Education
Born in Merthyr Tydfil and brought up in Aberfan, he attended the University of Edinburgh.
Member of the National Assembly for Wales
Born in Merthyr Tydfil and brought up in Aberfan, he attended the University of Edinburgh.
Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Lewis has represented the Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency since the National Assembly for Wales was established in 1999. Active in the local Scottish Labour Party, he worked for both Labour Party leader John Smith and later Donald Dewar. Returning to South Wales, Lewis worked briefly as a chemistry teacher at Afon Taf High School, before working full-time for the Labour Party.
Elected to the position of Assistant General Secretary of Welsh Labour, he organised the campaign for the Labour "Yes" Vote campaign in 1997, that lead to the creation of the Welsh National Assembly.
He has been party Whip in the Assembly, a post he resigned following the resignation of Alun Michael as First Secretary. He has also been Deputy Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning in October 2000, a post he resigned following the use of a landfill site in Trecatti, within his constituency, for the disposal of carcasses during the foot and mouth crisis (16 April 2001).
He was re-elected in 2003 and was appointed Deputy Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration in May 2003. In the Third Assembly he was appointed Deputy Minister for the Economy and Transport on 31 May 2007 but announced to the media that due to his private opposition to One Wales coalition deal with Plaid Cymru he had been sacked on 18 July 2007.
On 26 June 2013 in light of the resignation of Leighton Andrews, Lewis was appointed Department for Education and Skills (Wales) Minister for Education and Skills.
Not being a Welsh language speaker, that brief was returned to First Minister Carwyn Jones.
Elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 as a Labour and Company-operative Party candidate to represent Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney.