‘He had a wonderful life and he enjoyed every minute...’
JULIE Morgan – the widow of former First Minister Rhodri Morgan – has told Assembly Members how he had a wonderful life and enjoyed every minute of it.
Mr Morgan died last week while cycling in the lanes near his home outside Cardiff.
In a special Assembly plenary session at the Senedd, AMs paid tribute to the popular statesman, who served as First Minister from 2000 until 2009.
Speaking after AMs from all parties praised her husband as a great man whose leadership secured Welsh devolution after a difficult birth, Julie Morgan, Labour AM for Cardiff North, told how the tributes had been immensely comforting at a very difficult time.
And she said: “There’s one thing I want to say about Rhodri. He never looked back. He made his decisions and he never regretted them. So when he left here as First Minister ... he never said ‘I wish I’d done this’ or ‘I wish I’d done that.’ He just looked forward, at what he still wanted to do.
“The eight years that he had after being First Minister were so full and so fulfilled.”
Earlier, First Minister Carwyn Jones led the tributes by saying how he regarded his predecessor as a political father figure. He said: “Hywel Rhodri Morgan was named after two kings, and he served this place with distinction as First Minister for nearly 10 years.
“He was somebody who commanded such respect, but of course he was somebody who was down to earth.
“What I am now as a politician, I owe to him. He was the person who gave me my opportunity in July 2000 to become Agriculture and Rural Development Secretary, as the title was then.
“These days, when we have Cabinet reshuffles, they take place on a pre-arranged schedule, they are planned beforehand. He rang me at 10.30pm on a Saturday night to tell me that I’d been promoted to the Cabinet, and would I join him on the way to the Royal Welsh two days later. There was no notice given – that was the way Rhodri was, ringing at that time on a Saturday night.
“Many of us will remember the foot and mouth crisis of 2001. Rhodri’s view was that as a young minister I had to get on with it, that it was my responsibility. But he was there to give help, guidance and support if it was needed. But he never interfered – he let me learn, he let me deal with the situation, but he was there if I needed his advice, and I very much valued that.”
Mr Jones said how Rhodri had been very much a family man, who delighted in his grandchildren.
After his retirement from active politics he had pursued other interests he hadn’t previously had time for, like learning the piano and overcoming his technophobia about using email. Mr Jones said: “I used to tease him that pretty soon he’d be dominating Facebook.”
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: “Above all, he was a decent, upright, honourable individual. He always engaged, he always discussed things, and you always felt you had that sense of camaraderie with him. I feel deeply privileged to have been able to serve one term with him in this institution.”
Describing Rhodri as a patriot, Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said: “He was well-known and popular with working people, and with people outside of his own party. He was a politician that people could relate to. He had a dry and memorable sense of humour.
“But those close to him can also be very proud of his political legacy. Rhodri Morgan led this nation in the early years of devolution, in those difficult precarious times. He formed the first coalition government with the Liberal Democrats and later governed alongside my party in the One Wales government from 2007 to 2011. Those were really important steps in the early years of our democracy. Rhodri proved that Wales could unite and that devolution could see multiple parties exercise political power, and that we could all work together jointly.”
Ukip group leader Neil Hamilton told how he had known Rhodri in the House of Commons as a genial companion who never engaged in political mudslinging.
Former Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Kirsty Williams spoke movingly about how Rhodri had written a personal letter of sympathy to her father when her mother died.
She said: “He showed me great professional and personal kindness. We’ve heard how he was a family man, but he was also interested in your family. He always had time to ask me about my girls.
“When my mother passed away, he wrote not only to me, but he wrote to my late father. My father couldn’t believe that the First Minister of Wales had taken the time to write to him about his loss. He was a decent, decent man.”