As a long standing admirer of Lord Cledwyn Hughes of Penrhos , it is a privilege to present to the Transactions an outline of his life and work on the threshold of publishing a biography of him.. For I have read every letter ,document, sermon and speeches that have been kept in the 81 boxes and one volume of his archives deposited at the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth 1. In 1990 to accompany a major four part television series, on Lord Cledwyn, the historian Emyr Price wrote two paperbacks on one of the foremost Welsh Labour figures in the post Second World war era 2 .They are valuable outlines as are the obituaries that appeared in the local and national press after his death on 21 February 2001 at Bodelwyddan Hospital, near Abergele 3.

Cledwyn’s regularly mentioned the influence of his father, Reverend Henry David Hughes ( 1885-1947 ), the minister of Disgwylfa Welsh Presbyterian Chapel, London Road, Holyhead from 1915 till his death.in 1947 4. So Cledwyn was the proud son of the manse and he was still proud of it till his dying day .His parents were from the slate quarrying areas of Dinorwig and Pontrhythallt, near Llanrug in Caernarfonshire. His mother Emily lost her first husband at the early age of 27, and remarried a few years later with Rev H.D.Hughes. She and her son Emlyn moved with H.D Hughes from Conwy ( his first pastorate ) to Holyhead in the middle of the First World war Their son Cledwyn was born on 14 September 1916 to a Nonconformist home ,where radical Liberal and nationalistic views coexisted 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 at his father’s chapel 5 .Revd H.D. Hughes loved his flock, supported regularly Holyhead Football Club, and was extremely popular on the streets, in the port and among his fellow ministers. He had plenty of friends in the political world, Sir R.J. Thomas who served as a Liberal MP for Wrexham and later Anglesey was a member of his congregation and he became a close friend of David Lloyd George. In his teenage years as a quarryman he had been mesmerised by Lloyd George’s leadership of the Young Wales League and its call for Home Rule for Wales .He passed on this concern to his son, the story of the Young Wales Movement ,as he indicated in his lecture The Referendum: The End of an Era ( 1981) and as he repeated the same theme ten years later in his lecture at the National Library of Wales, Wales in Both Houses 6 . Home Rule for Wales rather than independence were a source of constant inspiration..

D.Lloyd George called at the Manse in 1928 to ask a favour for his youngest daughter, Megan Arfon Lloyd George 7. She had been persuaded to enter the race for the Liberal nomination of Anglesey. The retiring M P R.J. Thomas had promised his support for the barrister Ellis William Roberts. Her youth, her gender, her command of the Welsh language as well as her radical views endeared her to the Presbyterian Minister. He agreed to support her and was able to bring with him the majority of the members of the fifteen Welsh Nonconformist chapels of the town. He chaired the huge eve of poll meeting in Holyhead and congratulated her election in 1929 at the age of 23.Soon he visited her in the House of Commons with his son who had great interest in Welsh Liberalism. Cledwyn went to the university college of Wales at Aberystwyth as a law student 8. The Professor was none other than Thomas Levi, another son of the Manse, and a leading light in the Liberal politics of Cardiganshire 9. On the staff of the Law Department there was another staunch Liberal ,John Victor Evans who had done well as a parliamentary candidate in Pontypridd in 1929. But the young student was disappointed to find out that the University College had no Liberal Club. So he undertook the task of establishing a Liberal Club. He persuaded Victor Evans to be the speaker of the inaugural meeting and he did well. Cledwyn noted :

