# John Morris, Baron Morris of Aberavon

John Morris, Baron Morris of Aberavon (5 November 1931 – 5 June 2023) was a Welsh politician. He was a Labour Party Member of Parliament for over 41 years, from 1959 to 2001, which included a period as Secretary of State for Wales from 1974 to 1979 and as Attorney General between 1997 and 1999. A native Welsh speaker, he was the last living former Labour MP who was first elected in the 1950s. He was also the last surviving member of Harold Wilson's 1974–76 cabinet, and was the longest-serving Privy Counsellor at the time of his death. His combined parliamentary service totalled over 60 years.

## Background and education

Morris was born in Capel Bangor, Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, on 5 November 1931. He was educated at the Ardwyn School, the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. During the course of his national service, he was stationed with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the Welch Regiment, and the South Wales Borderers.
In 1959, Morris married Margaret Lewis, and they had three daughters.

## Legal career

Morris was a barrister and was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1954. He served as a legal adviser and deputy general secretary for the Farmers' Union of Wales. He practised at 2 Bedford Row Chambers, took silk in 1973, and was made a Bencher of Gray's Inn in 1985. Between 1982 and 1997, he was a Recorder of the Crown Court.

## Political career

Morris represented Aberavon as its Labour MP from 1959 onwards, and subsequently became the longest serving Welsh MP in Parliament, until his retirement in 2001. According to The Almanac of British Politics, Morris was a "moderate" Labour MP.
Morris served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Transport, and Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence. Having been sworn of the Privy Council in the 1970 Birthday Honours, Morris joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales between 5 March 1974 and 4 May 1979 and returned to Government as the Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland between 1997 and 1999, having shadowed the role since 1983. As such, he was one of only a small handful of Labour ministers to hold office under Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair.

## Other positions held

Morris was the Chancellor of the University of South Wales from the time of its formation in 2013. The University of South Wales was formed by a merger between University of Glamorgan (where Lord Morris was Chancellor from 2002) and the University of Wales, Newport. He succeeded fellow Labour politician Lord Merlyn-Rees as the Chancellor for the University of Glamorgan. Lord Morris was President of the London Welsh Trust, which runs the London Welsh Centre, Gray's Inn Road, from 2001 until 2008. He was also a council member of The Prince's Trust.

## Later life and death

His memoir, Fifty Years in Politics and the Law, was published in 2011.
At the death of Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford on 18 March 2023, Morris and Stratton Mills became the surviving former MPs with the earliest date of first election, both having first entered Parliament at the 1959 general election.
Morris died on 5 June 2023, at the age of 91.

## Honours

Morris was raised to the peerage for life as Baron Morris of Aberavon, of Aberavon in the County of West Glamorgan and of Ceredigion in the County of Dyfed in the 2001 Dissolution Honours, was made Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed a year later and was appointed to the Order of the Garter as a Knight Companion (KG) in 2003.

### Arms

Coat of arms of John Morris, Baron Morris of Aberavon :
* NotesLife peer as Baron since 2001
* CoronetA coronet of a Baron
* CrestA bull passant Sable armed and unguled Or with a palewise book Argent upon other Sable.
* TorseMantling Argent and Sable.
* EscutcheonSable a Portcullis Or, over all three swords palewise proper headed Or.
* MottoBID BEN BID BONT Welsh: He who would a leader be, be a bridge
* OrdersThe Order of the Garter circlet.
* Banner The banner of the Baron Morris of Aberavon's arms used as Knight Companion of the Garter depicted at St George's Chapel.