A Glimpse of Cledwyn Hughes

As a staunch admirer of Cledwyn Hughes, it is a privilege to present to you an outline of his life and work. For I have read every scrap of paper, letters, sermons, speeches that have been kept in 81 boxes and one volume at the National Library of wales . In 1990 to accompany a major four part television series about Lord Cledwyn, the historian Emyr Price wrote two books , one in Welsh, the other in English on one of the foremost Welsh Labour figures of the post Second world War era. They are valuable outlines of his career ,and I am grateful to him and all those who wrote obituaries in February 2001.

Cledwyn regularly mentioned the influence of his father , Reverend Henry David Hughes ( 1885-1947) , the minister of Disgwylfa Welsh Presbyterian Church , London Road, Holyhead from 1915 till his death in 1947.So Cledwyn was the son of the Manse and he was so proud of it till his dying day His parents were from the slate quarrying areas of Dinorwig and Pontrhythallt, Llanrhug ,his mother Emily lost her first husband at the early age of 27.and remarried H.D. Hughes .She and her son Emlyn moved with H .D. Hughes from Conwy to Holyhead in the middle of the first World war. Her second son, Cledwyn was born on 14 September 1916 to a home where Liberal radical and nationalistic views complemented with moderate Calvinism. The chapel was his academy, there he learnt the alphabet in the Sunday School, the gospel of temperance in the Band of Hope, and the art of oratory from the Sunday Services in his father’s chapel. His father loved the pastoral side to his ministry, supported faithfully Holyhead Football Club( even re-arranging a Chapel Preaching Service in the mid -week so he and his fellow Nonconformists could watch ) , and was extremely popular in the town .He had friends in high places, the Liberal MP Sir R .J. Thomas was a member of his congregation , while he was also a close friend of the Lloyd George family .In his youth he had been mesmerised . by the leadership of the Young Wales Movement and its call for Home Rule for wales. He passed this thrill on to his son as he indicated in his lectures----------- The Referendum : End of an Era ( 1981 ) and Wales in Both Houses (1991 ).

David Lloyd George called at the Manse in 1928 to ask a favour for his young daughter, Megan Lloyd George for she had decided to enter the race for the Liberal nomination for the seat of Anglesey The retiring MP had promised his support to the barrister, Ellis William Roberts .Her youth ( she was only 22 ) .her gender, ( Wales had no female MP’s ) . her command of the Welsh Language was better than anyone in the family except her parents and her radical Young Wales ‘s manifesto were all admired in the Manse. H. D. Hughes agreed to support this ideal candidate in his opinion , and he chaired the large eve of poll meeting in Holyhead in the 1929 General election. Soon he visited the winning candidate in the House of Commons taking his son with him who was already showing at Holyhead Grammar School a keen interest in politics and in particular the Liberal Party though they were an unpleasant lot, their leaders quarrelling like ferrets. .Cledwyn went to the university college of Aberystwyth as a law student. The head of the Department was none other than Professor Thomas Levi, a maverick Liberal in Cardiganshire Politics .On the staff of the Law Department there was another staunch Liberal in the South Walian John Victor Evans who had done very well for the party in the Pontypridd constituency at the 1929 Election. Young Cledwyn was so disappointed to find out that the university College had no Liberal Club. so he undertook the task of establishing a Club. He persuaded Victor Evans to be the speaker for the inaugural meeting and he did well. The student noted :

‘’ Mr Evans inspiring address was the means of converting the conservatives and socialists present to Liberalism . ‘’