‘’Mr Evans inspiring address was the means of converting the conservatives and socialists present to Liberalism’ 10 He became the secretary of the club and in his last year he was President. Graduating in 1937 with a third class honours ,his Liberal contacts stood him well as he was taken on that summer by T.R .Evans a well-known solicitor in Holyhead. But that summer he flirted with the Welsh Nationalists, impressed by the sacrifice of Saunders Lewis, D.J. Williams and Lewis Valentine after their arson campaign in Penyberth, outside Pwllheli where the R.A.F. was setting up a bombing school On 23 August 1937 he wrote a naïve, emotional letter to the national organiser J.E.Jones suggesting the idea of establishing a branch of the party in Holyhead. It would be the salvation of the town. J.E Jones was thrilled and over acted 11. He replied by post insisting that a branch should be formed in a fortnight !!. It could be announced in the welcome meeting at Caernarfon for the three imprisoned but conquering heroes. The young lad soon had cold feet. It was a fatal mistake which later in life he tried to play down to the delight of Gwynfor Evans and J.E.Jones. As he looked around his home town he realised that the economic depression could not be sorted out by small parties. Plaid Cymru had no MP and the Liberals were struggling with a small number and his only hope to be admitted to the House of Commons was the Labour Party. His father had opened a soup kitchen in the chapel vestry for the poor and unemployed. A Presbyterian elder at Armenia Chapel, Holyhead, Henry Jones, who had stood for Labour in the 1935 election, saw his potential after he completed his University studies to be a future parliamentary candidate and began to provide him with plenty of socialist literature and books from the Left Book Club 12. In 1938 he left the Liberals whom he had served since his school days with the abiding hope of being at least a Labour candidate for Anglesey in 1940. The war intervened. He enlisted with the R.A.F. though they never saw in him any potential to be an ace pilot and for the duration of the second world war he was a clerk rather than serving on the battle field. For a long time he was stationed in Llandwrog air base outside Caernarfon. In 1944 as he himself admitted ‘’ against the wishes of my father ‘’ he was nominated as the parliamentary candidate for Anglesey 13. He now faced the charismatic Megan at the next General Election in the teeth of his parents opposition believing that their chapel of Disgwylfa would be split down the middle by their son’s foolishness. The son exhibited what Emyr Price called’ ‘stubborn independence’ which was a major feature of his character 14 He battled when the Election came in 1945 with zeal as well as conviction, addressing 60 meetings dressed in his R.A.F. uniform and 55 of them conducted only in Welsh , knowing that his father remained within the Manse and the Chapel activities . His son described him as a ‘lion in a cage ‘. 15 The Liberals to the delight of Emily and H.D.Hughes kept the seat with a majority of 1,081.

From 1945 till the next election in 1950 so much happened in the Hughes family. Cledwyn became an important figure in Anglesey politics .He won the right to sit as a county Councillor in 1946 for the Kingsland Ward of Holyhead. He became part-time town clerk, participated as well as leading delegations, on behalf of his fellow islanders 16 .Then in 1946 and 1947 he and his two brothers lost their parents and grandparent as well as meeting a delightful Presbyterian socialist from Armenia Chapel Jean Beatrice Hughes, who brought him comfort in his bereavements and a formidable political partner in his public life. 17. Married in 1949, they became in 1950 and 1955, proud parents of a daughter Anne and a son Harri .Jean was able to help him in the 1950 General election but the wily and charismatic Megan Lloyd George held on with a larger majority of 1,929.Megan’s brother Gwilym Lloyd George lost Pembrokeshire to the Labour candidate ,Desmond Donnelly by 129 votes. Cledwyn was frustrated and would have resigned but for a letter of advice to stand at least once more that he received from Goronwy Roberts , the MP for Caernarfonshire. Reluctantly he stood, not expecting to win in the 1951 Election as the Labour Government nationally, who had created the welfare state, had run out of ideas and were immersed in confrontation between the followers of his great hero Aneurin Bevan and the right wing Labour leaders within the Cabinet. Two General Elections within eighteen months stretched the stamina of the local constituencies. The unexpected however took place in Anglesey when 81.4% of the electorate turned out in 1951 and he won by the slender majority of 595 votes. 18

When he arrived in Westminster he realised that the labour hierarchy would have been quite happy if he again had lost. The party leader Clement Attlee welcomed him with these words: ‘very glad to see you here, but I had a very high regard for Megan.' 19 Herbert Morrison, the deputy Leader, reluctantly congratulated him, 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 Cledwyn was a ‘miserable little solicitor’ in his sight 20 James Callaghan a promising Labour MP for a Cardiff constituency expressed it well in his letter to the defeated candidate:

‘I am genuinely sorry you are not in the House and I very much hope you will come back. We cannot sacrifice grace ,charm, wit, passion as easily as that. But you must come back as a member of our party’.

