1999 Welsh Labour leadership election

Welsh Labour Party leadership election April 2022 October 2017 1999 Welsh Labour leadership election Wales presidential no 1998 2000 20 February 1999 Overall Result Affiliated unions Party members Elected officials 150x150px Alun Michael 52.7% 64.0% 35.7% 58.4% 150x150px Rhodri Morgan 47.3% 36.0% 64.3% 41.6% Leader Ron Davies Alun Michael The 1999 Welsh Labour leadership election was held on 20 February 1999. Alun Michael was elected as Labour's nominee for First Secretary.http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~tquinn/welsh_parties.htm WELSH PARTY LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS 1998-2016 Tom Quinn, Senior Lecturer in Government, University of Essex 6 October 2017 9 March 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160309102947/http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~tquinn/welsh_parties.htm dead Michael would go on to become First Secretary in a minority Labour government following the 1999 Assembly election. Runner up Rhodri Morgan went on to serve in Michael's first cabinet and then succeeded him as First Secretary in February 2000. Background In the 1997 general election, the Labour Party won a landslide victory against the governing Conservative Party, returning to government after 18 years in opposition.2 May 1997 Labour routs Tories in historic election BBC News https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/2/newsid_2480000/2480505.stm 19 May 2023 Labour's election manifesto included a commitment to hold a devolution referendum in Wales to determine whether to establish a devolved Welsh assembly.7 December 2020 History of devolution https://senedd.wales/how-we-work/history-of-devolution/ 19 May 2023 Senedd The 1997 Welsh devolution referendum returned a narrow majority in favour of devolution and led to the establishment of the devolved National Assembly for Wales in May 1999.Torrance David https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8318/CBP-8318.pdf Devolution in Wales: "A process, not an event" 30 January 2023 House of Commons Library 13–14 CBP8318 19 May 2023Lane-Mercier Gillian https://books.google.com/books?id=VAZ-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 Minority Languages, National Languages, and Official Language Policies Merkle Denise Koustas Jane 30 December 2018 McGill-Queen's Press 978-0-7735-5588-4 133 The assembly would be led by the First Secretary of Wales. As Labour was expected to win the most seats in the first election to the assembly, scheduled for May 1999, its leader in Wales would likely become the inaugural first secretary.19 September 1998 Davies beats off backbench challenge BBC News https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/175357.stm 19 May 2023Hyman Gavin 14 January 2021 Morgan, (Hywel) Rhodri (1939–2017) https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380313 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380313 19 May 2023 subscription Rhodri Morgan, the Labour MP for Cardiff West, and Ron Davies, the secretary of state for Wales and Labour MP for Caerphilly, contested the 1998 Welsh Labour leadership election to become leader of the Labour Party in Wales and therefore its nominee for first secretary. Davies won the election but had to resign shortly after when he was involved in an alleged gay sex scandal in Clapham Common. Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed the Blairite Alun Michael to succeed Davies as Welsh secretary and planned for him to become the first secretary without a leadership election. This appointment was made to prevent Morgan, who had a long-held ambition to lead the assembly,Womersley Tara Smale Will 6 November 1998 Alun Michael makes bid to lead assembly 23 South Wales Echo Newspapers.com from becoming Labour's leader in Wales.Phillips Ioan 20 July 2021 MORGAN, HYWEL RHODRI (1939 - 2017), politician https://biography.wales/article/s12-MORG-RHO-1939 Dictionary of Welsh Biography 19 May 2023 Electoral system The new leader was elected using an Electoral College in which the votes of elected officials (Welsh Labour MPs, MEPs and assembly candidates), individual members and affiliates were weighted equally at a share of one-third each. Candidates Rhodri Morgan, Member of Parliament for Cardiff West. Alun Michael, Secretary of State for Wales; Member of Parliament for Cardiff South and Penarth. A third candidate, Swansea-based businessman and lawyer, Roger Warren Evans announced his intention to run saying he would be the party's "rank and file" representative,New contender for Welsh Labour leader https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/215649.stm BBC News 17 November 2021 although ultimately he didn't stand. Result Candidate Affiliated members (33.3%) Individual members (33.3%) Elected members (33.3%) TotalAlun Michael MP64.0%35.7%58.4% 52.7% Rhodri Morgan MP36.0%64.3%41.6%47.3% References 1999 Category:1999 in Wales Welsh Labour leadership election