Dafydd Elis-Thomas

The Right Honourable The Lord Elis-Thomas PC AM
Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales
In office 12 May 1999 – 11 May 2011
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	New post
Succeeded by	Rosemary Butler
Member of the Welsh Assembly for Dwyfor Meirionnydd Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (1999–2007)
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 1999
Preceded by	New Assembly
Majority	8,868 (40.1%)
Member of Parliament for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy Meirionnydd (Feb. 1974–1983)
In office 28 February 1974 – 9 April 1992
Preceded by	William Edwards
Succeeded by	Elfyn Llwyd
Personal details
Born	(1946-10-18) 18 October 1946 Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Political party	Independent, Former Party Plaid Cymru
Spouse(s)	Elen M. Williams Mair Parry Jones (present)
Children	3

Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas,^[1] Baron Elis-Thomas, PC (born 18 October 1946) is a Welsh politician, representing the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the National Assembly for Wales. Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was raised in Ceredigion and the Conwy Valley. He represented Merioneth, then Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituencies as Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1992. and was the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales from its inception in 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the House of Lords, a former leader of Plaid Cymru, and, since 2004, a privy counsellor. On 14 October 2016 he left the party and sat as an independent in the Welsh Assembly.

Personal

Thomas was born on 18 October 1946 at Priory Hospital, Carmarthen, and brought up in the Llandysul area of Ceredigion, and in Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley.^[2][3] In 1970, he married Elen Williams and had three sons. They later divorced. From the mid-1980s until 1992 his partner was Marjorie Thompson, the chairwoman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In 1993, he married Mair Parry Jones. He lives in Llandaff, Cardiff (when working at the National Assembly) and Betws-y-Coed (in the Aberconwy constituency, but prior to boundary changes in his constituency).

Professional career

He was the chairman of the Welsh Language Board between 1994 and 1999, and is a former member of the Arts Council of Wales and the British Film Institute where he was Chairman of Screen between 1992 and 1999. He was also a director and vice-chairman of Cynefin Environmental Ltd. between 1992 and 1999. A former university lecturer, he has also been the president of Bangor University since 2000, as well as currently being a member of the governing body of the Church in Wales.

Political career

UK Parliament

Having come third at Conwy in 1970, Thomas served as Member of Parliament for the Meirionnydd constituency between 1974 and 1983, initially as the "Baby of the House", and the Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituency from 1983 to 1992.^[2][3]

He was made a life peer in 1992, and changed his surname from Thomas to Elis-Thomas by deed poll, enabling him to take the title Baron Elis-Thomas, of Nant Conwy in the County of Gwynedd.^[1] He sat as a crossbench peer because at that time he had taken on the non-political role of chair of the Welsh Language Board;^[4] in 2012 he took the Plaid Cymru whip in the Lords.

In 2012, Lord Elis-Thomas attracted criticism from the pressure group Fix Parliament as the most expensive peer in the House of Lords per vote, having voted only once in 2011 yet having claimed £15,488.70 in expenses in the same year.

National Assembly for Wales

Elis-Thomas was elected to the newly established National Assembly for Wales in 1999, representing the Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituency until the 2007 election, and then the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency.^[2] He also held the position of Presiding Officer since the Assembly's inception in 1999 until 2011.^[2] Elis-Thomas was Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for Environment, Energy and Planning from 2011, transferring to Rural Affairs, Fisheries and Food in 2012.^[2]

Elis-Thomas is Honorary President of the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight Cymru.^[3]

In October 2016 he left Plaid Cymru, but remained in the Assembly as an Independent member.^[5]

"Mrs Windsor" incident

In December 2004 Lord Elis-Thomas asked Leanne Wood to leave the chamber for referring to the Queen as "Mrs Windsor" during a debate.^[6] Wood was the first assembly member to be ordered out of the chamber on those grounds.

Offices held

References

External links

• National Assembly for Wales Member profile
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Dafydd Elis-Thomas