The Lord German | |
---|---|
Deputy First Minister of Wales | |
In office 13 June 2002 –8 May 2003 | |
First Minister | Rhodri Morgan |
Preceded by | Jenny Randerson (Acting) |
Succeeded by | Ieuan Wyn Jones (2007) |
In office 16 October 2000 –6 July 2001 | |
First Minister | Rhodri Morgan |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | Jenny Randerson (Acting) |
Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats | |
In office 13 October 2007 –8 December 2008 | |
Leader | Menzies Campbell Sir Vince Cable Nick Clegg |
Preceded by | Lembit Opik |
Succeeded by | Kirsty Williams |
Member of the Welsh Assembly for South Wales East | |
In office 6 May 1999 –30 June 2010 | |
Preceded by | New Assembly |
Succeeded by | Veronica German |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
Assumed office 29 June 2010 Life Peerage | |
Personal details | |
Born | Cardiff,Wales | 8 May 1945
Political party | Liberal Democrats |
Spouse(s) | (1) Georgette German [1] (2) Veronica German |
Alma mater | Open University |
Michael James German,Baron German,OBE (born 8 May 1945) is a British politician,serving currently as a member of the House of Lords and formerly as a member of the National Assembly for Wales for the South Wales East region. He was leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2007 to 2008. In 1996,he was awarded an OBE for his public and political service.
German was educated at the Open University and St Mary's College. In his early life he was a member of 28th Cardiff Sea Scout Group.
He trained and worked as a music teacher before becoming Head of the European Unit at the Welsh Joint Education Committee. Has also been a school governor.
His political career spans over three decades. He was elected as councillor on Cardiff City Council (Cathays ward) in 1983,together with his wife,Georgette German (Plasnewydd). [1] He was Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats on the City Council between 1983 and 1996 and joint leader of the Council from 1987 to 1991;he was elected to the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 and re-elected in 2003 and 2007.
In the 1996 New Year Honours he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire "for political and public service". [2]
He contested Cardiff North in October 1974 and 1979 for the Liberals,before fighting Cardiff Central in 1983 and 1987 for the SDP–Liberal Alliance,but was unsuccessful on each occasion. In the first Welsh Assembly election in 1999,he contested the Caerphilly constituency,coming third with 12.4% of the vote. He was however elected at the same election for the South Wales East regional seat. [3]
Under a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition he became Deputy First Minister 2000-01 (and Economic Development Secretary) [4] and again in 2002-03 (and Minister for Rural Affairs and Wales Abroad). He stepped down from the role of Deputy First Minister between the two dates to answer allegations made about his role at the Welsh examination board,the WJEC. During this period he was temporarily replaced by Jenny Randerson as Acting Deputy First Minister.
In November 2007,Mike German became leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats,after Lembit Opik stood down to ensure that the leadership of the party was in the National Assembly and not Westminster. He was succeeded in 2008 by Kirsty Williams.
German's political interests include skills development in small and large companies in Wales,constitutional affairs,local government,economy and regeneration.
In May 2010,German was named to the House of Lords as a 'working peer' in the 2010 Dissolution Honours list. [5] He was succeeded to the Assembly in June 2010 by his wife,Veronica,a Torfaen councillor,as she was the next candidate on the regional party list in 2007. [6] [7] German took his seat as Baron German,of Llanfrechfa in the County Borough of Torfaen. [8]
In summer 2021,it was proposed by the Second Johnson ministry to mandate that care home staff be required as a condition of employment to maintain COVID-19 vaccination status,as part of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021. The members of the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee,amongst whom was German,raised concerns about this proposal. German said at the time that "we have consistently made clear our view that all key definitions and criteria on which decisions that might affect a person's welfare or livelihood will be made,should be included in legislation and not in guidance which cannot be subjected to appropriate Parliamentary scrutiny or approval." [9]
Plaid Cymru is a centre-left to left-wing,Welsh nationalist political party in Wales,committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Hywel Rhodri Morgan was a Welsh Labour politician who was the First Minister of Wales and the Leader of Welsh Labour from 2000 to 2009. He was also the Assembly Member for Cardiff West from 1999 to 2011 and the Member of Parliament for Cardiff West from 1987 to 2001. He remains the longest-serving First Minister of Wales,having served in the position for 9 years and 304 days. He was Chancellor of Swansea University from 2011 until his death in 2017.
Alun Edward Michael is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative 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 Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour from 1999 to 2000.
Ieuan Wyn Jones is a Welsh politician who was the Deputy First Minister in the Welsh Government from 2007 to 2011. He was the Member of the National Assembly for Wales for the Ynys Môn constituency from 1999 to 2013,and he was also leader of Plaid Cymru from 2000 to 2012. Jones served as Member of Parliament for Ynys Môn constituency from 1987 to 2001,when he retired to focus on his work in the Welsh Assembly. In 2007,Jones was named Wales' "Politician of the Year" by the BBC Wales am.pm programme. He resigned from the Welsh Assembly on 20 June 2013. In 2017 he unsuccessfully sought to return to the House of Commons for his former constituency.
James Robert Wallace,Baron Wallace of Tankerness,is a Scottish politician serving as a Liberal Democrat life peer in the British House of Lords since 2007 and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 2021 to 2022. He served as the Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 1999 to 2005,and during that time he served twice as acting First Minister,in 2000,in the aftermath of Donald Dewar's death and in 2001,following Henry McLeish's resignation. He was formerly Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 1992 to 2005 and Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords from 2013 to 2016.
Mair Eluned Morgan,Baroness Morgan of Ely is a Welsh Labour politician serving as Minister for Health and Social Services in the Welsh Government since 2021. Morgan has served as a Member of the House of Lords since 2011 and as a Member of the Senedd (MS) since 2016. She was previously Minister for the Welsh Language from 2017 to 2021,Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing from 2020 to 2021,and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 2009.
Mark Fraser Williams. He is a former Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ceredigion constituency,between 2005 and 2017. He sat on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee,and in 2006 he became a Shadow Minister for Wales under Menzies Campbell.
Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom,with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).
Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson,Baroness Randerson is a Welsh Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is a former junior minister in the Wales Office serving in the Cameron–Clegg coalition. Prior to her peerage she was an Assembly Member for Cardiff Central from 1999 to 2011 when she served in the Welsh Labour-Lib Dem administration of the 2000–2003 Welsh Assembly Government.
Victoria Kirstyn Williams is a Welsh politician who served as Minister for Education in the Welsh Government from 2016 to 2021. She was a Member of the Senedd (MS) from 1999 to 2021. She previously served as the Leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats from December 2008 to May 2016 and subsequently from June 2017 to November 2017 in an acting capacity.
Huw Lewis is a Welsh Labour Co-operative politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2013 to 2016. Born in Merthyr Tydfil,Glamorgan,Lewis represented the Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney constituency in the National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2016.
The Welsh Conservatives is the branch of the United Kingdom Conservative Party that operates in Wales. At Westminster elections,it is the second-most popular political party in Wales,having obtained the second-largest share of the vote at every general election since 1931. In Senedd elections,the Conservatives are currently the second-most supported party but have at times been third. They hold 14 of the 40 Welsh seats in the UK Parliament,and 16 of the 60 seats in the Senedd.
The Welsh Liberal Democrats are a branch of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats that operates in Wales. The party is led by Jane Dodds,who served as MP for Brecon and Radnorshire from August to December 2019,and MS for Mid and West Wales since May 2021. The party currently has 1 elected member in the Senedd and no Welsh seats in the UK House of Commons,but does have several members of the House of Lords. The party had 69 local councilors serving in principal authorities as of the 2022 local authority elections,up 10 from 2017.
The 2011 National Assembly for Wales election was an election for the National Assembly. The poll was held on 5 May 2011 and decided the incumbency for all the Assembly's seats. It was the fourth election for seats in the National Assembly for Wales,and the second election taken under the rules of the Government of Wales Act 2006.
Meral Hussein Ece,Baroness Hussein-Ece,is a British Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. She is the first woman of Turkish Cypriot origin to be a member of either house of Parliament after she was appointed a Liberal Democrat working peer on 28 May 2010. She was the Liberal Democrat Spokeswoman for Equalities from 2015 until 2016,under leader Tim Farron.
Veronica Kathleen German,Baroness German is a Welsh Liberal Democrat politician who was a Member of the Welsh Assembly (AM) for the South Wales East region between 2010 and 2011.
The 2007 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland,as well as the Scottish Parliament election took place. This election was preceded by the previous Assembly election in 2003.
Eluned Parrott is a Welsh Liberal Democrat politician. She was an Assembly Member (AM) of the National Assembly for Wales between 2011 and 2016. She is a Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales.
Ahead of the inaugural election to the Welsh Assembly in May 1999,the Welsh Liberal Democrats held a contest to elect their campaign leader and prospective group leader. The Welsh Liberal Democrat leader during this campaign was Brecon and Radnorshire MP Richard Livsey,who would remain as party leader until 2001.