Rhodri Morgan

Infobox First Minister
honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
name=Hywel Rhodri Morgan
honorific-suffix = AM


order=2nd First Minister for Wales
term_start =16 October, 2000
(First Secretary since February 9, 2000)
term_end =
deputy=Mike German
(2000-2001)
Jenny Randerson
(2001-2002)
Mike German
(2002-2003)
Ieuan Wyn Jones
(2007 - Present)
predecessor =Alun Michael "(First Secretary)"
successor =
constituency_AM2 =Cardiff West
majority2 =3,698 (13.8%)
term_start2 =6 May 1999
term_end2 =
predecessor2 ="new constituency"
successor2 =
constituency_MP3 =Cardiff West
term_start3 =11 June 1987
term_end3 =7 June 2001
predecessor3 =Stefan Terlezki
successor3 =Kevin Brennan
birth_date =Birth date and age|1939|9|29|df=y
birth_place =Cardiff, Wales
constituency=Cardiff West
party=Welsh Labour

Rt. Hon Hywel Rhodri Morgan AM (born 29 September 1939) is a Welsh politician; the Labour National Assembly for Wales Member for the constituency of Cardiff West; and the second and current First Minister for Wales.

Private life

Born in Cardiff, the son of Professor T. J. Morgan. His brother is the eminent historian, Prys Morgan.

Rhodri Morgan was educated at Whitchurch Grammar School (merged with Whitchurch County Secondary School to become the comprehensive Whitchurch High School in 1972) on "Penlline Road" in Whitchurch; St John's College, Oxford studying PPE; and Harvard University, where he gained an MA.

In 1967, he married Julie Edwards, now Labour MP for Cardiff North. The couple live in Michaelston-le-Pit, and are supporters of the British Humanist Association. They have a son and two daughters.

Rhodri Morgan worked as an Industrial Development Officer for South Glamorgan County Council from 1974 to 1980 before becoming Head of the European Community's office in Wales from 1980 to 1987.

In July 2007, Rhodri Morgan was admitted to hospital where he underwent heart surgery. Even though he left hospital within the week, doctors said he would not be fully recovered for a few weeks. [ [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/wales/story/0,,2122060,00.html Rhodri Morgan spends night in hospital | Politics | guardian.co.uk ] ]

Political career

Westminster

Morgan was elected as Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Cardiff West in 1987. From 1988 to 1994, he was a Shadow Environment Spokesman. He was also Chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Public Administration (1997-1999), and Opposition Front Bench Spokesman on Energy (1988-92) and Welsh Affairs (1992-1997). He stepped down from the British House of Commons at the 2001 General Election.

National Assembly for Wales

First Assembly (1999)

A committed supporter of Welsh devolution, Morgan contested the position of Labour's nominee for the (then titled) First Secretary of the Welsh Assembly. He lost to the then Secretary of State for Wales, Ron Davies. Davies was then forced to resign his position after 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.

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 widespread plotting against him by members of not only his own party, but also Assembly groups and Cabinet members. Rhodri Morgan was elected as the new Labour nominee, and thus became First Minister on 16 October, 2000, having held the same post under its old title of "First Secretary" since February of that year. He was appointed to the Privy Council in July 2000. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/848851.stm BBC News | UK POLITICS | Morgan made privy councillor ] ] He stepped down from the British House of Commons at the 2001 General Election.

Morgan's leadership has been 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 into public 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 a speech given in Swansea to the National Centre for Public Policy in November 2002, Morgan stated his opposition to foundation hospitals (a UK Labour proposal), and referred to the "clear red water" separating policies in Wales and in Westminster. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2565859.stm BBC NEWS | Wales | New Labour 'attack' under fire ] ]

Welsh Labour has instead favoured a relatively conservative approach to managing public services, emphasising central co-ordination and collaboration between public service providers [http://new.wales.gov.uk/docrepos/40382/403823121/40382213/403822133/mtc-document-e1.pdf?lang=en] . Critics of this type of approach, like Julian Le Grand, argue that it offers weak incentives for providers to respond to the needs of service users.

econd Assembly (2003)

On 1 May 2003, Labour under Morgan's leadership was re-elected in the Assembly elections. Morgan managed to win enough seats to form a Labour-only administration (the election was held under proportional representation, and Labour won 30 of the 60 seats in the Assembly and the overall majority was achieved when Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM was elected Presiding Officer of the Assembly) and named his cabinet on May 9. In that election, Labour easily took back all of the former strongholds they lost to Plaid Cymru at the height of Alun Michael's unpopularity in 1999.

Third Assembly (2007)

Labour is the biggest party with 26 out of the 60 seats, four short of an overall majority. Rhodri Morgan is the first modern political leader of Wales to lead a law-making government.

Rhodri Morgan was the minister responsible for the Welsh Assembly Government civil service that dismissed blogger Christopher Glamorganshire in the Autumn of 2007. Glamorganshire ran a blog which provided what readers saw as a neutral running commentary on 2007’s coalition negotiations involving Labour and Plaid Cymru. Former Conservative Assembly Member Glyn Davies, a regular blogger, is quoted as saying “The Christopher Glamorganshire blog was on my list of ‘my favourites’. It seemed to me to be written in a sensible and rational manner. Clearly, if his contract of employment said he was not allowed to blog, he doesn’t have much of a case. But if it is simply a question of supposedly contravening the code, I think sacking him is very harsh and heavy handed. This all smacks of the heavy hand of the state.” [citeweb|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/politics-news/2008/07/09/sacked-blogger-s-taking-case-to-tribunal-91466-21308104/|title=Sacked blogger’s taking case to tribunal|publisher=Western Mail|date=July 09 2008|accessdate=2008-07-18]

References

External links

* [http://www.rhodri-morgan.com www.rhodri-morgan.com] 2007 Assembly campaign website
* [http://www.welshlabour.org.uk/ Welsh Labour Party Website]
* [http://new.wales.gov.uk/?lang=en Website of the Welsh Assembly Government]

Offices held