21 She did but she took her time But immediately she became a close colleague with Cledwyn Hughes in the parliament for Wales campaign .Megan was chosen as the president of the campaign while Cledwyn played a leading role , and in 1955 he seconded S.O .Davies’s Home Rule Bill for Wales in parliament 22. Throughout these years in opposition ( 1951 till 1964 ) he became a hardworking MP for his beloved Anglesey attracting new industries to the island , revitalising Holyhead as the gateway to Dublin and Belfast, safeguarding his concern for the financial future of the National Eisteddfod of Wales and rejoicing in being made an elder at his father’s chapel . He began to preach and saw Christianity and his brand of Nonconformist Socialism based on the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man as the basis to his evangelical endeavours in the chapels of Anglesey.

By 1956-7 he had joined with nationalistic minded Welsh Labour MP’s ( in particular , S.O.Davies, T.W.Jones., Goronwy Roberts and Tudor Watkins ) to convince the party in Wales and their fellow MP’s in Westminster of the need to establish a Welsh Office and a Secretary of state for Wales with a seat in the Cabinet. 23 The devolutionists were on the march, and at Cledwyn’s insistence ,Gwilym Prys Davies, a Pontypridd solicitor of strong nationalistic / socialist convictions and a close adviser to James Griffiths was asked in 1963 to prepare a policy document , A Council for Wales, which argued for an elected body which could have legislative power over Welsh affairs. But it took 34 years of campaigning and frustration for the devolutionists before their vision was implemented.

His seat in Anglesey had become a safe seat by 1959 and when Labour was returned to power in 1964 he knew that he had good chance of gaining office in Wilson ‘s Government. Most of the north Walian Labour MP’s expected him to be a minister in the Welsh Office ,led by the first ever Welsh Secretary, Jim Griffiths .However Goronwy Roberts was the one Wilson appointed as a junior minister , Hughes was asked to be a minister in the commonwealth office. It was an excellent choice .Jeremy Thorpe congratulated him, suggesting that he knew better than most what it felt to be a member of a nation dominated by a powerful neighbour 24. It would stand him in good stead .He made a name for himself as a diplomat ,statesman, and travelled extensively to sort out problems in Trinidad, Malta, securing peace in the Kashmir region in the conflict between India and Pakistan, and even visiting Ian Smith in Rhodesia. 25 It was his only failure. The 1966 General Election gave the Labour Party a massive majority in Wales , they won 32 of the 36 welsh seats and even members of other political parties admitted to him that the Labour Party was the ‘party of Wales’. There were great expectations when Harold Wilson appointed him as the successor of Griffiths in the Welsh Office .His two years as a Minister has been unfairly criticised by contemporary historians and Welsh Language zealots but I believe he did well in establishing a Mid Wales Development Board in place of a massive new town to be called Treowen between Newtown and Caersws; he introduced the first ever Economic Plan for Wales, brought new petroleum plants to Pembrokeshire; a Royal Mint at Llantrisant, Rio Tinto plant to Holyhead and Wylfa Nuclear Station to Cemais in Anglesey, and he and the Chancellor of the Exchequer united to buy 13,000 of the Faenol estate in Snowdonia was brought into public ownership. 26 Wales from Magor in Monmouthshire to Holyhead in North West Wales was declared a regional development area It was a busy time for him both on the floor of the House and in the grand Committee with debates on the Sir David Hughes Parry’s report and proposals for the Welsh Language Bill and the reforming of local Government. He was heavily involved with the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales and a number of attempts to injure him or kill him by determined welsh terrorists were made 27.But he escaped unharmed but shaken.

