Gwynoro Jones

Who is Gwynoro Jones?

Gwynoro Glyndwr Jones is a former British / Welsh politician.

Before entering Parliament he was Public Relations Officer for the Labour Party in Wales 1968 and, together with Emrys Jones, Regional Organiser for the Wales Labour Party and Gwyn Morgan, Assistant General Secretary to the UK Party, he drafted Labour's evidence to the Crowther/Kilbrandon Royal Commission on the Constitution.

In 1970, he became MP at 27 years of age when elected Member of Parliament for Carmarthen, defeating the president of Plaid Cymru, Gwynfor Evans with a majority of 3,600 votes. Having held on to the seat in an historic election that had five recounts by just 3 votes in the February 1974 general election, he lost the seat back to Evans by 3,640 votes in the October election of that year. When MP he was in 1974 Parliamentary Secretary to Rt Hon Roy Jenkins the Home Secretary and was also a member of the Council of Europe. Throughout his time in Parliament he campaigned for more devolution to Wales an issue that split the Welsh Labour Party deeply.

In 1981 he helped establish the Social Democratic Party and together with Tom Ellis former MP for Wrexham and others created a powerful Welsh voice within the UK SDP. Gwynoro Jones stood in the Gower by-election of 1982 where Labour's 19,000 majority was reduced to 7,000. He was Chair of the SDP in Wales for two three-year periods before the merger of the SDP with the Liberals. During the days of the SDP-Liberal Alliance he chaired its National Committee in Wales for the whole period 1983 to 1989. In the 1980s Gwynoro became a powerful advocate for constitutional and electoral reform and was a renowned orator at conferences and public meetings across the UK. A strong advocate of the alliance with the Liberals he was often at loggerheads with David Owen.