He became the secretary of the club and in the last year he was President . Graduating in 1937 with a successful social life but a rather dismal honours degree, but his Liberal contacts stood him in good stead when he was taken on by another Liberal grandee T.R . Evans, well known solicitor in Holyhead. But that summer he fell under the spell of the Welsh Nationalists for a brief period but he soon realised his error when they became too enthusiastic for his liking . As he looked around his home town he soon realised that the economic depression had convinced his father to open a soup kitchen in the chapel vestry for the unemployed and their poverty stricken families .Calvinistic Methodist elders such as Henry jones, who had stood for Labour in the 1935 Election , was bringing to him socialist literature from the Left Book club . Holyhead had over 51% of its workers unemployed, it was the worst situation in the whole of wales. Even the Liberal stalwart R.J. Thomas had told him one Sunday service after service--------------‘ Cledwyn, the future belongs to Labour ‘’. In other words make a move on if you want to be a House of Commons politician. He responded in 1938 and joined the Labour Party to the delight of the Socialist pioneers on the island. But he was also turning his back on his father’s liberalism and contemplating standing in the Labour colours. The advent pf the Second world war was a hindrance but he enlisted with the RAF though his father belonged to the pacifist wing. He had taken Cledwyn with him to hear the Liverpool born leader of FOR, George M .Ll .Davies speaking in Holyhead. The solicitor found himself stationed in a number of RAF bases and when serving at Llandwrog a few miles outside Caernarfon in 1944 he admitted ‘’ against the wishes of my father he was nominated as the parliamentary candidate for Anglesey ‘’ He now faced the charismatic Megan to the displeasure of his parents who sincerely believed that their beloved chapel of Disgwylfa would be split down the middle by their son’s foolishness. Cledwyn exhibited what Emyr Price called a ‘ stubborn independence which was a major feature of his character ‘. He battled with conviction in the election campaign of June /July 1945 , addressing in his RA F uniform 60 public meetings , 55 of them in the Welsh language, knowing that his politically minded father remained housebound in the Manse ( the nicest in the whole island ) in the words of his son ‘ like a lion in his cage’. The Liberals in Anglesey to the delight of Emily and H .D. Hughes kept the seat with a majority of 1,081.

From 1945 till the next election a great deal happened., for Cledwyn became an important figure in Anglesey politics, the town clerk of Holyhead, a county council member for the Kingsland ward, and a leader of numerous delegations. But in 1946 and 1947 he lost both his parents and his grandmother as well as meeting a handsome Calvinistic Methodist socialist ,Jean Beatrice Hughes, daughter of a sea captain,. She brought him comfort in his loss and became a formidable deputy to him in his political life.. They were married in 1949, and in 1950 their daughter Anne was born and in 1955 their son Harry which brought them so much delight and comfort. Jean was able to help him in the 1950 Election but Megan increased her majority , this time to 1, 929.Her brother Gwilym Lloyd George however lost Pembrokeshire to Desmond Donnelly, the Labour candidate by 129 votes .Hughes was frustrated and would have resigned but for a letter of advice from Goronwy Roberts , the Labour MP for Caernarfonshire. Even then he did not expect to win in 1951 when 81.4% of the electorate turned out and he won by the slender majority of 595 votes.

When he arrived in Westminster nervous and unsure of himself he realised that the labour hierarchy would have been quite content if he had lost The leader Clement Attlee welcomed him with these words ‘ Very glad to see you here, but I had a high regard for Megan’ .Herbert Morrison. Congratulated him half heartedly but added : ‘Mind you, Megan, is a great loss’. But the Labour MP who was really angry at his arrival was Philip Noel Baker. Though married, Lady Megan had been his mistress for years. To her angry lover there were no option for her but to join the Labour Party which did happen in a few years and Cledwyn was a ‘miserable little solicitor’ in his sight. However Cledwyn and Megan soon became colleagues in the Parliament for wales campaign .She was chosen as President of the campaign while Cledwyn played a leading role ,and in 1955 he seconded S.O. Davies’s Home Rule Bill for wales. Throughout these years ( 1951 t0 1964 ) as a backbench MP he worked hard for his constituency, attracting new industries, revitalising Holyhead as the gateway to Belfast and Dublin, safeguarding the Welsh Language and being involved in all aspects of Welshness, elected an elder in Disgwylfa Chapel. Soon he began to preach on Sundays , and he took this very seriously and kept for posterity a large number of his sermons.

