Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Wales’s Political Nonconformist

Dafydd Elis Thomas was a remarkable person and a unique politician. He was an academic even whilst a politician and made it easy for those of us who remained academics as he genuinely ‘got it’. His own academic background meant he understood the need for criticism and challenge – something not all politicians appreciate.

Dafydd was a mentor to many of us – in the real sense of the term, nothing too formal or structured but someone who was always had time to help, was always there to offer advice and wise counsel. It’s taken me until now to write about Dafydd because he was my friend too. When I was elected as UEFA Vice-President, Dafydd dropped off a bottle of champagne with a simple note that said ‘Cymru ar Ben y Byd’. He got it.

I suspect we won’t see the like of Dafydd El again in politics, which is a crying shame. He was simultaneously serious and frivolous, measured and cavalier, charming and dismissive. Overall, that’s a compelling combination, but could occasionally be frustrating or hurtful too. Some regarded Dafydd as infuriating, dismissive and pompous. Well, he could be, but we should forgive him that because he was also unfailingly kind, warm, engaging, always interesting, and genuinely interested in others. Sure, when he fell out with people, he did it in style but Dafydd treated people with respect and courtesy, whoever they were and whatever they did.

He cared about Wales’s next generations of people and politicians and, quite frankly, couldn’t have been more inclusive or less elitist in his vision of a better Wales. He knew the Wales of the future had to include all citizens and all communities for the project to succeed.

Dafydd managed to maintain his reputation as a radical, yet was completely at home within the ‘establishment’. Some say he enjoyed that side a little too much. But, so what? Does it really matter how much fun he had personally if, meanwhile, the work of making Wales a more confident, autonomous country was taking place? I was less convinced by Dafydd’s claim that every country needed an establishment as it gained self-determination, although I get the argument. In Dafydd’s eyes, royal visits were fundamental to endorsing and normalising devolution, especially given the young Assembly’s fragility. He also knew this was important for the sizeable chunk of the electorate who’d been less inclined to support a distinctive Welsh politics. They added gravitas, and the truth is that the status conveyed by such ceremonials was greater than the fledgling Assembly truly merited.

Some say he was full of contradictions, but I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, he campaigned against the Investiture of Prince Charles in 1969 and then went on to become his friend but Dafydd was unflinchingly consistent in his belief that the task in hand in 20th-century Wales was to build a nation. That meant constructing the necessary scaffolding and apparatus that would engender status and respect that would, in turn, allow the opportunity for a different politics. Dafydd knew that his contribution to that goal was defined by the historic and political context. That’s an important lesson to us all. You do what is needed at that time to effect change. What was needed, he argued, was for the foundation bricks to be laid for a dynamic, green, bilingual, progressive nation in the European mode. That, he believed, was Wales’s destiny and we could all play a part in the journey.

Almost everything Dafydd said and did was driven by this vision – no contradictions there. Sure, his political tactics were, let’s say, ‘flexible’ and ‘pragmatic’, but there was never inconsistency as to their purpose. It’s worth remembering too that Machiavelli’s ‘means and ends’ in politics were arguments that gaining and using power was a fundamental first step in delivering for the people.

Personally, I learnt an enormous amount from Dafydd about power and navigating its operation. About simple strategies for how to behave in the board rooms and corridors where decisions are made. Not as a way of fitting in but to try to change them. How to act with confidence and assuredness as a representative from a ‘normal’ state rather than one crippled with insecurity and pock-marked by political immaturity. When to challenge, when to agitate, but also when to compromise and when to just suck it up. There was always a sense that Dafydd could be trusted in any conceivable environment to hold his own, intellectually but also behaviourally. Now, as I navigate the power-driven, clientilistic corridors, and ridiculously sophisticated socialising of European football – very similar to politics in many ways – I often think about what Dafydd El might do and, more often than not, smile.

Dafydd’s contributions to politics and public life were many and there’s absolutely no need to choose a hierarchy. His achievements all feel interconnected to me. A Plaid Cymru politician who steered the party firmly onto the terrain of the progressive European left. His charismatic contributions in the 1980s anchored the national movement to feminism, environmentalism, trade unionism and the peace movement. He was pivotal in founding the National Left, alongside that amazingly readable and ahead-of-its-time magazine, Radical Wales. Dafydd brought people into Plaid who probably never envisaged they would or could join a nationalist party. That was helped, of course, by the fact that he never regarded himself as a nationalist.

Not all of the newcomers stayed in Plaid but this period helped change everything, not just for Plaid Cymru but for the wider left in Wales. Everyone on the left wanted a bit of this untypically charismatic, charming and suave Welsh intellectual.

Firsts are inevitably important as they set the tone. Dafydd moulded the role of the National Assembly for Wales’s (he was always ready to correct the ‘of Wales’ to ‘for’!) Llywydd into something authoritative and meaningful. It is entirely possible that the position would not have been thus had Dafydd not been the first office holder. His natural gravitas and persona as Llywydd and his parliamentary and constitutional know-how meant mostly well-timed and savvy interventions at key junctures. These were to prove crucial for an institution whose original design manifested the very worst possible outcome of deals and compromises from a tribal and timid political class. Dafydd consolidated the institution’s legitimacy, stabilising devolution at a time when it needed it most and in ways that few others could possibly have executed. And, without his determination, there wouldn’t have been the architectural gem in the Bay, the Richard Rogers-designed Senedd, a rare new building in our capital city oozing national confidence.

When Dafydd became Sport and Culture Minister in the Welsh Government in 2017, it felt like the ultimate scratching of a life-long political itch. He rang me shortly after being appointed to chat about the sporting landscape. In Dafydd’s inimitable way, he asked me ‘what needs to be done now’ to make Wales a self-respecting sporting nation. From my very long shopping list, he cut to the chase and picked out the two big ticket items. If only we had more ministers able to do that.

As I said, I’m not sure we’ll see a politician like Dafydd Elis Thomas again, but I really hope we do as it will mean that his vision of a different Wales has been realised.

#RIPDafyddEl