Lord David Owen, Gwynoro Jones, Lord Elystan Morgan
& Glyndwr Cennydd Jones share thoughts on the UK Union and need for
a Constitutional Convention.
Prepared during summer 2017
in the wake of the EU Referendum and General Election of the past year, this
booklet shares the views of Lord David Owen, Gwynoro Jones, Lord Elystan Morgan
and Glyndwr Cennydd Jones on the future of the UK Union generally and Wales’s
status within it specifically, including a preface written by Martin Shipton.
Considering that the four
nations are intrinsically linked culturally and historically in modern times through
shared industrial, political and international experiences, the UK
constitutional question prompts a range of responses depending on where one
places an emphasis on the economic to social measuring scale.
An alternative way of posing
the problem might be to ask how we could better set about empowering the people
of these isles from Lands End to Cardiff to John o’ Groats, and Londonderry to
Caernarfon to Newcastle, in improving standards of living and personal
fulfilment through a political system and ensuing policies which promote
economic success regionally, nationally and globally whilst maintaining
internal and external security.
Drawing on the significant
experiences of the authors, these individual essays highlight the need for a Constitutional Convention to explore the various
alternative models to devolution, encompassing shifts towards federalism and beyond…
‘The suggestions to be found in this series of essays by
a new, self-styled ‘Gang of Four’ are motivated by the desire to see greater
fairness in the way we are governed.’
‘In this respect, they form part of a long and honourable
tradition, and deserve to be taken seriously.’
Martin Shipton: Political author and Chief reporter for
Media Wales
George
would have done anything to advance himself.
There
was a serious element of malice with George.
George
was a terrible gossip. He would wilfully damage any of us without compunction.
You
can be safe in the knowledge that he was a hypocrite and a rather hateful man,
using religion to cover up his flaws. If you crossed George you had an enemy
for life.
I first met George in the
autumn of 1967, a couple of months after I was selected Prospective
Parliamentary Candidate for Carmarthen for the Labour party. In the first years
or so I found him to be a friendly, humorous plain talking individual –
especially when it came to talking about ‘the Nationalists’ and Gwynfor Evans.
But even in those days he was full of gossip about fellow Labour MPs.
After that we would meet at
Labour rallies throughout Wales where he and I would be ‘warm up’ speakers for
the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He was a good orator, full of humour and
knew how to play the audience. In 1968, both of us had one thing in common
which was taking the fight to Plaid Cymru and its leader, so I suppose he saw
me as an important ally in his early period as Secretary of State for Wales.
For instance, I recall writing a memorandum to him after the bombing at the
Welsh Office in Cathays Park May 25 1968, on how to associate Gwynfor’s emotive
anti-London government utterances with what had taken place in Cardiff.
On March 1 1969, at the
behest of Jim Callaghan, I was appointed Research and Public Relations Officer
for the Labour Party in Wales and this resulted in fortnightly meetings with
George on a Sunday at his home in the Heath, Cardiff. The purpose of the meetings was
for him to provide me with material I could use in letters and campaign
material for the party in Wales. It was then I began to notice the ‘real’
George, and that there really was a nasty side to his character which did not
correlate with his public persona.
George would have done
anything to advance himself. He was a man of little or no principle whatsoever.
The only consideration was what would work best for George himself. That was
his only guiding light in everything he did. His posturing as a good Christian
was a cover for his rampant underlying ambitions.
After I became an MP my
thoughts about him were crystallised further, not only because of how I saw him
operate, but of what he used to tell me and others at that Welsh table in
Westminster about various MPs.
George was a terrible
gossip. He would wilfully damage any of us without compunction, particularly if
it was about a Welsh-speaking pro-devolutionist MP - the ‘crypto nationalists’
as he described. If he found out something personal about you, he would enjoy
spreading the ‘tittle tattle’, but what was George up to?
Pointing the finger.
Diverting the attention. Those are the impressions I always had about him. He
disliked us all, but especially Cledwyn. He did not care much for Goronwy too
and never trusted my good friend Elystan.
Elystan – in his
autobiography – recounts an occasion during his time at the Home Office when
George asked him to write a considered piece on the potential transport policy
for Wales when he was Secretary of State for Wales. Elystan spent months
producing a detailed thirty-page policy document on the transport issues and
dutifully presented it to George. One day in the House of Commons, Elystan was
having a meal with a few people near to a freestanding barrier, on the other
side of which was George in conversation with some other MPs. Elystan overheard
George saying, “Let me tell you a story, boys. I gave to that nationalist
Elystan Morgan a task, and he wrote thirty-odd pages for me on a Welsh
transport policy. So do you know what I did? I put it straight in the bin. Ha
ha ha”.
Mind the truth was that us
pro-devolutionists had little time or respect for George either and that was
widely known. In the book on Cledwyn Hughes there is a reference to an article
in the Manchester Evening News by the political columnist Andrew Roth of
Cledwyn’s opinions when he was replaced by George at the Welsh Office in 1968.
‘’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’’
There was a serious element
of malice. And if you got on the wrong side of him, as I did following my time
in 1969 as Chair of the working party preparing Labour’s evidence in Wales to
the Crowther/Kilbrandon Commission on the Constitution, you were in trouble.
During the period of the Heath government, as shadow spokesman, he was a deeply
divisive force, irretrievably damaging the party in the Welsh speaking areas,
particularly with his column in the North Wales Daily Post. He poisoned Harold Wilson against people all
the time. He was known as ‘Harold’s E.N.T.’ That is Ears, Nose and Throat!