His proposals for an elected Council was harshly dismissed by Willie Ross ,the long forgotten Scottish Secretary and by the sarcastic Richard Crossman. The gifted Crossman was well disposed to devolution but he disliked Cledwyn immensely as he indicates in his diaries. 28 . Outside the Cabinet he had a group of South Wales MP’s who were first and foremost internationalists and ready to criticise Cledwyn in a letter to the Prime Minister. Behind the scenes his friend ( who for years as a bachelor latched on to him and his family for holiday excursions) the flamboyant George Thomas was indicating his displeasure.. The staunch Methodist admitted in his book Mr Speaker ) ‘that Cledwyn nationalistic fervour led to periodical tensions between us ‘’ 29‘.It was at that time that George conspired against him in his friendship with Mary Wilson, and as a Guardian columnist admitted: ‘ Cledwyn Hughes could not help hating the idea of turning over Wales to George Thomas ,a chirpy South Wales sparrow in Mr Wilson’s palm’ 30.. It was during his term in the Welsh Office that the tragedy of Aber-fan took place, where his compassion and sympathy endeared him to the grieving families of 114 children and 28 adults 31.He recommended to the Prime Minister that he should invite a native of a neighbouring valley and a son of a miner Judge Edmund Davies to chair the judicial inquiry and in 1966 he established the Welsh Derelict Land Unit to remove the coal tips of the mining valleys including the seven tips above the stricken village of Aber-fan. 32 Wilson invited him after two years at the Welsh Office to be the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries where he was to stay for another two years .He was hounded in the South West by unsympathetic farmers at the meeting in Exeter but he was badly wounded when welsh farmers in Fishguard in Pembrokeshire went so far as to call him Judas 33. To them Judas was just a convenient label but to him as a lay preacher , son of the Manse the name represented the disciple who betrayed his Saviour for thirty pieces of silver.

In the 1970’s Cledwyn was denied a Cabinet post by Harold Wilson and later for a different reason by his great friend James Callaghan. To Wilson his ultimate sin was to rebel for the first and only time in his life ( Wilson himself was famous as a rebel in 1951 with Bevan and John Freeman ) . But this time for Cledwyn the issue was the European Economic Community. He was one of 69 Labour MP’s , led by his close friend Roy Jenkins, who was prepared to vote in favour of membership against the party whip’s when it came to a parliamentary vote in October 1971.Wilson never forgave him and when he had the opportunity after the February and October elections of 1974 to award him a ministerial post ,he ignored him completely But he rewarded a number of rebels but not Cledwyn. The MP was an European and became one of the six cross party leaders of the Yes campaign, joining hands with Jo Grimond and Ted Heath. .At the Referendum North West Wales where his influence was greatest responded with a huge majority in favour of staying in. As a good living Christian Cledwyn overcame his disappointment and was persuaded by the recently formed Manifesto Group to stand against the tough Jewish left winger Ian Mikardo for the influential post of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party 34 .He won with a big majority over Mikardo and gained a position which demanded all his diplomacy. in the bitter civil war between the left wingers and the right wingers , Cledwyn had become a key figure in Labour’s hierarchy at a time when the party was slugging it out as they if they were following the example given to them by Lloyd George and Asquith in the inter war years. Early in 1977 the government faced a political crisis for it had no majority, things reached a climax on 17 March when Callagan understood that the opposition parties were getting ready to unite against his administration .Mrs Thatcher for the Tories announced that on March 23 that there would be a motion of no confidence .Labour would surely loose. With devolution for Wales and Scotland in full swing neither the SNP or Plaid Cymru could be depended upon. The Ulster Unionist MP’s to a man were undependable mavericks and had no interest in coming to the aid of all people ,the alien Labour Party .One lifeline was left, the Liberals, the party which had nurtured Cledwyn Hughes his youth, and a party he would have felt at home in and most probably by then he would be the leader. There were two friends who had discussed the crisis ,namely Cledwyn Hughes and Emlyn Hooson ,Liberal MP for Montgomeryshire .both old students of Aberystwyth .They laid the ground for a Lib Lab alliance though the maverick Cyril Smith was to the annoyance of everyone putting his oar in, but on March 18 Callaghan asked Cledwyn Hughes and Michael Foot ( another old Liberal ) to make formal contact with David Steel who had taken over the leadership of the Liberal Party from Grimond in 1976.Cledwyn and David ,both Presbyterians with a large P ,got on well and by Monday 21 March 1977 Steel made his offer to Callaghan on a pact 35. The Prime Minister showed his displeasure when he read the terms and threw in anger the letter to the floor. 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 of the proceedings a Lib-Lab had been born. All the thirteen Liberals would vote for the government. When the Liberals ended the pact in the summer of 1978 Cledwyn Hughes went then to plead with his three friends ( Gwynfor Evans ,Dafydd Elis-Thomas and Dafydd Wigley ) Plaid Cymru MP’s for co-operation. Again he was successful in the negotiations and managed to get them as a group to keep Labour Government in power for few more months. Their terms were accepted and implemented.

