Carwyn Jones

The Right Honourable Carwyn Jones AM
First Minister of Wales
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 December 2009
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Rhodri Morgan
Leader of Welsh Labour
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2009
Preceded by	Rhodri Morgan
Counsel General for Wales
In office 19 July 2007 – 9 December 2009
First Minister	Rhodri Morgan
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	John Griffiths
Member of the Welsh Assembly for Bridgend
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 1999
Preceded by	Constituency Created
Majority	6,775 (28.2%)
Personal details
Born	21 March 1967 (1967-03-21) Swansea, Wales
Political party	Welsh Labour
Alma mater	University of Wales Inns of Court
Profession	Barrister

Carwyn Howell Jones (born 21 March 1967) is a Welsh politician and the First Minister of Wales. The third official to lead the Welsh Government, Jones has been Assembly Member for Bridgend since 1999. In the coalition government of Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru, he was appointed Counsel General for Wales and Leader of the House on 19 July 2007. Along with a number of other Assembly Members, he is a fluent Welsh speaker, and is also a member of Amnesty International and the Fabian Society. He was elected to succeed Rhodri Morgan as the new Leader of Welsh Labour on 1 December 2009. On 9 December he was nominated as First Minister and unanimously elected by the National Assembly. He was sworn into office the following day.

Biography

Born in Swansea, he was raised in Bridgend in a fluent Welsh speaking family. He was a pupil at Brynteg Comprehensive School in Bridgend, and then studied at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he joined the Labour Party during the Miners' Strike.

Professional career

Jones trained as a barrister at the Inns of Court School of Law, London, and was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1989.

He became a practising barrister, who specialised in Family, Criminal and Personal Injury law; he was in legal practice for ten years at Gower Chambers, Swansea. For two years, he also worked as a Professional Tutor at Cardiff University on the Bar Vocational Course.

Personal life

Married to Lisa (a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland), the couple have two children, Seren and Ruairi. Jones enjoys sport, following both codes of rugby in Bridgend. He also enjoys walking, cycling and golf. Jones is patron of Kenfig Hill Male Voice Choir.

Political career

Jones was a County Borough Councillor for Bridgend for five years, where he eventually chaired the Labour group.

Jones became a Member of the National Assembly of Wales for Bridgend in 1999.

Jones was appointed Deputy Secretary in the National Assembly for Wales in March 2000. In July 2000, he was appointed to the Cabinet as Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Welsh Government, before the title was changed to Minister in October 2000. His responsibilities in this role included the environment, countryside issues, town and country planning, sustainable development, agriculture and rural development. In June 2002, his brief was expanded when he was appointed Minister for Open Government in addition to his other duties. During this time, he was responsible for the Welsh response to the 2001 Foot and Mouth disease outbreak.

After the 2007 election, he was appointed Minister for Education, Culture and the Welsh Language, responsible for the Department for Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and the Culture, Welsh Language and Sport portfolios. After his party entered into coalition with Plaid Cymru, Jones was reappointed as Counsel General for Wales and Leader of the House.

Following the announcement of Welsh Labour Leader and First Minister Rhodri Morgan in September 2009 that he would be resigning both posts in December 2009, Jones entered the subsequent election to become his successor, where his opponents were Edwina Hart and Huw Lewis. On 1 December 2009, Jones was elected the new Leader with over 50% of the vote.

First Minister of Wales

After winning the leadership election in 2009, Jones was confirmed as the third First Minister of Wales on 9 December 2009. Since the defeat of the Labour Party in the 2010 United Kingdom general election, and the resignation of Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, Jones has become the most senior Labour elected representative and government minister in the United Kingdom. He was appointed as a Privy Counsellor on 9 June 2010. Following the 2011 elections to the Welsh Assembly, Labour increased their number of seats to just one under the amount needed for a majority. Jones opted to form a minority government as opposed to continuing the coalition, allowing Labour to govern alone in Wales for the first time since the formation of the Assembly.

External links

• Carwyn Jones AM Website
• Blog of Carwyn Jones AM
• Biography at the Welsh Assembly Government
• Carwyn Jones profile at Wales Online
• 5minutes with Carwyn Jones

Offices held

National Assembly for Wales
New constituency	Assembly Member for Bridgend 1999–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Andrew Davies	Minister for Assembly Business 2002–2003	Succeeded by Karen Sinclair
New office	Minister for Environment, Planning and Countryside 2000–2007	Succeeded by Jane Davidson
	Minister for Education, Culture and the Welsh Language 2007	Position abolished
Preceded by Rhodri Morgan	First Minister of Wales 2009–present	Incumbent
Legal offices
New office	Counsel General for Wales 2007–2009	Succeeded by John Griffiths
Party political offices
Preceded by Rhodri Morgan	Leader of Welsh Labour in the National Assembly for Wales 2009–present	Incumbent