By 1956-7 he had joined forces with like minded Labour MP’’s , in particular Jim Griffiths ( Deputy Leader of the Labour Party ), Goronwy Roberts and others to convince the party in Wales and Westminster of the need to establish a Welsh Office and a Secretary of State for wales. The devolutionists were on the march , at Cledwyn’n insistence, Gwilym Prys Davies, a Pontypridd based solicitor , was asked in 1963 to prepare a policy document, A Council for Wales which argued for an elected body to look after Welsh affairs.

His seat in Anglesey had become safe by 1959 as so many of the Liberal voters were voting for him. Indeed people of every party were supporting him at election time. When Labour was returned to power in 1964 he was in the running for a ministerial post . Wilson kept him out of the Welsh Office but invited him to become a minister in the Commonwealth Office .It was an excellent choice for he was a committed internationalist. Jeremy Thorpe congratulated him, suggesting that he knew what it was to be a member of a nation dominated by its powerful neighbour .It would stand him well in his new post, and soon he made a name for himself as a diplomat, statesman ,and travelled extensively to sort out problems in the Caribbean , Malta, securing peace between India and Pakistan in the Kashmir region, and even trying to persuade Ian Smith to see common sense in Rhodesia .It was his only failure.

The 1966 Election gave the Labour Party a massive majority, they won 32 of the 36 Welsh seats and the founder of the Welsh League of Youth ( a well known Lliberal and a son of a Liberal M P Sir O.M.Edwards ) could claim that the Labour Party was the party of Wales. There were great expectations when Wilson appointed Cledwyn Hughes as the Minister of state for wales with a seat in the cabinet. His two years as minister of State did not go down well with the Welsh Language Society as a half a dozen of their zealots were imprisoned in his few months in office but as he told his friends he could not interfere with the magistrates. I believe he did well, for after all he established a Mid Wales Development Corporation instead of a new town to be called Treowen between Caersws and Newtown; he introduced the first ever Economic Plan for wales, then brought the Rio Tinto Alimuniun Plant to his beloved Holyhead and Wylfa Nuclear Power Station to Cemais in his own constituency, and then he and the Chancellor of the Exchequer united to buy 13,000 acres of the Faenol Estate in Snowdonia, bringing it into public ownership. Wales from Magor in Mommouthshire to Holyhead was declared a regional development area. It was a busy time both on the floor of the House and the Grand welsh commitee with debates on the Sir David Hughes Party commission and their proposals on the Welsh Language Bill and reforming local government as well as chairing the commitees . that planned the investiture of Prince Charles as prince of Wales l His proposals for an elected council was harshly dismissed in cabinet by Richard Crossman and the anti monarchist secretary of state for Scotland , Willy Ross. Crossman was well disposed to devolution but he disliked immensely Cledwyn. Outside cabinet there were a number of labour MP’s like Ness Edwards ( Caerphilly ), Leo Abse ( Pontypool ) and l Iorrie Thomas ( Rhondda West ) who could not tolerate devolution and behind the scenes his friend George Thomas ( Cardiff central) who conspired against him and in the end got Wilson to move him to another Department. The ‘ chirp y South Wales sparrow’ as Andrew Roth called Thomas admitted that the ‘ nationalist fervour ‘ ( of CH) led to periodical tensions between us . Wilson offered a new task to him to be Minister for Agriculture ,Food and Fisheries where he was to stay for another two years !968-1970. He did enjoy except for those ,occasions when he was hounded by South west England farmers at Exeter over the annual Price review . the West Wales farmers meeting in the Haverfordwest area who hurt him much more by calling him Judas. As an elder and lay preacher he was deeply hurt.

