1999 Welsh Labour leadership election
{{Short description|Welsh Labour Party leadership election}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1999 Welsh Labour leadership election
| country = Wales
| flag_image =
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_year = 1998
| next_election =
| next_year = 2000
| election_date = 20 February
| 1blank = Overall Result
| 2blank = Affiliated unions
| 3blank = Party members
| 4blank = Elected officials
| image1 = 150x150px
| imagesize =
| candidate1 = Alun Michael
| colour1 = DC241f
| 1data1 = 52.7%
| 2data1 = 64.0%
| 3data1 = 35.7%
| 4data1 = 58.4%
| image2 = 150x150px
| candidate2 = Rhodri Morgan
| colour2 = DC241f
| 1data2 = 47.3%
| 2data2 = 36.0%
| 3data2 = 64.3%
| 4data2 = 41.6%
| title = Leader
| before_election = Ron Davies
| after_election = Alun Michael
}}
The 1999 Welsh Labour leadership election was held on 20 February 1999. Alun Michael was elected as Labour's nominee for First Secretary.{{cite web |url=http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~tquinn/welsh_parties.htm |title=WELSH PARTY LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS 1998-2016 |work=Tom Quinn, Senior Lecturer in Government, University of Essex |access-date=6 October 2017 |archive-date=9 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309102947/http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~tquinn/welsh_parties.htm |url-status=dead }} Michael would go on to become First Secretary in a minority Labour government following the 1999 Assembly election. Runner up Rhodri Morgan went on to serve in Michael's first cabinet and then succeeded him as First Secretary in February 2000.
Background
In the 1997 general election, the Labour Party won a landslide victory against the governing Conservative Party, returning to government after 18 years in opposition.{{Cite news |date=2 May 1997 |title=Labour routs Tories in historic election |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/2/newsid_2480000/2480505.stm |access-date=19 May 2023}} Labour's election manifesto included a commitment to hold a devolution referendum in Wales to determine whether to establish a devolved Welsh assembly.{{Cite web |date=7 December 2020 |title=History of devolution |url=https://senedd.wales/how-we-work/history-of-devolution/ |access-date=19 May 2023 |website=Senedd}} The 1997 Welsh devolution referendum returned a narrow majority in favour of devolution and led to the establishment of the devolved National Assembly for Wales in May 1999.{{Cite book |last=Torrance |first=David |url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8318/CBP-8318.pdf |title=Devolution in Wales: "A process, not an event" |date=30 January 2023 |publisher=House of Commons Library |pages=13–14 |id=CBP8318 |access-date=19 May 2023}}{{Cite book |last1=Lane-Mercier |first1=Gillian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VAZ-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |title=Minority Languages, National Languages, and Official Language Policies |last2=Merkle |first2=Denise |last3=Koustas |first3=Jane |date=30 December 2018 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=978-0-7735-5588-4 |page=133}} The assembly would be led by the First Secretary of Wales. As Labour was expected to win the most seats in the first election to the assembly, scheduled for May 1999, its leader in Wales would likely become the inaugural first secretary.{{Cite news |date=19 September 1998 |title=Davies beats off backbench challenge |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/175357.stm |access-date=19 May 2023}}{{Cite journal |last=Hyman |first=Gavin |date=14 January 2021 |title=Morgan, (Hywel) Rhodri (1939–2017) |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380313 |journal=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000380313 |access-date=19 May 2023|url-access=subscription }}
Rhodri Morgan, the Labour MP for Cardiff West, and Ron Davies, the secretary of state for Wales and Labour MP for Caerphilly, contested the 1998 Welsh Labour leadership election to become leader of the Labour Party in Wales and therefore its nominee for first secretary. Davies won the election but had to resign shortly after when he was involved in an alleged gay sex scandal in Clapham Common. Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed the Blairite Alun Michael to succeed Davies as Welsh secretary and planned for him to become the first secretary without a leadership election. This appointment was made to prevent Morgan, who had a long-held ambition to lead the assembly,{{Cite news |last1=Womersley |first1=Tara |last2=Smale |first2=Will |date=6 November 1998 |title=Alun Michael makes bid to lead assembly |page=23 |work=South Wales Echo |via=Newspapers.com}} from becoming Labour's leader in Wales.{{Cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Ioan |date=20 July 2021 |title=MORGAN, HYWEL RHODRI (1939 - 2017), politician |url=https://biography.wales/article/s12-MORG-RHO-1939 |journal=Dictionary of Welsh Biography |access-date=19 May 2023}}
Electoral system
The new leader was elected using an Electoral College in which the votes of elected officials (Welsh Labour MPs, MEPs and assembly candidates), individual members and affiliates were weighted equally at a share of one-third each.
Candidates
- Rhodri Morgan, Member of Parliament for Cardiff West.
- Alun Michael, Secretary of State for Wales; Member of Parliament for Cardiff South and Penarth.
A third candidate, Swansea-based businessman and lawyer, Roger Warren Evans announced his intention to run saying he would be the party's "rank and file" representative,{{cite web |title=New contender for Welsh Labour leader |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/215649.stm |publisher=BBC News |access-date=17 November 2021}} although ultimately he didn't stand.
Result
| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;" |
| colspan="2" scope="col" | Candidate ! scope="col" | Affiliated ! scope="col" | Individual ! scope="col" | Elected ! scope="col" | Total |
|---|
| align="right"
| style="background-color: {{party color|Welsh Labour Party}}" | | scope="row" align="left"|Alun Michael MP |64.0% |35.7% |58.4% | 52.7% |
| align="right"
| style="background-color: {{party color|Welsh Labour Party}}" | |scope="row" align="left"| Rhodri Morgan MP |36.0% |64.3% |41.6% |47.3% |
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Welsh Labour}}
{{UK Labour Party}}