Leighton Andrews

Leighton Andrews AM
Member of the Welsh Assembly for Rhondda
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 May 2003
Preceded by	Geraint Davies
Majority	6,739 (33.6%)
Minister for Education and Skills
In office 10 December 2009 – 25 June 2013
First Minister	Carwyn Jones
Preceded by	Jane Hutt
Succeeded by	Huw Lewis
Personal details
Born	(1957-08-11) 11 August 1957 Cardiff, Wales
Political party	Welsh Labour
Spouse(s)	Ann Beynon
Children	2
Alma mater	Bangor University, University of Sussex
Occupation	Lobbyist, lecturer
Website	Welsh Labour

Leighton Andrews (born 11 August 1957) is a Welsh Labour^[1] politician. He has been the National Assembly for Wales member for Rhondda since 2003, and was Minister for Children, Education & Lifelong Learning in the Welsh Government until his resignation on 25 June 2013 after a conflict between his own departmental policy and his active campaigning to save a school in his constituency.^[2]

Background and education

Andrews was born in Cardiff, and brought up in Barry until the age of 11, when his family moved to Dorset. He holds a BA Honours (English and History) from the University of Wales, Bangor and an MA in History from the University of Sussex. He has been a visiting Professor at the University of Westminster from 1997 to 2002; and is an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University.

Andrews is married to Ann Beynon, BT Director Wales; the couple have two children.

Professional career

• Parliamentary Officer Age Concern, 1982–84
• UK Campaign Director, UN International Year of Shelter for the Homeless, 1984–87
• Public Affairs Consultant 1988-1993 and 1997–2001
• Head of Public Affairs for the BBC from 1993–96, based in London, responsible for the BBC's relations with the UK Parliament and with the EU institutions. Lecturer at Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies immediately prior to his election to the National Assembly.

He is a published academic, whose peer-reviewed articles and chapters include The National Assembly for Wales and broadcasting policy, 1999-2003 Media, Culture & Society, Vol. 28, No. 2, 191-210 (2006);^[3] Wales and the UK’s Communications Legislation 2002–2003, Cyfrwng 2005,^[4] and Spin: from tactic to tabloid, Journal of Public Affairs, Volume 6, Issue 1, Date: February 2006, Pages: 31-45 ^[5] and the chapter 'Lobbying for a new BBC Charter' in The Handbook of Public Affairs edited by Phil Harris and Craig Fleischer, Sage, 2006.^[6]

Chapters in other books include 'New Labour, New England', in The Blair Agenda, Ed. Mark Perryman, Lawrence and Wishart, 1996,^[7] 'Too important to leave to the Politicians' in The Road to the National Assembly for Wales, ed J.Barry Jones and Denis Balsom,^[8] 'The Breakdown of Tom Nairn', in Gordon Brown: Bard of Britishness, edited by John Osmond, IWA, 2006,^[9] and the Labour chapter in Welsh Politics Come of Age: Responses to the Richard Commission (Paperback) edited by John Osmond, IWA, 2004,^[10]

Political career

Andrews was an active Liberal in the 1980s, and stood as the Liberal-SDP Alliance candidate for Gillingham in the 1987 General Election at the age of 29. On returning to Wales to live in 1996 he was appointed to the board of Tai Cymru - Housing for Wales by the then Conservative Secretary of State for Wales, William Hague.

He was co-founder of the Yes for Wales campaign for the 1997 referendum. During the referendum campaign he produced a paper with Gareth Hughes, then of the Welsh Federation of Housing Associations (now known as Community Housing Cymru) and now of ITV Wales, arguing that savings could be found to liberate more funding for housing from the Government's proposal to abolish Tai Cymru as part of the devolution settlement^[11]

National Assembly for Wales

He joined Labour ^[12] following the successful referendum campaign for a Welsh Assembly. He is the author of "Wales Says Yes", a history of that campaign.^[13]

In 2002 Leighton Andrews was selected to fight Rhondda for Labour, after the party's shock defeat to Plaid Cymru's Geraint Davies at the 1999 Assembly election. Andrews retook the seat, with the highest increase in Labour's vote of any constituency in Wales (+21.1%) and its highest constituency vote.