The Scottish and Welsh Devolution Bills were prepared and Cledwyn was heavily involved , but bitterly disappointed when his thirty years and more of constant campaigning was heavily defeated on St David’s Day 1979.He had spoken frequently in the Commons debates on this Bill but he did not feel in the end that it was his Bill. Callaghan had given that task to Foot. He had enough of the intrigues and and the unpleasant quarrelling among his comrades in the Parliamentary Labour Party . This influenced his decision in 1978 to the surprise of every pundit and politician by admitting that he would not stand in the next Election which he expected soon, in actual fact he advised Callaghan to go in the autumn of that year. Callaghan stubbornly declined to listen knowing well that he would not have survived twelve months as Prime Minister without the constant advice and support of his confidant. The Prime Minister made a huge blunder and the ‘winter of discontent’ was the final straw. Cledwyn felt humiliated when his constituents in the General Election opted for a Brighton solicitor Keith Best as his successor rather than his fellow devolutionist Elystan Morgan 36 .He felt forlorn in 1979 but a new lease of life was near at hand when his name appeared in Callaghan’s retirement peers list .He accepted gladly the lifeline and took upon himself the title of Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos.

It was the beginning of a remarkable new 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, Plaid Cymru leader, had threatened to fast to death over the issue. The National Eisteddfod of Wales asked three establishment figures, Lord Cledwyn, his college friend Sir Goronwy Daniel and Archbishop of Wales Reverend Gwilym O. Williams to be the deputation. In his biography, Willie Whitelaw admits that he ‘regarded Lord Cledwyn ‘highly’ as a friend and his charm persuaded the Home Secretary that the Conservative Government had to abandon their policy. Through Cledwyn and his colleagues, Gwynfor Evans and Wllie Whitelaw in particular S4C came into existence .Whitelaw said in 1989: ‘ The channel has been a great success and for once I have reason to be glad that I bowed to pressure ,not a usual experience’. 37 Without Lord Cledwyn it would have been a longer struggle and Wales could have seen Gwynfor Evans having to suffer days on end .Lord Cledwyn had enough confidence by 1982 to stand against Lord Peart in a contest to be the Leader of the Labour Lords. He gained it easily and became the leader of the opposition For the next ten years he used the House of Lords to pursue the Thatcher and Major governments .He fought hard for television to be introduced and by 1986 he had achieved his goal. Television made him a celebrity over night for he became one of the most effective debaters in the House of Lords. He battled for Wales and brought in to the house two welsh labourites of the same tradition as himself , namely Lord Elystan Morgan and Lord Gwilym Prys Davies. They became a powerful team. Lord Gwilym did the necessary research and preparation while Lord Cledwyn prepared the speeches with a style all of his own .In his lecture Wales in Both Houses he reminds us of the important debates on Wales he was heavily involved in , namely , the economy and the future of Welsh Water Board. Then we had the Report on the Severn barrage, the tunnel under the river Conwy, the development of the Welsh Breeding station at Gogerddan in Ceredigion, a number of bills on the Cardiff Bay development and on the Welsh Development Board as well as the threat to the language from English immigrants to the fro Gymraeg ( Welsh heartland ) . Mrs Thatcher’s blunders such as the Poll tax was opposed by him and he kept a fatherly eye on Neil Kinnock , the leader of the Labour Party, within the shadow cabinet 38 .His wise utterances were like manna from heaven. But you must remember he was also an out and out internationalist, he fought for the Kurds, for those tortured in Nepal, the needy in the horn of Africa, human right all over the world . Embassies and organisations were thrilled with his compassion and practical ,helpful approach. He never ignored eccentrics, desperate folk, lonely individuals, and they wrote to him on nearly every issue under the sun The establishment in Wales and England owed him a great debt for his eulogies ,lectures,, after dinner speeches with his well loved anecdotes All those men and women who crave for honours and honorary degrees were usually successful if they approached Lord Cledwyn. He was Mr Fixer . Lord Cledwyn was a glutton for punishment and his long reigns as Vice Chancellor of the University of Wales happened in the 1980’s and 1990’s . He kept the warring, ambitious Principals in their place and while he was the vice Chancellor the University of Wales remained united.. After he left they all went their own way and the university Colleges became the Universities of Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor and Aberystwyth.

