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.[1]
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.[2] 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.[3]
Welsh Labour has instead favoured a relatively conservative approach to managing public services, emphasising central co-ordination and collaboration between public service providers [4]. 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.
Second 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.” [5]
Betsan Powys, Political Editor for BBC Wales reported on 18 September, 2008 that the Employment Tribunal is still going ahead, and that it's unlikely to be heard until next year (2009) but that it will be discussed in an internal meeting, presumably in government offices in Cathays Park, next week. Ms Powys also reports on correspondence seen from solicitors acting for the government, mentioning that they don't mince their words "The letter ends on what I'll call a blunt note: go ahead and we'll apply for a full costs order against you, one that covers all fees, charges, disbursements and expenses incurred by WAG." Bluntly ending with "Give in now and we won't." [6]
This was seen as a bad year in the Welsh media for the Welsh Civil Service. First was the case of an accusation of sexual harassment from a senior manager towards a minor grade employee, Christine Davies. Mrs Davies went on to confirm that "sexual harassment and bullying is widespread in the Welsh Assembly – and that women are intimidated by some male bosses on a daily basis" [7] [8] [9] [10]. Mr Morgan asked his Permanent Secretary Sir Jon Shortridge to hold an internal inquiry after a judge upheld complaints that a senior civil servant sexually harassed a woman colleague [11]. This resulted in the civil service of the Welsh Assembly Government clearing itself of all blame from its own inquiry into the allegations, and immediately before Sir Jon retired from office [12].
Offices held
References
External links
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