaped Rhodri’s life. No one was more important to him in his early years than his brother, Prys – Professor Prys Morgan – and their relationship remained central to many aspects of Rhodri’s life as First Minister. If ever an issue relating to the Welsh language cropped up, Prys would be consulted. In the highly unlikely event that a gap emerged in Rhodri’s knowledge of Welsh geography – a village not yet visited, a hamlet unheard of, a minor road not trav elled – Prys would fill the gap. Faced with a speech to make where visitors from outside Wales were to be present, Prys would be relied upon to find some family connection or intertwining of national histories, around which twenty minutes of information and entertainment could be crafted. All of these contributions can be found in the weft and weave of this book, not on the surface necessarily, but in the patterns of thought and depth of understanding that lie beneath it. For the political chapters of this book, Rhodri relied on a close group of indi viduals who had been present throughout or during a large part of his career. The book would not have reached its state of nearreadiness without the con sistent help of Jane Runeckles, a Special Adviser during Rhodri’s tenure as First Minister, and a regular reminder to him of the need to commit those memoirs to paper; Lawrence Conway, a civil servant like no other, whose presence at Rhod ri’s side at almost every moment made him an indispensable sounding board for the evolving text; and, latterly, Jo Kiernan, political journalist, media adviser and, in the context of this book, a driving force to get it over the line. Their assistance covered all facets of the book, from helping to generate its content to shaping its final form. Those who knew Rhodri, even by reputation, will not to be shocked to learn that the second of these tasks was at least as challenging as the first. In one version of the book, a particular chapter had been allocated between eight and ten thousand words, but a first (still incomplete) draft of that chapter weighed in at 56,000 words! Every author needs an editor and, in this regard, the input of the

The Cradle of Belief1939–1963ix

whole team at the University of Wales Press is of note – specifically Sarah Lewis as Head of Commissioning, Siân Chapman as Production Manager, and Dafydd Jones as Editor of the Press, each of whom has played an important part. We would not have the book at all without the patient determination of Pro fessor Mike Sullivan of Swansea University. Very soon after his retirement from the National Assembly, Rhodri wrote a version of the material that appears in the early chapters. Then he lost interest – or at least was overtaken by other events, including becoming Chancellor of Swansea University. Mike and Rhodri were already acquainted. Mike had chaired the very first exercise to identify and select Labour candidates for the inaugural Assembly election, and had worked as both a specialist and special adviser inside the Welsh Government, being particularly influential in and around the formation of the One Wales administration and in shaping the children’s rights agenda of which Rhodri was so proud. During his Chancellorship at Swansea, it was Mike who brought Rhodri back to the idea of an autobiography, by pitching it to him as part of a double act in which the Morgan book would be accompanied by a Sullivan text, telling the same story of devolution from a more analytical and academic perspective. In part, at least, this notion of companion volumes helps explain some of the barer passages that might otherwise strike the reader in Rhodri’s own text. There are significant events and longterm developments which are conspicuous mainly by their absence or brief treatment. Some of this material, understanda bly, Rhodri regarded as better developed in the less personal account that Mike had contracted to produce. Then there was the volume of material on the cut ting room floor. Quite simply, not everything could be included, and neither was everything meant to be included.The publisher had initial thoughts of newspaper serialisation, and certainly Rhodri was already planning and immensely looking forward to a book tour; both of these would require material held back to bring readers and purchasers through the door. And who was to say, in any case, that this one book would be the last? Because it is the only book to be produced by Rhodri himself, of course, we wanted to use the opportunity of this foreword to outline some of the themes which in many ways he was too modest to claim himself. A great deal of what made Rhodri such a remarkable politician did not seem all that remarkable to him – to a degree that escapes all but a very few other practitioners of the political arts, he naturally possessed those qualities, and this book is remarkable for the understated claims it makes for some very emphatic achievements. And, because the man himself loved lists – lists of everything, ten things to do today, eight people to appoint to the Cabinet, fifteen best leftfooted fullbacks never to have played for Wales – we have compiled a brief list of what appear to us to be key dimensions of Rhodri’s contribution as First Minister that a casual reading of the book might not otherwise reveal.