Background
Cledwyn Hughes was born in Holyhead. His father, David Hughes, was a Calvinistic Methodist minister and a prominent local Liberal and his grandfather was a Snowdonia quarryman.
Cledwyn Hughes was born in Holyhead. His father, David Hughes, was a Calvinistic Methodist minister and a prominent local Liberal and his grandfather was a Snowdonia quarryman.
He was educated at the Holyhead Grammar School and at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he studied Law and became president of the Liberal Society.
He is also regarded as a non-political figure of stature in Wales having held posts of importance in bodies such as the University of Wales. In 1980, he was instrumental in persuading Gwynfor Evans to abandon his intention to begin a hunger strike for a Welsh language television channel. After graduating in 1937, he returned to Holyhead, and was articled to a local solicitor.
As local unemployment deepened, and the Czechoslovak crisis intensified, he listened to local Independent Labour party speakers, and joined the Labour party in 1938.
During the Second World War, Hughes served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was commissioned as a flight lieutenant. Early Political In 1944, local Labour activists urged him to stand in the post-war general election against Lady Megan Lloyd George, who had served as Liberal Member of Parliament for the Anglesey constituency since 1929.
Despite the resistance of his father, Hughes, fought the 1945 election with very little organisational support. He made 50 speeches - 45 of them in Welsh, and came within 1,000 votes of victory.
He became a solicitor and a town clerk of Holyhead and, in 1946 was elected as an Anglesey County Councillor.
In 1950, he challenged Lady Megan again, but she beat him by 2,000 votes. This was largely because, although a Liberal, she had identified with Labour. In 1951 general election, however, when Labour lost ground nationally, he ousted her by 595 votes.
During the early 1950s, together with a number of other Welsh-speaking Labour MPs, he supported the Parliament for Wales Campaign.
A national petition was launched in 1956, which resulted in his being reported to the Labour national executive by the south-Wales-dominated Welsh Council of Labour. In 1959, Hugh Gaitskell appointed Hughes as a shadow spokesman on housing and local government.
After he had served as Minister of State for Commonwealth Relations (1964-1966), Harold Wilson made him Secretary of State for Wales in 1966 before moving him to become Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1968-1970). He was a governor of the University of Wales and the National Museum of Wales.
His florid complexion was a familiar sight in the news.
In 1979 he was made a life peer as Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos, of Holyhead in the Isle of Anglesey, and was first Deputy Leader (1981-1982) then Leader of the Opposition in the from 1982. One of his most notable successes was his involvement in the campaign for recognition of the Welsh language. He died in Denbigh, aged 84.
He has a building named after him at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, which is home to the School of Business and Management.
On learning of his death, former Prime Minister James Callaghan said that Cledwyn Hughes "was an unfailing counsellor to me throughout my political life, and especially during my time as prime minister. Wales has lost a great man, and I mourn a true friend.".
40th United Kingdom Parliament. 41st United Kingdom Parliament. 42nd United Kingdom Parliament.
43rd United Kingdom Parliament.
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46th United Kingdom Parliament. 47th United Kingdom Parliament.