Dafydd Wigley, Baron Wigley

Dafydd Wigley (2006)

Dafydd Wigley, Baron Wigley PC (born April 1, 1943 in Derbyshire , Derbyshire , England ) is a British Plaid Cymru politician who was a member of the House of Commons for 27 years and has been a member of the House of Lords since 2011 .

Life

Professional career and longtime member of the House of Commons

After attending the Grammar School in Caernarfon and the Rhydal Penrhos School , Wigley studied economics at the Victoria University of Manchester . He then worked as an accountant at Ford Motor Company between 1964 and 1967 , then at Mars Ltd and most recently as an accountant at Hoover Ltd from 1971 to 1974 .

In the general election on June 18, 1970 Wigley ran - albeit unsuccessfully - for the first time for a seat in the House of Commons and was then between 1972 and 1974 member of the council of the County Borough of Merthyr Tydfil .

In the general election on February 28, 1974 he was elected for Plaid Cymru as a member of the House of Commons, and represented the constituency of Caernarvon until the general election on June 9, 1983 and then the Caernarfon constituency until the general election on June 7, 2001 .

During his long lower house activity acted Wigley, of the 1981 bill for the law for people with disabilities ( Disabled Persons Act 1981 ) brought and 1981-1984 first president of Plaid Cymru, was from 1987 to 1991 Parliamentary Secretary ( Whip ) of its fraction . At the same time he was again president of Plaid Cymru from 1991 to 2000 and vice-chairman of the non-partisan group of disabled members of the lower house between 1992 and 2001.

In 1994 Wigley, who became an Honorary Fellow of Bangor University College of North Wales in 1994, ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the European Parliament . Most recently he was spokesman for the Plaid Cymru faction in the lower house for constitutional affairs from 1997 to 2000.

Member of the National Assembly of Wales and Member of the House of Lords

In the election to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 , Wigley was elected as the top candidate of the Plaid Cymru to a member of the National Assembly and was this member until 2003 as a representative of the constituency of Caernarfon . During this time, from 1999 to 2000, as chairman of the Plaid-Cymru faction, he was also the leader of the opposition .

During his membership in the National Assembly, he was also a member of the North Wales Committee from 1999 to 2003, the Economic Development Committee from 2000 to 2003 and the Culture Committee from 2001 to 2003. Furthermore, Wigley, who has been honorary president of Plaid Cymru since 2001, was "shadow finance minister" in the shadow cabinet of Plaid Cymru from 2001 to 2003 and chaired the National Assembly's audit committee from 2002 to 2003.

2002 awarded him the University of Wales an Honorary Doctorate of Law ( Honorary Doctor of Laws ). Between 2003 and 2006 he was Pro-Chancellor of the University of Wales.

On January 19, 2011, the title Baron Wigley , of Caernarfon in the County of Gwynedd, was promoted to Life Peer . 24 January 2011 on its introduction (followed Introduction ) as a member of the House of Lords .

In addition to his membership in the upper house he serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Economics Faculty ( School of Business ) of Bangor University. Lord Wigley, President of the National Library of Wales , is also trustee of the Pension Fund for former members of the National Assembly of Wales and the Sir Kyffin Williams Trust in Llangefni .

family

Dafydd Wigley is married to the harpist Elinor Bennett. The couple had four children, two of whom died as a result of a genetic defect. His son Hywel is married to the harpist Catrin Finch .

Web links

• Entry on Parliament's homepage (accessed on July 12, 2012)
• Dafydd Wigley at Hansard (English)
• Entry in They Work For You (accessed July 12, 2012)
• Biography in Debrett’s (accessed on July 12, 2012)
• Democracy Live ( BBC News , accessed July 12, 2012)