Huw Lewis (born 17 January 1964) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

Labour Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidat ...

politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2013 to 2016. Born in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after T ...

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Mot ...

, Lewis represented the Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency in the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Go ...

from 1999 to 2016.

Early life

Born in Merthyr Tydfil and brought up in

Aberfan Aberfan () is a former coal mining village in the Taff Valley south of the town of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. On 21 October 1966, it became known for the Aberfan disaster, when a colliery spoil tip collapsed into homes and a school, killing 116 ch ...

, he attended the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

. Active in the local

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour ( gd, Pàrtaidh Làbarach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Labour Pairty; officially the Scottish Labour Party) is a social democratic political party in Scotland. It is an autonomous section of the UK Labour Party. From their peak of ...

, he worked for both Labour Party leader John Smith and later Donald Dewar. Lewis campaigned for a

Scottish Assembly The Scottish Assembly was a proposed legislature for Scotland that would have devolved a set list of powers from the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Labour Government led the Scotland Act 1978 through Westminster which provided for ...

alongside Edinburgh Labour Club colleagues

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

and Wendy Alexander, and

Pat McFadden Patrick Bosco McFadden (born 26 March 1965) is a British politician serving as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury since 2021. A member of the Labour Party, he has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Wolverhampton South East since 20 ...

. Returning to South Wales, Lewis worked briefly as a chemistry teacher at

Afon Taf High School This is a list of rivers of Wales, organised geographically. It is taken anti-clockwise from the Dee Estuary to the M48 Bridge that separates the estuary of the River Wye from the River Severn. Tributaries are listed down the page in an upstrea ...

, before working full-time for the Labour Party.

Political career

Elected to the position of Assistant General Secretary of

Welsh Labour Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 192 ...

, he organised the campaign for the Labour "Yes" Vote campaign in 1997, that lead to the creation of the Welsh National Assembly. Elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 as a Labour and Co-operative Party candidate to represent Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. He has been party Whip in the Assembly, a post he resigned following the resignation of

Alun Michael Alun Edward Michael (born 22 August 1943) is a Welsh Labour politician serving as South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wal ...

as First Secretary. He has also been Deputy Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning in October 2000, a post he resigned following the use of a landfill site in Trecatti, within his constituency, for the disposal of carcasses during the foot and mouth crisis (16 April 2001). He was re-elected in 2003 and was appointed Deputy Minister for Social Justice and Regeneration in May 2003. In the Third Assembly he was appointed Deputy Minister for the Economy and Transport on 31 May 2007 but announced to the media that due to his private opposition to One Wales coalition deal with Plaid Cymru he had been sacked on 18 July 2007, having been the only one of Labour's then 26 AMs to vote against Labour's coalition with Plaid Cymru. On 26 June 2013 in light of the resignation of Leighton Andrews, Lewis was appointed Minister for Education and Skills. Not being a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

speaker, that brief was returned to First Minister

Carwyn Jones Carwyn Howell Jones (born 21 March 1967) is a Welsh politician who served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 2009 to 2018. He served as Counsel General for Wales from 2007 to 2009. Jones served as the Member of the S ...

. In January 2016, Lewis announced that he would leave the Assembly at the election in May of that year.

Personal life

Lewis is married to his second wife

Lynne Neagle Lynne Neagle MS (born 18 January 1968) is a Welsh Labour & Co-operative politician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales, Neagle has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for the constituency of Torfaen since the Senedd was established in ...

, the Labour Assembly member for

Torfaen Torfaen (; cy, Torfaen ) is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. Torfaen is bordered by the county of Monmouthshire to the east, the city of Newport to the south, and the county boroughs of Caerphilly and Blaenau Gwent to the south-w ...

and they have a son. In August 2021 Lewis was appointed as the Political and Membership Officer for Wales at the Co-operative Party

References

*''The Wales Yearbook 2006''
BBC Wales 18 May 2007

External links

Website of the Welsh Assembly Government

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Huw 1964 births Living people Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Welsh schoolteachers Labour Co-operative members of the Senedd Wales AMs 1999–2003 Wales AMs 2003–2007 Wales AMs 2007–2011 Wales AMs 2011–2016 Members of the Welsh Assembly Government Welsh bloggers Welsh socialists Politics of Merthyr Tydfil People from Merthyr Tydfil People from Aberfan