In the 1970’s CH was denied deliberately a cabinet post by Wilson as well by his friend Callaghan . To Wilson his great sin was to rebel over the issue of the European economic community .He was among the 69 Labour MP’s , led by great hero, Roy Jenkins , who was prepared to vote in favour of membership when it came to a parliamentary vote in October 1971.Wilson never forgave him and when he had the opportunity after the Februrary and October elections of 1974 h to award him a ministerial post he ignored him completely .It was the only time Hughes rebelled and it cost him dearly .But he was a convinced European and soon he became the leader of the pro European campaign in the Referendum of June 1975.A most controversial issue was decided by the electorate and North wales followed the leadership of CH. He was not willing to stand on the touch line and saw a golden opportunity of standing against the sarcastic chairman of the PLP , Ian Mikardo, and won with a big majority. He became a key figure for Wilson and even more for Callaghan when he became PM with a small majority to depend upon Early in 1977 the government faced a political crises for it had no dependable majority. Things reached a climax on 17 March when Callaghan understood that the opposition parties were contemplating to unite against the government in a no confidence vote . Mrs Thatcher was determined to trigger a no confidence vote as she was hungry for power .Neither the SNP or PC could be depended upon as they were involved in the devolution debate .The Ulster Unionist MP’s had no interest in coming to the aid of Labour.One lifeline was left the Liberals , the party that meant so much to CH .He had met his fellow law student from Aberystwyth days, Emlyn Hooson, the Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire. Both were prepared for the Lib Lab alliance .On 18 March Callaghan asked CH and Michael Foot to contact David Steel. Cledwyn and David Steel had a great deal in common in their Presbyterianism. By Monday 21 March 1977 Steel made his offer to Callaghan . When he read the terms of the pact Callagan threw the letter to the ground in his anger. The soothing hand of Cledwyn and others calmed him down, and by the end of the day it seemed a possibility. The next day Foot had two important meetings and by the end proceedings a Lib- Lab alliance had been born. All 13 Liberals would vote for the government even the awkard Cyril Smith who involved himself in the early part of the discussion. Steel and Callaghan did not want his meddling. When the Liberals ended the pact in the summer of 1978 CH had not finished as reconciler. He now got hold of the 3 PC MP’s and got them on board so as to keep the Labour government in existence.

The Scottish and Welsh devolution Bills were prepared and CH was heavily involved,but bitterly disappointed when they were defeated on St David’s Day 1979. He had spoken frequently in the Commons debate on the bill but he did not feel that it was his bill .Callaghan had given that task to Michael Foot. Cledwyn had decided in 1978 to retire from the House of Commons . He felt humiliated when Angleesy snubbed his chosen successor Elystan Morgan a close colleague in Parliament between 1966 and 1974 to a young 29 year old solicitor representing the Tories, Keith Lander Best from Brighton who gained the seat. with a majority of 2,817. He felt forlorn but salvation WAS NEAR AT HAND when his name appeared in Callaghan’s retirement peers list. He accepted glady though 30 year earlier he had been highly critical. Of ‘the other place ‘. So he opted for a suitable title, Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos. For he had lived in the White House in Penrhos for years before moving to another beauty spot , Trearddur. Bay.

It was the beginning of a remarkable innings of 22 years, and soon he was asked to lead a deputation to see the home Secretary with regard to an independent welsh Language television channel. Gwynfor Evans, President of PC, had threatened to fast to death over the issue. The National Eisteddfod of wales asked 3 establishment figures ,Lord Cledwyn, his college and Welsh Office friend Sir Goronwy Daniel and the Archbishop of wales GO. Williams to see Willie Whitelaw. The Home Secretary admits in his autobiography that Cledwyn charmed and convinced him that the Government of the day had to change their policy. It was a great victor for everyone. The conservatives ,Labour, PC and the Liberals ( for Goronwy Daniel ‘s wife was a granddaughter of Lloyd George ) By 1982 Lord Cled had enough confidence to stand against Lord Fred Peart as the Leader of the Labour Lords in opposition. For the next 10 years he worked hard and pursued the Thatcher and Major Governments with n unique commitment .He was among those who argued for televising the House of Lords. He rejoiced when this took place in 1986 and he became overnight a star for those who had never seen him in action.