Lord Cledwyn was a great admirer of the Lloyd George family ,and in particular the Welsh wizard himself 39 .To the Labour MP for Anglesey he was the greatest Prime Minister the United Kingdom had ever seen , greater than even W.E. Gladstone ,Clement Attlee and Winston Churchill. No wonder he was the Chairman of the committee that met regularly in London to raise funds and plan a suitable memorial for Lloyd George . it was not a popular thing to do for some ex Prime Ministers like Maggie Thatcher and Ted Heath refused point blank to contribute to the Fund. But he persisted and in the end it was achieved but he did not live to see the unveiling of the statue in London. in 2007.

Lord Cledwyn remained loyal to the principles he learnt at the manse , the Liberal Party’s principles and the Christian Socialism of his father and other Holyhead and Anglesey elders who embodied the pre War Labour Party .Roy Jenkins , brought up in Pontypool, summed up his Welsh Socialist friend in the mid 1970’s as a politician on his own for he was so kind and a trusted friend.40 To the amazement of many he didn’t follow Jenkins and the Gang of four into the Social Democratic Party in 1981. I did not expect him to be so inconsiderate to those in the Labour movement who had given him so much support. .He also was a naturally cautious, conservative person , wise and never wanted to belong to a party that could fail. The SDP was a classic example of a party that started well but became a failing party before the end of the decade. He did the right thing. For he achieved in the House of Lords an amazing impact 41 .It was his success story for the civilised atmosphere suited him better than the unruly atmosphere of the House of Commons to many ,a disgrace in any democracy.

A House of Commons politician Barry Jones, MP for East Flintshire asked Lord Gwilym Prys -Davies a pertinent question

‘ Is he the best leader in the Lords we have ever had. ? His successes are legion’. 42 The answer is a loud Yes. In one parliamentary year 1985-6 the government of the day was beaten 22 times under his leadership. In ten years the number had gone up for the Government of Thatcher and Major had been defeated 150 times .No wonder Lord Denning, the Law Lord, praised his’ wise and eloquent words on matters of constitutional importance – your guidance is excellent and much appreciated by all.’ 43

Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos never forgot his Nonconformist Liberal roots. Humble, ambitious ,kind ,a thoroughly decent politician, he was greatly helped by his family, his half bother Emlyn, his brother David Lloyd Hughes, historian of Holyhead, his daughter Anne and her children and Harri and his family, his agent Glyn Thomas ( a fellow Presbyterian elder ) and above all his beloved Jean .Baroness Shirley Sheppard who had worked ten years with Lord Cledwyn said it all. : ‘’ 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 the United Kingdom ‘’. 44

Many of us who knew them will agree. It was a privilege to know both of them.

Notes and References

1. The Archive stored in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth is known as the Lord Cledwyn Hughes of Penrhos papers.

2. These books appeared in 1990 both written by Emyr Price , Yr Arglwydd Cledwyn o Benrhos ( Pen-y-groes 1990 ) and Lord Cledwyn Hughes of Penrhos ( Pen-y=- groes, 1990 ).

