David Morris

 Click here to Vote Now

 Back

 Previous

Next

David Morris
David Morris (January 28, 1930 – January 24, 2007) was a Welsh politician, member of the European Parliament, chairman of CND Cymru and peace activist.

Morris was born in Kidderminster and adopted by a Welsh family. As a young man, he worked in a steel foundry in Llanelli, South Wales. During the Second World War, he was conscripted to work down coal mines as a Bevin Boy, and he joined the Labour Party at the age of fifteen.

He gained a scholarship to Ruskin College, Oxford, and became a Presbyterian minister in 1958.

Morris became an anti-nuclear campaigner in 1957, opposing Operation Grapple X, in which Britain tested nuclear weapons including its first hydrogen bombs over the Pacific Ocean atoll of Christmas Island (now Kiritimati).

Political Career
David Morris served as a Labour Councillor in South Wales, before being elected to the European Parliament in 1984. After boundary changes he served until 1999, latterly representing South Wales West, an area corresponding to Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend.

In the late 1990s due to the introduction of a list system of proportional representation for British seats, the Labour Party introduced a transitional selection process to determine its candidates for the 1999 European Elections. Like other internal Labour Party processes of the time, (e.g. "Labour London Mayor Selection" and the "Welsh Labour Leadership Election"), the process to determine the order of candidates on the party list for the 1999 elections was controversial with allegations that it was undemocratic and designed to sidline left of centre candidates, such as Morris.

Morris, (like the other sitting Welsh MEPs), was re-elected to be a Labour candidate by members in his own soon to be defunct Consitituency. However in the more important process to determine the Welsh Labour candidates’ party list ranking, Morris was placed too low to have a realistic chance of being elected, he therefore withdrew as a candidate.

After retiring from the European Parliament Morris remained active in Welsh and Labour politics. Indeed he eventually benefited from the democratisation of the Welsh Labour Party that occurred after Rhodri Morgan took over as leader, when he was elected to represent "South West Wales", (the same area as his former European Constituency) on the National Executive Committee of the Welsh Labour Party, on which he served until 2006.


 

[Home] [Artists] [Arts & Crafts] [Buildings] [Entertainers] [Events] [Famous Welsh] [Food & Drink] [Journalists] [Musicians] [Places] [Politicians] [Products] [Songs] [Sport] [Symbols] [Writers] [Welsh Info] [Welsh Produce] [About Us] [Vox Pop] [Our Sponsors] [Contact Us] [Facebook Fans] [Welsh News] [Welsh Shop]

All copyrights acknowledged with thanks to Wikipedia. Another site by 3Cat Design 2006-2010
Whilst we try to give accurate information, we accept no liability for loss or incorrect information listed on this site or from material embedded
on this site from external sources such as YouTube.
If you do spot a mistake, please let us know. Email: [email protected]

 


Welsh News


Join us on Facebook


Follow us on Twitter

 

 

Key

Bold Red
Internal Link
Red
External Link

                 Admission Charges
                 Address
                 Arts/Galleries
                 Buses
                 B&B’s/Guest Houses
                 Campsites/Caravans
                 Castles
                 Credit Cards
                 Cricket
                 Disabled Facilities
                 Email
                 Farmers Markets
                 Fax
                 Film
                 Food
                 Football
                 Parks/Gardens
                 Golf
                 Historic Houses
                 Hotels
                 Libraries
                 Museums
                 Opening Hours
                 Places of Worship
                 Pubs/Bars
                 Rugby
                 Shops/Gifts
                 Taxis:
                 Telephone No.
                 Theatres
                 Tourist Information
                 Trains
                 Vets
                 Web Address
                 Welsh Produce
                 Youth Hostels
                 llustration(s) or photograph(s) viewable Illustration(s) or photograph(s)

 

Please help us to keep this site
running as a free resource