Alun Michael
Alun Edward Michael is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative retired politician. 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. He went on to serve as South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012 to 2024.
Born on the island of Anglesey, Michael attended Colwyn Bay Grammar School and graduated from the University of Keele in 1966 with a degree in Philosophy and English. He worked as a reporter for the South Wales Echo until 1971 and then as a youth and community worker until 1987. He became a Justice of the Peace in 1972 and served on the Cardiff City Council from 1973 to 1989. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1987, succeeding former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan for the constituency of Cardiff South and Penarth.
In opposition, he was a Shadow Home Affairs Minister and then when Labour came to power in 1997 he served as a Minister of State for Home Affairs until 1998. In October of that year, Ron Davies resigned as Secretary of State for Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour following the "Moment of Madness" scandal and Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed Michael to succeed him in the former role. In May 1999, following the first elections to the National Assembly for Wales, Michael defeated Rhodri Morgan to become the new Welsh Labour leader and thus the inaugural First Secretary of Wales. The position was later renamed First Minister of Wales under the tenure of his successor.
Michael resigned as Leader of Welsh Labour and First Secretary nine months later to avoid a vote of no confidence. He resigned from the Welsh Assembly shortly after and served in various junior ministerial positions in the Labour government at Westminster. He resigned from the House of Commons in October 2012 to stand for the newly created position of Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales, to which he was elected in November 2012 and re-elected in 2016 and 2021. In June 2023 it was announced he would not contest the 2024 election; he was succeeded by his deputy Emma Wools on 8 May 2024, after her electoral victory the previous week.
Background and family life
Michael was born at Bryngwran, Anglesey, the son of Leslie and Betty Michael. He attended Colwyn Bay Grammar School and studied at Keele University for four years from 1962 to 1966 obtaining a BA degree in Philosophy and English.Professional career
He was a reporter for the South Wales Echo, a Cardiff-based evening newspaper, where he was a contemporary of Michael Buerk and of Sue Lawley. In his autobiography Michael Buerk wrote "Alun Michael with his ginger toothbrush-moustache and battered corduroy jacket, was a rather Pooterish character for the Sixties. He did not stay in journalism, which was no surprise, but went into politics, which certainly was". Michael in fact left journalism in 1971 and spent 16 years until 1987 as a "youth and community worker" before entering Parliament. In 1972 he was appointed a justice of the peace, chairing the Cardiff Juvenile Bench.Political career
Michael was a member of Cardiff City Council for the Rumney ward, subsequently the Trowbridge ward from 1973 until 1989.He became an MP at the 1987 general election, inheriting a safe Labour seat from former prime minister James Callaghan. Michael retained this seat in 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010 although with declining majorities at each election from 1997 onwards.
Home Office
Michael was a Shadow Home Affairs Minister while in opposition, prior to becoming a Minister of State in the Home Office following Labour's landslide victory in the 1997 general election. His rhetoric when coming to office differed from the eventual delivery. As Home Office minister, he pledged there would be "no hiding place for paedophiles" as there would "be cases where the public will have to be told directly that a paedophile is in their area. Several frightening cases in recent months have hammered it home that we must act." This policy was not realised, and following the case of eight-year-old Sarah Payne and calls for his original policy to be introduced, Michael agreed with the approach being taken by then Dyfed Powys Chief Constable Terence Grange, who said such a plan would drive paedophiles underground. He said " warned of the dangers of having open access leading to paedophiles disappearing and therefore posing an even greater risk". Michael defended his decision not to introduce "Sarah's Law" saying, "These are extremely difficult issues and people are understandably very upset, but there is a danger of serious mistakes being made and this has been shown on a number occasions.".Michael was however responsible for steering the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 through the House of Commons. Amongst other things, this Act introduced ASBOs or Anti-social Behaviour Orders and statutory crime reduction partnerships. He was also responsible for the Government policy on the voluntary and community sector, and introduced the "compact" process to achieve partnership between Government and that sector. Michael later became a member of the Justice Select Committee from November 2007 to May 2010. While on the committee he took part in enquiries into restorative justice, devolution ten years on, the role of the prison officer, and the work of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Wales career
In May 1997 Ron Davies was appointed by Tony Blair to the cabinet position of Secretary of State for Wales and then, in September 1998, narrowly defeated Rhodri Morgan in an internal contest for the Labour leadership in Wales. The first election for the National Assembly of Wales was due to be held in May 1999. Should Labour form a government, the Welsh Labour leader would then become what was to be called "First Secretary" – potentially giving Davies a role in both the UK and Welsh legislatures.However, on 27 October 1998, Davies abruptly resigned as Secretary of State for Wales after adverse publicity about his personal life. Tony Blair overlooked Morgan and appointed Michael as the new Secretary of State for Wales.
Two days later, on 29 October 1998, Davies also resigned the Labour Leadership in Wales, thus relinquishing his ambition to become First Secretary and initiating another leadership contest. Blair again overlooked Morgan and opted to back Michael for the position. According to Neath MP Peter Hain "Rhodri was the party's favourite and feelings ran very high" but nevertheless, in a volte-face, Hain agreed to run the campaign for Michael who he described as "the establishment candidate". Although Morgan had the overwhelming support of individual Labour Party members, Michael, backed by Blair and by the trade unions, won the election. This episode led to Michael being described as a "famously tetchy Millbank-backed candidate". The affair was described by Peter Kellner as "another fix" in order "to ensure Alun Michael became Labour's leader in Wales" which Kellner said "offended so many voters that it lost some of its safest seats, including Rhondda, to Plaid Cymru". Tony Blair's favourable treatment of Michael was later described by Kellner as a "determination to foist Alun Michael on the people of Wales", which "produced a spectacular collapse of support". Michael stressed his Welsh credentials, as someone who had grown up in North Wales, lived for 30 years in South Wales and was a speaker of Welsh. He had approached Blair at a very early stage to suggest he stood for the Welsh Assembly elections.
The first Assembly election resulted in the Welsh Labour Party winning less than half of the available seats. In the first plenary on 12 May 1999 Michael was elected First Secretary.
Rather than form a coalition, Michael took the unconventional route of forming a minority government, believing that this offered the potential for a more collaborative and democratic approach to the work of the Assembly.
However, this was to lead to the very outcome Tony Blair had wanted to prevent, the election of Rhodri Morgan as leader of the Welsh Assembly. On 9 February 2000, after less than nine months in office, Michael resigned in an attempt to avoid a vote of "no confidence" over the availability of Objective 1 funding from the European Union. Blair was in the House of Commons taking Prime Minister's Questions when Michael resigned; his parliamentary private secretary had not been notified of this yet, and moments later Conservative leader William Hague asked: "Will the Prime Minister comment on the fact that within moments of his expressing full confidence in the First Secretary in Wales five or 10 minutes ago, news came through to the House that the First Secretary had resigned, before the vote of confidence had taken place?" This led to an exchange that proved humiliating for Blair as he had not been given any notice of Michael's impending resignation. In his resignation Michael also expressed a desire to avoid a debacle resulting from his inevitable re-appointment arising from an inconsistency in the Assembly's brand-new rules.
Michael sat on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from November 2007 to May 2010 and resigned as an MP on 22 October 2012.