I had a very good rapport
with Harold throughout the years. I had organised seven or eight of his
meetings in Wales during his time as Prime Minister, speaking at each one.
However, I knew there was something preventing him from giving me some sort of
recognition – a shadow junior role, or something similar. I had no doubt it was
George weaving his web of distrust behind the scenes. In fact Fred Peart, the
Minister of Agriculture after February 1974, confirmed to me that George had
poisoned him against me: ‘He’s a nationalist. He’s pro-Welsh language. He’s
pro-devolution. He would divide the party’. One can hear George saying these
things. And yet, he was apparently a great Christian.
Although I never witnessed
it, there were references from time to time that George liked his drink, and
yet he used to assert openly that he was teetotal, priding himself on it
publicly. Indeed, I heard him say so from the pulpit when he was preaching in
Tenby one summer.
You can be safe in the
knowledge that he was a hypocrite and a rather hateful man, using religion to
cover up his flaws. If you crossed George you had an enemy for life. Nobody
could claim that the following characteristics were not true: that George was
anti-Welsh, anti-devolution and loathed the patriotic Welsh element within the
Labour Party.
However, the bizarre thing
is that he would probably have been more patriotic himself if he had been a
Welsh speaker. It’s his background, isn’t it? George could say many, many
phrases in Welsh. He could speak a bit of the language, and if he had stuck
with it … well, you never know …
He always resented Jim
Callaghan. I can almost see his thought process. In the 1950s Jim, through the
unions, gained power and got onto Labour’s National Executive Council. George
was envious. Jim subsequently rose to a position of Shadow Minister and then
Harold became Prime Minister, making Jim Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign
Secretary in succession. It must have driven George mad. He was full of enmity.
In fact, he was bit of a Trump-like character. It was all about him, and only
him, all the time. There was nothing George would not do to aggrandise himself.
When anyone tells me stories
about George, nothing surprises me whatsoever. He was a bad egg who managed to
fool us all. He fooled elderly ladies
like my grandmother. We had a house, where I was brought up in Foelgastell,
with quite small rooms. In front of the fire, on few occasions, he would sit
with my mother and grandmother on one side of the fire and him on the other,
pulling all the strings – tugging the heartstrings.
I do not know how many
friends he had in the Welsh Labour Party. Not too many I would guess. Even
people within the party who might have agreed with George on many issues,
particularly with his general anti-Welsh stance, I never saw them consorting
much with him. People such as Kinnock, Abse and Alan Williams from Swansea
West: they had little time for him either. The one stand out person was Barry
Jones, the North Wales MP. It was apparent they were very close indeed – we
used to refer to Barry as George’s ‘Parliamentary son!’
So I reckon he was a pretty
lonely figure inside the Welsh Labour Party. Once he was not made Secretary of
State in February 1974 his influence within the party in Wales was over. Even
Harold Wilson eventually realised, following losses in the Welsh speaking
heartland, that it was George who had been the divisive, negative force for six
years.
But the grand survivor
turned his attention elsewhere – because he had hoodwinked and fooled the
Tories for many years too. Many of them,
including Mrs Thatcher, were I suspect all starry eyed. He had a prodigious
‘gift of the gab.’ But then he was such
a big ‘establishment’ man and a Royalist to the core. In his lounge of the
bungalow in the Heath would be a large picture of the Queen on one side of the
fireplace and the Prince of Wales on the other…
As indicated from video 1 Gwynoro just sat in front of a camera end Dec
2014 without any preparation and spoke from memory. There are 14 hours of recordings that took place over 2 days. None of it has been cut but
inevitably matters not always in chronological order
Video
22 - the aftermath of June 70 election and how the campaigning never ended
Outlines how the campaigning never ended after the June 1970 election;
The bitterness between the two parties and the members; Refers to the letter
writing in three of the local papers that went on continuously through till
about 1972; Refers how little has been written about the 8 years and explains
why 'Gwynfor never lost'! Although from an earlier period describes a public
meeting in LLandovery in 1968 concerning the Central Wales Line. First time he
met Gwynfor Evans; Considers should he have responded differently after winning
the election rather than participate in the bitterness that was there week in
week out; Concludes that the two set of party members etc would not have
allowed such a prospect.
Video 23 - Parliamentary days, personalities
and divisions
Starts with when he was made Roy Jenkins's PPS and how that influenced
opinions about him within the Welsh Labour Party; Then returns to the divisions
within the Welsh Labour Parliamentary group on the matter of an Elected Council
for Wales; Talks of Michael Foot and realising how important Foot's opinion
would be on the matter how he spent some time persuading him of the case for
devolution; Mentions some parliamentary figures and their powers of oratory
including Foot himself, Powell and others.
Turns to George Thomas - who also was an effective debater; Refers to
George's personality traits - his relationship with some people ( Callaghan,
Cledwyn Hughes and other); Then the half dozen Welsh speaking, pro devolution
and language - the 'crypto-nationalists'!; George's column in The Liverpool
Daily Post that did so much damage to the party in North Wales - where he
vented his spleen on devolution, the language, the Eisteddfod and so much else;
How 2 or three went to see Harold Wilson to alert him of the potential damage
of his articles. George had the ear of Wilson known as his ENT (ears nose and
throat); Finishes with the eventual loss of the Welsh speaking seats in Feb
1974.
