Background
Thomas was born on 18 October 1946 at Priory Hospital, Carmarthen, and brought up in the Llandysul area of Ceredigion, and in Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley.
Thomas was born on 18 October 1946 at Priory Hospital, Carmarthen, and brought up in the Llandysul area of Ceredigion, and in Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley.
Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was raised in Ceredigion and the Conwy Valley. and was the Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales from its inception in 1999 to 2011. They later divorced. He lives in Llandaff, Cardiff (when working at the National Assembly) and Betws-y-Coed (in the Aberconwy constituency).
He was also a director and vice-chairman of Cynefin Environmental Limited. between 1992 and 1999. United Kingdom Parliament
He was made a life peer in 1992, and changed his surname from Thomas to Elis-Thomas by deed poll, enabling him to take the title Baron Elis-Thomas, of Nant Conwy in the County of Gwynedd.
In 2012, Lord Elis-Thomas attracted criticism from the pressure group Fix Parliament as the most expensive peer in the House of Lords per vote, having voted only once in 2011 yet having claimed £15,488.70 in expenses in the same year.
National Assembly for Wales
Elis-Thomas was elected to the newly established National Assembly for Wales in 1999, representing the Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituency until the 2007 election, and then the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency. He also held the position of Presiding Officer since the Assembly"s inception in 1999 until 2011. Elis-Thomas was Plaid Cymru"s spokesperson for Environment, Energy and Planning from 2011, transferring to Rural Affairs, Fisheries and Food in 2012.
Elis-Thomas is Honorary President of the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight Cymru.
Mrs Windsor incident
In December 2004 Lord Elis-Thomas asked Leanne Wood to leave the chamber for referring to the Queen as "Mrs Windsor" during a debate. Wood was the first assembly member to be ordered out of the chamber on those grounds.
46th United Kingdom Parliament. 47th United Kingdom Parliament. 48th United Kingdom Parliament.
49th United Kingdom Parliament.
50th United Kingdom Parliament]
He represented Merioneth, then Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituencies as Member of Parliament from 1974 to 1992. He is a member of the House of Lords, a former leader of Plaid Cymru, and, since 2004, a privy counsellor.
He was the chairman of the Welsh Language Board between 1994 and 1999, and is a former member of the Arts Council of Wales and the British Film Institute where he was Chairman of Screen between 1992 and 1999. Having come third at Conwy in 1970, Thomas served as Member of Parliament for the Meirionnydd constituency between 1974 and 1983, initially as the "Baby of the House", and the Meirionnydd Nant Conwy constituency from 1983 to 1992.