David Clifford Davies (born 26 November 1959), commonly known as Dai Davies, is a Welsh politician. He was the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for the

Blaenau Gwent Blaenau Gwent (; ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders the unitary authority areas of Monmouthshire and Torfaen to the east, Caerphilly to the west and Powys to the north. Its main towns are Abertillery, Brynmawr, Ebbw ...

constituency in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

from 2006 to 2010, representing the

Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group The Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group was a political party based in the Blaenau Gwent area of Wales. The party was formed in the aftermath of the election to the House of Commons of Peter Law as an independent Member of Parliament, beating t ...

. He was elected at a by-election in June 2006 following the death of

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Peter Law Peter John Law (1 April 1948 – 25 April 2006) was a Welsh politician. For most of his career Law sat as a Labour councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly member (AM) for Blaenau Gwent. Latterly he sat as an independent membe ...

, but lost his seat at the 2010 general election to Labour's Nick Smith by 10,516 votes.

Background

Davies was born in

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr c ...

in 1959 and was the son and grandson of steelworkers. He attended Willowtown Secondary Modern School.''The Almanac of British Politics''
Accessed 30 November 2022. After leaving school at the age of 16, Davies worked in the electrical department at the

Ebbw Vale Steelworks Ebbw Vale Steelworks was an integrated steel mill located in Ebbw Vale, South Wales. Developed from 1790, by the late 1930s it had become the largest steel mill in Europe. Nationalized after World War II, as the steel industry changed to bulk han ...

for 26 years; he was a senior trade union

shop steward A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...

for over 15 years and a member of the Nation Industrial Committee for Steel. After losing his job at the steelworks that was shortly to close, he took a job with the union and he oversaw the loss of thousands of jobs. He was a trustee of the

British Steel plc British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British Englis ...

pension scheme. Davies was a voluntary school governor at both primary and secondary level, a former chair of a Community Health Council and a Community First Partnership Board. He has been a Director of a development trust.

Political career

Davies was agent for both

Llew Smith Llewellyn Thomas Smith (16 April 1944 – 26 May 2021) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life and education According to Smith, his father was born in England and moved to Wales as a child. He began working at the local colliery ( Ne ...

and

, and a political research officer and campaign manager for Law. Until his defeat in 2010, he was the leader of

, a political party that had announced intentions to expand outside his own constituency in the 2007 Assembly elections. The election result was the first occasion an independent had held a seat occupied by a previous independent in a by-election since Sir C. V. F. Townshend held

The Wrekin The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 4 ...

in 1920. The traditionally Labour seat 'returned to the fold' in electing Nick Smith on 6 May 2010, on a 29% swing to Labour and with a majority of over 10,000. Whilst Davies was in the House of Commons, two other MPs had the same phonetic name as him: David Davies, a Welsh

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP elected in 2005, and David Davis, an English Conservative MP and runner-up in that party's previous leadership election. The resignation of Davis from the Commons in June 2008 allegedly proved problematic for the Monmouthshire MP, and one could assume that Dai Davies was also included in this confusion. On 23 June 2010, Davies gave his first interview since being defeated by his former party. He stated that he would be leaving frontline politics and standing down as Leader of The People's Voice; after these comments the future of the party he led from 2006 became unclear. He said he would still try and work for the people of Blaenau Gwent. In

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, he was elected as one of three councillors for the Ebbw Vale North Ward on

Blaenau Gwent Council Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council ( cy, Cyngor bwrdeistref Sirol Blaenau Gwent) is the governing body for Blaenau Gwent, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. History The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 197 ...

Personal life

Davies is married to Amanda and they live in

. They have a son.

References

External links

* Barrie Clemen
"Bevan's home town keeps old Labour's flag flying"
''The Independent'', 29 June 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Dai 1959 births Independent members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Independent politicians in Wales Living people Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Welsh constituencies UK MPs 2005–2010 Leaders of political parties in Wales People from Ebbw Vale Welsh trade unionists Councillors in Wales Blaenau Gwent People's Voice politicians