He wanted Wales to be represented and he brought to the House remarkable men of the same outlook as himself, in particular Gwilym Prys Davies who had lost to Gwynfor Evans in the 21966 By-Election and Elystan Morgan, the barrister and Plaid Cymru parliamentary who turned his coat to became Labour and then defeated Roderic Bowen in the Cardiganshire seat. Lord Gwilym was at hand to prepare material for him .Lord Cledwyn delievered his speeches in a style all of his own, modelled on the great preachers he had heard in his childhood and youth.he took part in important debates on the economy in wales on numerous occasions, on the welsh Water Board, on the report on the Severn barrage, the tunnel under the river Conwy, the development in the Welsh Brreeding Station at Gogerddan, a number of Bills on the Cardiff Bay Development Board, the welsh Language Act and the threat to the welsh heartland from Eglish immigration.He fought the poll tax which helped to bring about the downfall of Mrs Thatcher,and when she entered the House of Lords she soon realised that she had met her match in the opposition leader .Neil Kinnock was fortunate to have him in the Shadow cabinet Committee. He depended greatly on his wisdom and vast experience.

Lord Cledwyn also was in the forefront of every debate on human rights, on sufferng and atrocities committed in every part of the world .He had an international reputation. He never wavered in his campaign for a National Assembly for wales . When he gave up the Labour leadership in the House of Lords in 1992, he knew that devolution was on the cards ,and he lived to see the formation of the National Assembly Government.

In his whole career he never refused a request from a journalist ,a radio or television interviewr, he helped individuals ,organisations, communities, he spoke at functions of all kind, and was especially welcomed by Prince Charles whose letters to him indicate how much Lord Cledwyn meant to the Royal family Indeed he became Mr Fixer , willing to plead of behalf of those who wanted to be members of the House of Lords .He managed to get the actor Attenborough, the historian Kenneth O. Morgan into the House of Lords but failed to get a Knightood for Roderic Bowen But artists such as Kyffin Williams got a knighthood and those he spoke on their behalf for an honorary degree included the Welsh Presbyterian historian Gomer M. Roberts and the politician Neil Kinnoch. University of Wales turned him down three times but Lord Cledwyn got him an honorary degree as he did for Michael Foot and James Callaghan. His long involvement with the University of wales needs to be mentioned as one of his achievements . For he kept the University together. After he retired from being a Vice Chancellor four of the University Colleges went their own way opting for an University status. CH was a great admirer of the Lloyd George family, in particular David George himself. To him he was the greatest Prime Minister the UK has seen, greater than even W.E.Gladstone , Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill.No wonder he formed a committee in London to plan a suitable memorial for Lloyd George in Westminster Square,and though he did not see the unveiling of the statue he laid the foundations.

He was loyal to his liberal values and his Christian socialism .Roy Jenkins summed him up well in the mid 1970’s when he said :

‘ He is one of the nicest men and the best friend I have encountered in politics ‘.

But he didn’t follow Roy Jenkins into the SDP .His fellow politician Tom Ellis was surprised but I was’nt. For Cledwyn was a cautious, wise and unwilling to risk if he could avoid a failure. It was not easy for him. With the creation of the SDP, the pro- Europeans were depleted in the Labour Party .Lord Cledwyn remained and got on with making labour an effective opposition in the House of lords. It was a success story .Barry Jones, labour MP for East Flintshire, asked a pertinent question to Lord Gwilym Prys Davies:

‘ Is he the best leader of the Lords we have ever had . his successes are legion’. Even in one year the government of the day was defeated 22 times under his leadership .In 10 years the total was 150 times. No wonder Lord Denning, the famous Judge, praised his ‘wise and eloquent words on matters of constitutional importance-your guidance is excellent and much appreciated by all. ’He never forgot his roots .humble ,kind, a thoroughly nice politician, he was greatly helped by his brother David Lloyd Hughes, the historian of Holyhead, his daughter Ann and Son Harri, his agent Glyn Thomas ( a fellow elder at Disgwylfa Chapel ) and his beloved Jean. Baroness Shirley Sheppard who had worked ten years with Lord Cledwyn in the upper chamber, said ‘ Jean and you make a very unique pair and I doubt if there is an equivalent in the world of politics through the world let alone United Kingdom’ .Many of us, who knew them both, will agree. It was a privilege to know the Hugheses.