Ann Clwyd
Encyclopedia
Ann Clwyd Roberts is a Welsh
Labour Party
politician who has been the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Cynon Valley
since 1984
.
in Flintshire
and attended Holywell Grammar School (now Holywell High School), the independent Queen's School
in Chester and the University College of Wales in Bangor. She was a student teacher at Hope School in Flintshire. She worked as a journalist, working for the BBC
as a studio manager and then became Welsh correspondent for the Guardian
and Observer
newspapers during 1964-79. She was Vice-Chair of the Arts Council of Wales
from 1975-79. She is a member of the NUJ
and TGWU
.
by Huw T. Edwards
, who felt that there should be more women in parliament. She was the unsuccessful Labour candidate in Denbigh
in 1970 and Gloucester in October 1974. From 1979 to 1984, Ann Clwyd was MEP
for Mid and West Wales
. She was elected to Parliament in a by-election in May 1984
following the death of Ioan Evans
and became the first woman to sit for a Welsh valleys
constituency. She served as Shadow
Minister of Education and Women's Rights from 1987 but was sacked in 1988 for rebelling against the party whip on further spending on nuclear weapons. She returned as Shadow Secretary of State for Overseas Development
from 1989 to 1992 and then served as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
in 1992 and for National Heritage from 1992 to 1993.
She was the Opposition
Spokesperson for Employment from 1993 to 1994 and for Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1995 when she was again sacked, along with Jim Cousins
, for observing the Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kirkuk without permission. In 1994 she staged a sit-in down Tower Colliery
mine in her constituency to protest at its closure.
She was a member of the International Development Select Committee from 1997 to 2005. Having been prominent in her concern for the situation in Iraq before the war
there in 2003, Tony Blair
made her a Special Envoy on Human Rights
in Iraq in the run-up to the War. She was the first journalist to put forward claims that some Iraqis were killed in plastic shredders
. On 9 August 2004, she became a member of the Privy Council
.
Clwyd was a Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party
from 2001 until 2005, and was elected as Chair by 167 to 156 (beating Tony Lloyd
) on 24 May 2005. However on 5 December 2006 she was defeated by Lloyd by 11 votes when she sought re-election, with her closeness to Tony Blair being cited as a reason for her defeat.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6211412.stm
Clwyd, chosen for a Private Member's Bill
via Ballot was pressurised by hundreds of pressure groups in order to publisise their group. Clwyd chose the Female Genital Mutilation Bill By Ann Clwyd (to prohibit parents from sending, or taking, their daughters abroad for operations such as female circumcision) speaking about this bill, Female Circumcision was banned in 1985. She has been a vocal supporter of the Iraq War.
She is currently Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group and the All Party Parliamentary Iraq Group. She is Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coalfield Communities, and Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cambodia. She is a former Chair of the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an Executive Member on the (IPU) Committee on Middle East Questions and an Executive Member on the (IPU) Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians. She has been appointed by the Prime Minister as a Member of the British Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
.
She was admitted to the White Robe of the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1991; is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Bangor, and the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education
which awarded her a University of Wales honorary degree. She holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Trinity College, Carmarthen
for her contribution to politics and as a human rights campaigner.
She was a Member of the Arts Council
1975-79, the Vice Chair of the Welsh Arts Council 1975-97. She was on the Royal Commission on the NHS 1976-79.
News articles
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician who has been the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Cynon Valley
Cynon Valley (UK Parliament constituency)
Cynon Valley is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
since 1984
Cynon Valley by-election, 1984
The Cynon Valley by-election, 1984 was a parliamentary by-election held on 3 May 1984 for the British House of Commons constituency of Cynon Valley.- Previous MP :The seat had become vacant on 10 February 1984...
.
