Hywel Gruffydd Edward "Huw" Thomas (14 September 1927 – 12 March 2009) was a Welsh broadcaster, barrister and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician.

Family and education

Huw Thomas was born in Pen-bre, near Llanelli, and was a fluent Welsh speaker.Liberal Democrat News, 24 April 2009 p6 He was educated at

Ellesmere College (''Striving for one's country'') , established = 1879 , song = ''Jerusalem'' , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding schoolDay School , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, at

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

, where he read law, and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

, where he obtained honours in law

Tripos At the University of Cambridge, a Tripos (, plural 'Triposes') is any of the examinations that qualify an undergraduate for a bachelor's degree or the courses taken by a student to prepare for these. For example, an undergraduate studying mat ...

. At Cambridge he was vice-president of the Cambridge University Liberal Society and president of the Queen’s College Law Society. While at Aberystwyth he volunteered for RAF aircrew duties and served for four years.''The Who’s Who of 475 Liberal Candidates Fighting the 1950 General Election;'' Liberal Party Publications, 1950 pp65-66 He later became a commissioned officer at the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of Stat ...

. He married his wife Anne in 1960. They had three children.

Career

Thomas was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

and practised as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and givin ...

in London and on the Wales and Chester Circuit. In 1955 he returned to London as an assistant director at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

office of the

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

. in 1956 he switched careers and became a newscaster with Independent Television News (ITN), like fellow Liberals

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author best known for re-examining cases such as the Lindbergh kidnapping and the murder convictions of Timothy Evans an ...

and

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

. Like these contemporary interviewers, Thomas gained a reputation for a penetrating style of questioning when it came to public figures, drawing on his courtroom experience of cross-examination. He also did other sorts of television, for example his collaboration with

Bernard Braden Bernard Chastey Braden (16 May 1916 – 2 February 1993) was a Canadian-born British actor and comedian, who is best known for his appearances in UK television and radio shows. Life Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and educate ...

on the Saturday afternoon sports and current affairs round-up programme, Let’s Go. Thomas later set up his own media consultancy firm, doing PR, producing documentaries and training programmes.

Politics

At the 1950 general election Thomas, aged only 22 years, fought his home seat of

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carma ...

. He came second in a four-cornered contest, albeit more than 30,000 votes behind the successful Labour candidate and sitting MP

Jim Griffiths James (Jeremiah) Griffiths (19 September 1890 – 7 August 1975) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, trade union leader and the first Secretary of State for Wales. Background and education He was born in the predominantly Welsh-speaking vill ...

but he was one of the few Liberal candidates in 1950 who managed to save his deposit. In

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

Thomas fought the Welsh seat of

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

. This was Lady

Megan Lloyd George Lady Megan Arvon Lloyd George, (22 April 1902 – 14 May 1966) was a Welsh politician and the first female Member of Parliament (MP) for a Welsh constituency. She also served as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, before later becoming a Lab ...

’s old seat after she had defected from the Liberals to Labour but in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

which followed her death in 1966 the seat had been gained by

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

candidate

Gwynfor Evans Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first Member of Parliament to represent it at Westm ...

. Labour regained the seat at the 1970 general election but Thomas came a creditable third in a four-cornered contest, gaining over 21% of the poll. Thomas also used his television persona and experience for the Liberals 1970 by presenting election broadcasts. He performed a similar role during the February 1974 general election on the election broadcasts ''News from the Liberals'' and ''Radio Report'' and again in October 1974.David Butler & Dennis Kavanagh, ''The British general election of October 1974''; Macmillan, 1975 pp 90, 158, 159

Death

Huw Thomas died on 12 March 2009 aged 81 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Huw 1927 births 2009 deaths Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People from Llanelli British reporters and correspondents ITN newsreaders and journalists Welsh barristers Welsh television presenters People educated at Ellesmere College Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn