Introduction:

It was Enoch Powell, polar opposite of Cledwyn Hughes as politician and person, who claimed that all political careers end in failure. Cledwyn inevitably suffered his share of disappointments but it would be grossly unfair and wildly inaccurate to ascribe that description to his career. Failure, however, is not the worst fate that can befall a politician. Far more damning and hurtful is being forgotten. And I sense that Cledwyn’s name no longer resonates with the current generation of political activists and commentators, certainly not to the extent that it did in the protest-fuelled Wales of the Sixties, and continued until his death in 2001. As Secretary of State for Wales, he clashed with a resurgent Plaid Cymru and a militant language movement, both of whom demanded more from Cledwyn than it was possible for him to instantly deliver. But his unquestionable commitment to devolution and the language led in 2007 to the formation of Cymdeithas Cledwyn (The Cledwyn Society) in an attempt by Welsh Labour to revive its fortunes in the Welsh-speaking communities of west Wales which have deserted Labour. (Apart from Cledwyn’s own Anglesey, lost to the Tories in 1979 upon Cledwyn’s retirement, and reclaimed by Labour in 2001 from Plaid Cymru.)

For Labour to become once more a force in Welsh-speaking Wales may be difficult to achieve but this biography will have succeeded if it manages to recall Cledwyn’s achievements and enhance his reputation as one of our nation’s most influential politicians. In 1956, he was one of five Welsh Labour MPs who presented a petition to the Westminster Government, signed by 250,000 Welsh men and women, calling for the establishment of a Parliament for Wales. It is a cause of profound regret to me that the names of those five patriotic Welshmen – S.O Davies, Goronwy Roberts, T.W Jones, Tudor Watkins, along with Cledwyn – are far less recognisable today than those of George Thomas, Leo Abse, Neil Kinnock and the other Welsh Labour MPs who vehemently opposed Welsh devolution in the 1979 referendum. (With its scaremongering, lies and distortions that referendum was in some ways, a precursor of the 2016 Brexit referendum. It took 18 years for Wales and Scotland to overturn the 1979 result. As I write his introduction I fervently hope there will be a swifter resolution of the Brexit debacle.

Vaughn Hughes

Introduction 2: (Another version of the Introduction)

If any politician deserves a full biography, that person is Cledwyn Hughes, an enormously influential figure in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. The historian Emyr Price did us proud in 1986 with four programs on the life and work of Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos. As a result of that series, he published two books, one in English, the other in Welsh, on the life and contribution of Lord Cledwyn. I have studied the work of the late Emyr Price and have added to his perceptive treatment of Cledwyn. The early biographies end in 1989 and I acknowledge my debt to the help they provided.

It has been a privilege to research his personal, parliamentary and electoral papers and diaries, which are held by the National Library of Wales, as well as reading books and articles, which discuss his important contribution to the history of our nation. It is no easy task for any historian to read all the numerous documents that Cledwyn Hughes kept so meticulously. I am thankful that I have had the energy to record and organise my data, since I live so far away from Aberystwyth. The staff of the South Room in the National Library were exceptionally cooperative in assembling the material I needed ahead of my arrival. Thank you all very much.

Cledwyn’s well-rounded and friendly personality was constantly in my sight in Aberystwyth and Liverpool as I wrote up his history. It was strange to see in his collection of papers some of the letters I myself had sent him over the years, the first dated 15 June 1962 inviting him to speak at a meeting of Aneurin which was held on Monday afternoon in the Societies Pavilion on the site of the National Eisteddfod. In that letter I optimistically added, ‘I am confident that a Welsh Labour Group like the Bow Group will result from this meeting. John Morris has agreed to speak and I would be very pleased if you would also be prepared to address the meeting on the subject “Wales and its destiny”’. I considered this to be a suitable subject for the Member of Parliament for Anglesey, who had done more than anyone to ensure that Wales had the best opportunities. At the end of his life he experienced the joy of seeing the hopes inspired by the Cymru Fydd movement being realised in the Assembly in Cardiff. His own contribution was acknowledged by the city leaders just before Christmas 2000, when he was presented with the freedom of the city.

The favourable reaction of the critics to my book on James Griffiths has been an inspiration to me. It is my hope that this biography of Cledwyn Hughes, a most endearing politician, will be appreciated by a wide circle, as I present his radical Nonconformity and his frustrations, particularly in his dealings with the Anglo-Welsh. They showed him no respect and he failed to reach a compromise with them in any way, as he had done in almost every other cause, possibly because they were unwilling to consider it.

There will be some entirely new discoveries, particularly on the matter of the Investiture. It is generally thought that his good friend, George Thomas, was responsible for the ceremony in the castle. But the person who was truly responsible was Cledwyn Hughes and it was he who insisted that Prince Charles spent a term studying in Aberystwyth. It was gratifying to read a letter to him from Sir Wyn Roberts, another minister’s son from Anglesey, on 19 June 1991, ‘Thank you very much for your letter and particularly the advice not to be too sycophantic to the queen’.

His colleagues in the two houses at Westminster considered him to be the embodiment of Wales and the Welsh at their best. When the Conservative Member of Parliament for Cambridge, Robert Rhodes James, was canvassing in the Monmouth by-election, he came across a prejudiced man who would never vote for Labour because that party represented Wales and had done so since the mid nineteen twenties. When Robert Rhodes James asked him why, his arrogant reply was, ‘Because I loathe the bloody Welsh!’ This was followed by the immortal words, ‘Nevertheless I think us Celts should stick together!’

Everyone who knew Cledwyn realised that he was a true Welshman, loyal the Calvinistic Methodist Denomination and the traditions inspired by the Methodist Revival, which he had inherited from his father. Wherever he was, he never forgot his upbringing in the mans. When he was given a copy of the Davies Lecture in 1967 (the main lecture of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Wales) by his friend, the Reverend R Gwilym Hughes, Pwllheli, he replied from Whitehall:

‘There is nothing more important than to have a reassessment of the function of the Church and its ministry in the contemporary society. I go mad when I read some of the discussions in the Monthly Meeting, and then blame myself that I am not able to be present to take part in the discussion.'

In an appendix, the Minister for Agriculture reveals his strong faith:

I preach occasionally during the holidays. In Penysarn last Sunday evening on Epaphroditus – ‘the apostle Paul’s postman’.

That is why I have written a chapter on Cledwyn as a preacher. He cannot be understood outside that function, nor without including his wife Jean Beatrice Hughes, as she was such a support to him in his public life. They were both so alike in their background, and their religious and political convictions.

The most important of his contemporary politicians showed their respect for Cledwyn, as Roy Jenkins said in 1976, ‘He is one of the nicest men and the best friend I have encountered in politics.’ When Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos retired as the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords in 1992, Lord Judd expressed the feelings of the Opposition:

The New Shadow Cabinet will badly miss your perspective, insight and experience. The Lords will certainly not be the same without you.