Early life
Ann Clwyd is the daughter of Gwilym Henri Lewis and Elizabeth Ann Lewis. She lived in Pentre HalkynPentre Halkyn
Pentre Halkyn is a small village in Flintshire, North Wales. It is situated approximately three miles from Holywell, and is off Junction 32 of the A55 North Wales Expressway. It has a quarry, a small hotel, a local shop and not much else...
in Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...
and attended Holywell Grammar School (now Holywell High School), the independent Queen's School
The Queen's School, Chester
The Queen's School is an independent day school for girls aged 4–18 located in Chester, England. The school was founded in 1878 and was originally called The Chester School for Girls. In 1882, Queen Victoria issued a royal decree naming the school as The Queen's School, the only school in England...
in Chester and the University College of Wales in Bangor. She was a student teacher at Hope School in Flintshire. She worked as a journalist, working for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
as a studio manager and then became Welsh correspondent for the Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
and Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
newspapers during 1964-79. She was Vice-Chair of the Arts Council of Wales
Arts Council of Wales
The Arts Council of Wales is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for funding and developing the arts in Wales.Established by Royal Charter in 1946, as the Welsh Arts Council , when it merged with the three Welsh regional arts associations...
from 1975-79. She is a member of the NUJ
National Union of Journalists
The National Union of Journalists is a trade union for journalists in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1907 and has 38,000 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists .-Structure:...
and TGWU
Transport and General Workers' Union
The Transport and General Workers' Union, also known as the TGWU and the T&G, was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland - where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union - with 900,000 members...
.
Parliamentary career
She was persuaded to stand for ParliamentParliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
by Huw T. Edwards
Huw T. Edwards
Huw Thomas Edwards was a Welsh trade union leader and politician.Edwards was trade unionist who was for many years was the most influential figure in the Labour Party in north Wales. He was appointed the first chair of the Council for Wales and Monmouthshire in 1949...
, who felt that there should be more women in parliament. She was the unsuccessful Labour candidate in Denbigh
Denbigh (UK Parliament constituency)
Denbigh was a county constituency centred on the town of Denbigh in North Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....
in 1970 and Gloucester in October 1974. From 1979 to 1984, Ann Clwyd was MEP
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
for Mid and West Wales
Mid and West Wales
Mid and West Wales is an unofficial subdivision of Wales that is sometimes used, consisting broadly of the preserved counties of Dyfed and Powys, sometimes Swansea and sometimes parts of Gwynedd....
. She was elected to Parliament in a by-election in May 1984
Cynon Valley by-election, 1984
The Cynon Valley by-election, 1984 was a parliamentary by-election held on 3 May 1984 for the British House of Commons constituency of Cynon Valley.- Previous MP :The seat had become vacant on 10 February 1984...
following the death of Ioan Evans
Ioan Evans
Ioan Lyonel Evans was a British politician. He served as a Labour Co-operative Member of Parliament from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 until his death.-Early life:...
and became the first woman to sit for a Welsh valleys
South Wales Valleys
The South Wales Valleys are a number of industrialised valleys in South Wales, stretching from eastern Carmarthenshire in the west to western Monmouthshire in the east and from the Heads of the Valleys in the north to the lower-lying, pastoral country of the Vale of Glamorgan and the coastal plain...
constituency. She served as Shadow
Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet (UK)
The Official Loyal Opposition Shadow Cabinet are, in British parliamentary practice, senior members of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition who scrutinise their corresponding office holders in the Government, develop alternative policies, and hold the Government to account for its actions and responses...
Minister of Education and Women's Rights from 1987 but was sacked in 1988 for rebelling against the party whip on further spending on nuclear weapons. She returned as Shadow Secretary of State for Overseas Development
Secretary of State for International Development
In the United Kingdom, the Secretary of State for International Development is a Cabinet minister responsible for the Department for International Development and for promoting development overseas, particularly in the third world...
from 1989 to 1992 and then served as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
Secretary of State for Wales
The Secretary of State for Wales is the head of the Wales Office within the British cabinet. He or she is responsible for ensuring Welsh interests are taken into account by the government, representing the government within Wales and overseeing the passing of legislation which is only for Wales...
in 1992 and for National Heritage from 1992 to 1993.