In his first term as an Assembly Member, he sat on the Economic Development and Transport Committee (later called the Enterprise, Innovation and Networks Committee) (January 2005 - April 2007); Audit Committee (June 2003 - April 2007); Culture, Welsh Language and Sport Committee (June 2003 - November 2005); and Education and Lifelong Learning Committee (June 2003 - January 2005).

His re-election in 2007 with Labour's highest vote in Wales, despite a national swing against Labour, was seen as an acknowledgment of his efforts.

Minister

Andrews was appointed to the Welsh Assembly Government on 31 May 2007, as a Deputy Minister for Social Justice and Public Service Delivery, with special responsibility for housing. His speech in the Assembly on 27 June set out the broad thrust of the housing agenda which was to form the policy of the new coalition government.^[14]

On 19 July 2007 he was appointed as Deputy Minister for Regeneration in the coalition government.

In the autumn of 2009 he was campaign manager for Carwyn Jones' successful campaign to become Welsh Labour Leader. Jones's election to the post was announced on 1 December.

Following Carwyn Jones's election as First Minister on 8 December 2009, Andrews was appointed by Jones to the Welsh Assembly Government Cabinet on 10 December as Minister for Children, Education & Lifelong Learning.

University Agenda

Andrews was a strong proponent of merging the universities of Wales to establish larger, more stable institutions. This agenda, and the Minister's political approach to it, proved to be extremely controversial. His campaign opened with a blunt speech to vice-chancellors, whereby he accused them of ignoring the Welsh Assembly Government, and announcing a review into the governance and sustainability of the HE sector.^[15] Shortly before the review group was due to meet for the first time, he announced what its conclusions would be by stating that there would be 'fewer vice chancellors' because of mergers among HE institutions.^[16] At the time, his statement was met with cautious welcome, particularly from academics. It also led to the merger of two small universities in Swansea and Dyfed, along with the University of Wales, to create one university out of four predecessor institutions, with the option of merging further with local FE colleges to produce a new post-16 educational model.^[17]

However, the stresses and strains of the merger process caused a rising tide of opposition. Particular problems surrounded UWIC. Initially, that University planned to merge with Swansea Metropolitan University, the University of Wales, Trinity St David and the University of Wales to form a new federal university.^[18] This fell through after a scandal involving quality control at the University of Wales, during the course of which Andrews forced its closure^[19] and UWIC renamed itself Cardiff Metropolitan University and began exercising its won degree awarding powers, announcing it intended to remain independent.^[20][21] Cardiff Metropolitan University refused to merge and threatened legal action in a bid to remain independent, citing the Minister's lack of a business case for merger.^[22] Andrews threatened to forcibly dissolve the institution and transfer its assets to the University of Glamorgan to create his favoured outcome of one giant Technical University in the Valleys.^[23] Bangor University, Aberystwyth University, Glyndwr University and Swansea University appeared to escape the Minister's strategy and were expected to remain independent, along with Cardiff University (which previously merged with the University of Wales school of Medicine in a move claimed as a success by HEFCW).^[24][25]

GCSE Remarking 2012

In September 2012, Andrews ordered the remarking of several thousand GCSE English papers in Wales that had been affected by a very late change in the marking scheme. His move was greeted with great relief and enthusiasm by teachers and candidates.^[26][27] However, it drew strong criticism from Michael Gove, who accused Andrews of being 'irresponsible and mistaken'.^[28]

Ministerial resignation

Andrews actively campaigned to keep the Pentre Primary School in his Rhondda constituency open, although it had 2/3rds empty spaces, in contradiction of his own department's schools closure policy. As a result, Andrews was criticised by members of the Welsh Assembly, and resigned on 25 June 2013 after First Minister Carwyn Jones refused to support his position. This was the first forced resignation in the history of the Welsh Assembly or Welsh Government.^[2]

Burberry campaign

On 6 September 2006 Burberry announced the closure of its Treorchy factory. Immediately the GMB union announced a campaign to save the factory, backed by Andrews and local MP Chris Bryant.^[29][30] Over the next six months one of the most high-profile campaigns ^[31] against factory closures ever seen in Wales took place, with protests from international celebrities and pickets of Burberry stores around the world. Andrews secured the support of Burberry ‘face’ and Hollywood actor Ioan Gruffudd, the first of many celebrities to come on board.^[32][33][34] He was described by GMB senior organiser Mervyn Burnett at the rally on the last day of the factory ‘as the Assembly member who has been at the forefront of this campaign’ ^[35]

