The Farmers’ Union of Wales has paid tribute to its former deputy general secretary and legal advisor, Labour Peer Baron Morris of Aberavon who has died at the age of 91.
Lord Morris was instrumental in establishing the FUW as a recognised voice of Welsh farmers and served as its deputy secretary general and legal advisor between 1955 and 1957 which he described as “..two of the most demanding years of my life, I promised to stay in Wales for 3 months, 3 months became a year, and a year became two”. He then went on to be elected as the Labour MP for Aberavon in Glamorgan at the 1959 General Election.
Lord Morris referred to a meeting at Chwilog Market in his book ‘Fifty years in Politics and the Law’. He recalls hundreds of farmers gathering for a huge debate regarding establishing an independent agricultural Union for Welsh farmers, and stated that he was proud to have organised it. FUW President Glyn Roberts remembers a conversation with Lord Morris a number of years later when he said that in all his political and legal career the most exciting time was the meeting with potential members at Chwilog.
The Union was given 3 months to live by some critics, Lord Morris stated: “It gave me a lot of pleasure to attend the 50 years celebrations at Newtown in 2005, a rather longer life than the 3 months envisaged in 1955.”
He founded and edited the Union's newspaper Y Tir, which continues to be published monthly, and travelled thousands of miles setting up Union branches and giving legal advice to farmers throughout Wales.
FUW President Glyn Roberts said “The FUW, Welsh farming and Wales as a whole have lost a great friend and advocate.
“We will always remain indebted to Lord Morris for his early work in helping establish the FUW and for remaining a close friend of the Union to the end.”
Mr Roberts said that Lord Morris continued to communicate with the FUW on agricultural matters that arose in the Houses of Parliament throughout his political life.
In 1978, while serving as Secretary of State for Wales, Lord Morris secured the FUW’s formal recognition by Government as independently representing the interests of farmers in Wales.
John Morris was Member of Parliament for Aberavon from 1959 to 2001 and held positions in the Governments of James Callaghan, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair. From 1974 to 1979 he served as Secretary of State for Wales and was Attorney General from 1997 and 1999. He was made a life peer in 2001.
Before his death on 5th June 2023 he was the last surviving member of Harold Wilson’s 1974–76 cabinet, and the longest-serving Privy Counsellor.