3. The most important obituaries in Welsh are to be found in Emlyn Richards,’Yr Arglwydd Cledwyn o Benrhos’, Y Goleuad, 27 July 2001, and David Lewis Jones, ‘ Yr Arglwydd Cledwyn o Benrhos ( 1916-2001) Biographies –on-line NLW; and in English, Andrew Roth, Obituary: Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, The Guardian, 23 Februrary, 2001, Kenneth O. Morgan in Dictionary of National Biography ( Oxford, 2004 ), Paul Sterling , Lord Cledwyn Hughes: ‘Farewell to Wise Old Man of British Politics: Beloved Labour Stalwart dies at 84 ‘, www. thefreelibrary.com, 2001 and those obituaries in the Times and Daily Telegraph.

4. The portrait of Reverend H.D.Hughes is found in Emlyn Richards, Pregethwrs Mon ( Caernarfon,2003), 99-118

5. NLW Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos papers E 2 . A memoir by Cledwyn Hughes on his early days at Holyhead under the title Hometown.

6. Lord Gwilym Prys –Davies admits of Lord Cledwyn that ‘ ‘Young Wales was in his blood .he did not escape from ‘Cymry Fydd’. See, Gwilym Prys Davies, Cynhaeaf Hanner Canrif: Gwleidyddiaeth Cymraeg 1945-2005 ( Llandysul, 2008), 70.

7. For Megan Arfon Lloyd George (1902-1966 0 , see Emyr Price , Megan Lloyd George ( Caernarfon, 1983 ) and Mervyn Jones, A Radical Life: The Biography of Megan Lloyd George ( London, 1991 ).

8. For the background to the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth see The College By The Sea , edited by Iwan Morgan, ( Aberystwyth, 1928 ),1- 352

9. Professor T.A. Levi, The Law Department University College of Wales, in College by the Sea, ibid, 188 - 190.

10. The Dragon, the Magazine of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, Volume LV11 1935, Vol 1, 47

11. NLW Plaid Cymru Papers.No A1828 . Letters of Cledwyn Hughes to J.E. Jones Caernarfon (no date ) and from J.E. Jones , the Welsh Nationalist Office, Caernarfon to Cledwyn Hughes dated August 24, 1937.

12. Hugh Jones ,JP had been Chairman of Anglesey County Council and an elder at Armenia Presbyterian Church of Wales, Holyhead from 1919 till 1938 the year he died. See, Huw Llewelyn Williams ( Editor ),Braslun o Hanes Methodistiaeth Galfinaidd Mon 1935- 1970 ( Llangefni, 1977 ), 196.

13. Emyr Price, Yr Arglwydd Cledwyn o Benrhos, ( Pen-y-groes, 1990 ), 13

14. Ibid.

15. Ibid.

16. D.Lloyd Hughes and Dorothy M. Williams, Holyhead : The Story of a Port ( Holyhead, 1967 ), 171.

17. J. Roberts, ‘ Minister’s Death: Appreciation’, Holyhead and Anglesey Mail, .May 30, 1948, 8; Minister’s Funeral, Holyhead and Anglesey Mail, June 6, 1947, 8

18. Beti Jones, Etholiadau Seneddol yng Nghymru 1900- 1979, ( Talybont, 1979 ) , 117.

19. NlW Papers of Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos, E11 under the heading of 1951.

20. Mervyn Jones, A Radical Life, ibid, 222-224.

21. Ibid.,224-5

22. Gwilym Prys Davies, Llafur y Blynyddoedd, ( Denbigh, 1990) ,90

23. John Gilbert Evans, Devolution in Wales : Claims and responses 1937-1979, ( Cardiff, 2006 ) , 110-117.

24. NLW Papers of Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos Papers. Letter from Jeremy Thorpe, House of Commons to Cledwyn Hughes ,no date. For Thorpe, see Duncan Brack ( Editor ), appraisal by Julian Glover of Jeremy Thorpe, ( London , 1988 ) , 356-359.

25. Harold Wilson, The Labour Government 1964-1970: A Personal Record ( London, 1971), 146

26. We must remember the influence of Callaghan within the Cabinet in persuading the Royal Mint to move to Llantrisant. See Kenneth O. Morgan, Callaghan , A Life ( Oxford, 1997 ), 283-4

27. The Royal Family had a very high regard for Cledwyn Hughes especially Prince Charles. See NLW Lord Cledwyn Hughes Papers File B13 for letters from Prince Charles to Cledwyn Hughes.