The factory closed in March 2007, with the loss of 300 jobs.^[36] Though the factory closed, the campaign secured an extended life for its operation, better redundancy terms for the Burberry workers, and a trust fund for the Rhondda worth £150,000 per year over the next ten years.^{[37][38][39][40]} In her review of the year 2007, the Rhondda-born journalist Carolyn Hitt said:^[41]

Labour AM Leighton Andrews and MP Chris Bryant fought a passionate campaign to save 300 jobs at the Burberry clothing factory in their Rhondda constituency. But even the added celebrity glitter of Dame Judi Dench, Ioan Gruffudd and Emma Thompson couldn’t persuade the grasping label to stay. The campaign did, however, ensure a better redundancy deal and long-term community fund for the workforce.

The BBC recognised Leighton Andrews and Chris Bryant for their work in the campaign, naming them as joint campaigners of the year in the 2007 BBC Wales political awards.^[42]

Media

His media and debating skills were recognised in December 2005 when he was named as Best New AM in the ITV Wales Political Awards; and Best Communicator in the BBC Wales AM-PM awards.

Attitude to devolution

Andrews voted 'Yes' in the first referendum on devolution in 1979, his first ever vote. He was one of the founders of the Yes campaign in 1997.^[13]

Andrews supports primary law-making powers for the National Assembly for Wales, provided they are approved by the people of Wales in a referendum. He argued at the Welsh Labour Special Conference in September 2004 that this should have been Welsh Labour's response to the Richard Commission, arguing "Are we really going to say that Rhodri Morgan cannot have primary law-making powers when Gerry Adams and the Reverend Ian Paisley can?" ^[43]

In the autumn of 2010, he was asked by First Minister Carwyn Jones and Deputy First Minister Ieuan Wyn Jones to convene the planning group for the Yes campaign in the March 2011 referendum on the Assembly's law-making powers.

References

External links

• Website and blog of Leighton Andrews AM
• Website of the Welsh Assembly Government
• Assembly Handbook

Offices held

National Assembly for Wales
Preceded by Geraint Davies	Assembly Member for Rhondda 2003–present	Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by (new post)	Deputy Minister for Housing 31 May 2007 – 19 July 2007	Succeeded by Jocelyn Davies
Preceded by Huw Lewis	Deputy Minister for Regeneration 2007 – December 2009	Succeeded by Jocelyn Davies
Preceded by Jane Hutt	Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning December 2009 – June 2013	Succeeded by Huw Lewis

v t e Current members of the National Assembly of Wales As of the 4th Assembly Labour (30) Leighton Andrews Mick Antoniw (Rosemary Butler) Christine Chapman Jeffrey Cuthbert Alun Davies Keith Davies Mark Drakeford Carwyn Jones † Rebecca Evans Vaughan Gething Janice Gregory John Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Edwina Hart Mike Hedges Jane Hutt Julie James Ann Jones Huw Lewis Sandy Mewies Julie Morgan Lynne Neagle Gwyn R Price Jenny Rathbone David Rees Carl Sargeant Ken Skates Gwenda Thomas Joyce Watson Conservatives (14) Mohammad Asghar Angela Burns Byron Davies Andrew R. T. Davies † Paul Davies Suzy Davies Janet Finch-Saunders Russell George William Graham Mark Isherwood David Melding Darren Millar Nick Ramsay Antoinette Sandbach Plaid Cymru (11) Jocelyn Davies Dafydd Elis-Thomas Llyr Huws Gruffydd Bethan Jenkins Alun Ffred Jones Elin Jones Rhodri Glyn Thomas Leanne Wood† Rhun ap Iorwerth Simon Thomas Lindsay Whittle Liberal Democrats (5) Peter Black Eluned Parrott William Powell Aled Roberts Kirsty Williams † Presiding Officer: Rosemary Butler † = Party leaders

Authority control VIAF: 207204805

Persondata
Name	Andrews, Leighton
Alternative names
Short description	Welsh Labour politician
Date of birth	11 August 1957
Place of birth	Cardiff, Wales
Date of death
Place of death