She was the Opposition
Official Opposition (UK)
Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, or the Official Opposition, in the United Kingdom is led by the Leader of the Opposition. This is usually the political party with the second-largest number of seats in the House of Commons, as the largest party will usually form Her Majesty's Government...
Spokesperson for Employment from 1993 to 1994 and for Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 1995 when she was again sacked, along with Jim Cousins
Jim Cousins
James Mackay Cousins is an English Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne Central from 1987 to 2010.-Early life:...
, for observing the Turkish invasion of Iraqi Kirkuk without permission. In 1994 she staged a sit-in down Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery
Tower Colliery is the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, and the last mine of its kind to remain in the South Wales Valleys...
mine in her constituency to protest at its closure.
She was a member of the International Development Select Committee from 1997 to 2005. Having been prominent in her concern for the situation in Iraq before the war
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
there in 2003, Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
made her a Special Envoy on Human Rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
in Iraq in the run-up to the War. She was the first journalist to put forward claims that some Iraqis were killed in plastic shredders
Saddam Hussein's alleged shredder
In the runup to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, press stories appeared in the United Kingdom and United States of a plastic shredder into which Saddam and Qusay Hussein fed opponents of their Baathist rule. These stories attracted worldwide attention and boosted support for military action, in stories...
. On 9 August 2004, she became a member of the Privy Council
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...
.
Clwyd was a Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party
Parliamentary Labour Party
In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party is the parliamentary party of the Labour Party in Parliament: Labour MPs as a collective body....
from 2001 until 2005, and was elected as Chair by 167 to 156 (beating Tony Lloyd
Tony Lloyd
Anthony Joseph 'Tony' Lloyd is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Manchester Central since 1997.-Early life:...
) on 24 May 2005. However on 5 December 2006 she was defeated by Lloyd by 11 votes when she sought re-election, with her closeness to Tony Blair being cited as a reason for her defeat.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6211412.stm
Clwyd, chosen for a Private Member's Bill
Private Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
via Ballot was pressurised by hundreds of pressure groups in order to publisise their group. Clwyd chose the Female Genital Mutilation Bill By Ann Clwyd (to prohibit parents from sending, or taking, their daughters abroad for operations such as female circumcision) speaking about this bill, Female Circumcision was banned in 1985. She has been a vocal supporter of the Iraq War.
She is currently Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group and the All Party Parliamentary Iraq Group. She is Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coalfield Communities, and Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cambodia. She is a former Chair of the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an Executive Member on the (IPU) Committee on Middle East Questions and an Executive Member on the (IPU) Coordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians. She has been appointed by the Prime Minister as a Member of the British Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
.
She was admitted to the White Robe of the Gorsedd of Bards at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in 1991; is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, Bangor, and the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education
North East Wales Institute of Higher Education
Glyndŵr University is a university with campuses at Wrexham and Northop in north-east Wales. Formerly known as the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education , it was granted full university status in 2008 after being a member of the University of Wales since 2003...
which awarded her a University of Wales honorary degree. She holds an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Trinity College, Carmarthen
Trinity College, Carmarthen
Trinity University College was a university college in Carmarthen, Wales. In 2010, it merged with the University of Wales, Lampeter to become the new University of Wales, Trinity Saint David.- History :...
for her contribution to politics and as a human rights campaigner.
She was a Member of the Arts Council
Arts council
An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...
1975-79, the Vice Chair of the Welsh Arts Council 1975-97. She was on the Royal Commission on the NHS 1976-79.
Personal life
She married Owen Dryhurst Roberts, a television director and producer, in 1963. They have no children.External links
- Ann Clwyd MP Welsh Labour Party profile
- Indict Campaign Group Ann Clwyd is Chairman
News articles