Rhodri Morgan

Morgan was raised in Radyr, Cardiff where he lived with his family at 32 Heol Isaf until he was 21 years old

Morgan was raised with his brother Prys in the village of Radyr 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 a Methodist church.[14][1] Morgan was born in the first month of World War II, and the conflict had a great presence in his life during his early childhood.[1][3]^: 1 He retained vivid memories of air raid sirens and prisoners of war into adulthood.[15] He also had a lifelong love for gardening which began when he watched his father grow vegetables for the wartime dig 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 from pneumonia 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 by evacuees.[20][1] In 2005, Morgan remarked that the school was "like the League of Nations" because of the refugees and evacuees in Radyr.[15] The school was populated by a combination of evacuees and children from Radyr and Morganstown, 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 to The Cathedral School in Llandaff, which was a private school.[18] Morgan showed signs of intelligence at school, and he would be tracked two academic years ahead of his peers, sharing classes with his older brother Prys.[18] He finished primary school in 1950 and passed his eleven-plus examination.[1][21] He attended Whitchurch Grammar School, becoming one of the few children from Radyr to attend a school in Whitchurch 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 at St John's College, Oxford on an open exhibition for the study of modern languages.[18]

At Oxford, Morgan studied modern languages for two academic terms before becoming disinterested in the subject and changing his subject to philosophy, 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 the college president".[18][3]^: 37 Morgan graduated from Oxford in 1961. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with second class honours in PPE.[21][4] Morgan's American friends from his time at Oxford convinced him to apply for a place at Harvard University.[24] His second class honours was enough to secure him a place at Harvard to read a Master of Arts degree in government.[18][4] Morgan's studies in the United States were paid for through a scholarship.[25] He graduated from the Harvard 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 saw Dorothy Rees, the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Barry, shouted down by public school pupils who supported the Conservative 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 the Oxford University Labour Club[28] and is said to have discouraged other students at Oxford from joining Plaid 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 the constituency Labour Party for Cardiff South East.[4][29]^: 2

Morgan was elected as 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 House of Commons at the 2001 General Election. As an MP, Morgan was aligned with the soft left of the Labour Party.[38]

A committed supporter of Welsh devolution, Morgan contested the position of Labour's nominee for the (then titled) First Secretary for Wales. 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.[39]

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,[40] 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 the Privy Council in July 2000.[41]

Premiership of Rhodri Morgan 9 February 2000 – 10 December 2009
Premier	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

Morgan stepped down from the House of Commons at the 2001 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 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"[42] separating policies in Wales and in Westminster.[43]

Rhodri Morgan meets U.S. Ambassador Robert Tuttle on 7 October 2005 in Cardiff.

Rhodri Morgan campaigning in 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 9 May. 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.

In his second term, Morgan's administration continued its theme of "Welsh solutions for Welsh problems", a marked contrast to the Blairite public service reform agenda. Instead of competition, Welsh Labour emphasised the need for collaboration between public service providers.[44]

Labour was the biggest party with 26 out of the 60 seats, five short of an overall majority. After one month of minority government, Morgan signed a coalition agreement (One Wales) with Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of Plaid 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).

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.[45] On his 70th birthday (29 September) he set the exact date as immediately following the Assembly's budget session on 8 December 2009.[46] Counsel General Carwyn Jones, Health Minister Edwina Hart and Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney AM Huw Lewis entered a leadership contest to elect a new Labour leader in Wales.[47] On 1 December 2009 the winner was declared as Carwyn Jones,[48] 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 the general election on 5 May 2011.