28. Richard Crossman, The Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, Vol 3, Secretary of State for Social Service 1968-70, (London, 1977 ), 61 from his diary for 19 May 1968 ; ‘’ Willie Ross was a tremendously good Secretary of State and we ought to have no appeasement of separatism. Hence Harold’s readiness to to sack Cledwyn Hughes from Wales and replace him with George Thomas ,an avowed UK man’.

29. George Thomas, Mr Speaker: The Memoirs of Viscount Tonypandy ( London, 1985 ), 65.

30. Andrwew Roth, ibid, The Guardian, February 23, 2001

31. Sir David Llewelyn, who served for years as the Conservative MP for Cardiff North, thanked Cledwyn Hughes for his involvement in Aberfan ; ‘. As a son of the Aberdare Valley, I shall never cease to be thankful for the leadership and compassion which marked your part in relieving as far as it could be relieved, the tragedy of Aberfan’.See NLW Papers of Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos.B4 Letter of Sir David Llewelyn , Yattendon, Newbury ,Berkshire (no date but sometime after 19 of October, 1966.

32. Ibid. ,B4/30 Letter of Charles Quant , Mold to Cledwyn Hughes dated 13 April, 1968. The journalist told him:

33. ‘’ There are few people in politics today who could have put up the courage and foresight into this job that you have done. It has been a real pleasure to report you at work, and see your policy developing.’’

34. Sir Henry Varney was glad he was being moved : ‘’ I can say something which you can’t . I think the Welsh have not been nearly as appreciative as they ought to have been of all you have done for them.’’ See B5/30.

35. Gordon Parry the Labour candidate in Pembrokeshire and also a son of the manse ( who later became Lord Parry o Neyland ) was with him in Fishguard. He wrote on the heckling years later in an article in the Western Maill, 4 January, 1977.

36. Ian Mikardo did not mention the name of Cledwyn Hughes in his autobiography. See Ian Mikardo, Backbencher ( London, 1980 ).

37. Michie & Hoggart, The Pact: The Inside Story of the Lib-Lab Government 1977-1978 ( London, 1978 ).

38. NLW Lord Cledwyn Hughes Papers. Keith Best had to resign before the 1987 General Election but in the difficult times he experienced Cledwyn Hughes was very supportive. See File B19. Letter of Lord Cledwyn to A. Hedden, Q.C , barrister for Best, dated 28 February 1989, also letter from Keith Best to Lord Cledwyn, dated 15 March 1989. He states that Lord Cledwyn had done his utmost :’’ They reversed the earlier decision of desbament and substituted a suspension until April 1st next year .I cannot thank you enough for what you have done ‘’.

39. William Whitelaw, The Whitelaw Memoirs (London, 1989 ), 221.

40. Lord Cledwyn , ‘ Time for an Inquiry to scrutinise the Lords ‘, The House Magazine, March 7, 1994, 13-14.

41. NLW Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos Papers . File 13. Lloyd George Parliamentary Centenary Appeal.

42. Ibid. B10. Letter of Roy Jenkins to Cledwyn Hughes dated 18 June , 1979. He reviews the Election result in Anglesey in 1979. Jenkins maintains : ‘’ I don’t suppose that neither of us was greatly surprised by the result of the election although Anglesey went further than I would have expected. The personal vote must have been even bigger than I thought ‘’.

43. Michael Boon, ‘ Peer whose Friends span the Upper House decide ‘, Western Mail ,November 2, 1992 . Boon pays him this tribute: ‘’ To watch Lord Cledwyn at work is to witness one of the acknowleldged masters of Westminster ‘’

44. NLW Lord Gwilym Prys-Davies of Llanegryn Papers. Letter of Barry Jones, MP to Lord Gwilym dated August 12, 1986.

45. NLW. Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos Papers . B40/57 . Lord Denning to Lord Clledwyn dated 27 January, 1992.

46. For a portrait of Lady Jean Hughes, see Iorwerth Roberts, ‘The Secretary’s Life’, Liverpool Daily Post, 13 April, 1966.