From maverick to political institution

Former Plaid Cymru chief Lord Elis-Thomas, who has died aged 78, went from a maverick to a member of the political institution.

Throughout a profession that concerned 12 years because the Welsh Meeting’s first Presiding Officer, the equal of the Speaker of the Home of Commons, he was by no means removed from controversy and criticism.

Typically the criticism got here from his personal get together, notably when he accepted a peerage and attacked Welsh language nationalism.

Ultimately he would give up Plaid Cymru and sit as an impartial member in Cardiff Bay.

Some may not have favored the best way he held forth on controversial matters whereas holding an workplace that demanded neutrality.

However he noticed it as his job to face up for a fledgling legislature – a job that typically wanted an outspoken determine.

Dafydd Elis-Thomas was born in Carmarthen in 1946, and educated at Llanrwst Grammar Faculty and Bangor College.

He led Plaid Cymru’s youth part and campaigned in opposition to the 1969 investiture of Prince Charles in Caernarfon fortress.

In 1974 he was one in every of three Welsh nationalists elected to the Home of Commons with Gwynfor Evans and Dafydd Wigley.

At 27, he was the youngest member of that parliament – the “child of the home”.

The opposite Dafydd beat him in a contest to guide Plaid when Mr Evans, a large within the get together, stood down in 1981.

The battle for the succession was a battle to resolve whether or not Plaid tacked to the left beneath Dafydd El or held a extra average course beneath Dafydd Wigley.

Following Mr Wigley’s resignation, he was elected get together president in October 1984, beating Dafydd Iwan, the candidate from the get together’s traditionalist wing.

Beneath Lord Elis-Thomas’s management, Plaid gave sturdy help to the miners of their strike of 1984 and gained a 3rd seat in parliament on the 1987 election.

He stood down as an MP in 1992 and was ennobled as a cross-bench peer in the identical yr, regardless of his get together’s opposition to the Lords on the time.

He served as chairman of the Welsh language board from 1994-99 earlier than his election as Plaid Cymru Meeting member for Meirionydd Nant Conwy.

He served as presiding officer of the Welsh Meeting, now referred to as the Senedd, from 1999 to 2011, however the position didn’t cease him making headlines together with his outspoken views.

He clashed bitterly with the then first secretary Alun Michael in 2000 over procedures surrounding a no-confidence vote in Mr Michael’s dealing with of European funding.

He was an early advocate for a separation between the meeting and its government – a divide that was lastly enacted within the Authorities of Wales Act 2006.

He ignited livid debate in 2001 when he mentioned there was an anti-English feeling inside Welsh language nationalism and there was no such factor as a Welsh-speaking heartland.

He was recognized for a memorable flip of phrase, reminiscent of this tackle a row about the place meeting members sit within the chamber: “What’s the level of getting up within the morning, cleansing my tooth, washing and shaving if you happen to go to work in an establishment like this.”

He pushed for a extra highly effective meeting, calling for the devolution of management over policing and broadcasting.

He intervened in a spat between Westminster and Cardiff Bay about devolving powers over housing coverage, accusing some Welsh MPs of “performing opposite to the spirit of devolution”.

Not everybody appreciated his fashion.

Regardless of having neighbouring workplaces in the course of the second meeting, he and former deputy presiding officer John Marek barely spoke after rowing a few departing official.

He referred to as for meeting members to boycott a gathering with the Israeli ambassador, organised by the meeting’s solely Muslim AM,.

In 2011 he provoked a livid response from Labour and the Conservatives when he mentioned the Wales Workplace ought to be scrapped within the wake of the referendum to provide the meeting direct law-making powers.

Quickly after, he let it’s recognized he would enter the competition to succeed outgoing Plaid chief Ieuan Wyn Jones.

Twenty years after he vacated the position of get together president, it was a sometimes provocative transfer from one in every of Welsh politics’ most vibrant characters.

That contest was gained by Leanne Wooden, who Elis-Thomas went on to conflict with over the course of Plaid Cymru.

In 2016 he give up the get together to sit down as an impartial member in Cardiff Bay.

He mentioned it was as a result of Plaid Cymru was not “critical” about collaborating within the Labour-led Welsh authorities.

Later he was appointed deputy minister for tourism, sport and tradition in that authorities, led by Carwyn Jones, a job he continued when Mark Drakeford took over in late 2018.

Lord Elis-Thomas left the Senedd in 2021.

He leaves a widow, Mair Parry Jones, and three sons from a earlier marriage.