(Q60870)

John Morris, by now the Baron Morris of Aberavon, was born on 5 November 1931 at Capel Bangor near Aberystwyth, Ceredigion. He was the Labour Member of Parliament for the Aberavon division of Glamorgan from 1959 until his retirement from the House of Commons in 2001 and he served as the Secretary of State for Wales under Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and James Callaghan from 1974 to 1979. He was educated at Ardwyn School, Aberystwyth, the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he graduated in law, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Morris was a barrister and was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1954. He took silk (QC) in 1973 and was made a Bencher of Gray's Inn in 1984. Between 1982 and 1997 he served as a Recorder of the Crown Court. When he retired from the Commons in 2001, he was the longest serving of all the Welsh MPs - forty two years in the House of Commons. Aberavon was an especially safe Labour seat and was easily retained by Dr Hywel Francis in 2001 and subsequently. John Morris served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Transport, Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence, 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. Consequently John Morris was one of a very small group of Labour MPs who bridged the transition from 'Old Labour', the age of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan, to 'New Labour' and the age of Tony Blair. He was created a life peer as Baron Morris of Aberavon in the County of West Glamorgan and of Ceredigion iin 2001, and now plays a prominent role in the proceedings of the House of Lords. He was created a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 2003. Lord Morris of Aberavon has been Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan since 2002. He is also President of the London Welsh Trust and a member of the Council of the Prince of Wales Trust (Wales).