Tributes have been paid to Lord Morris of Aberavon, who has died aged 91. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wales' longest-serving MP had lived a life of "exemplary public service".
BBC presenter Huw Edwards described him as "one of the most distinguished Welshmen of his time, a former Attorney General and Secretary of State for Wales, and one of the fathers of devolution". Lord Morris represented Aberavon for 41 years, from 1959 to 2001, and was Welsh Secretary from 1974 to 1979 was under Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan.
First entering government in 1964 in the Wilson administration, he was a junior minister in the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Transport, before becoming minister of state for defence equipment in 1968 during the Nigerian civil war. In 1974, when Labour returned to power after nearly four years in opposition, he was appointed Welsh secretary and had the task of taking the party's ill-fated original devolution legislation through a hostile House of Commons.
An emphatic 'no' vote of nearly 80% in the 1979 referendum followed the industrial and economic turmoil of what became known as the winter of discontent. Hearing the vote results, Lord Morris pronounced that when "you see an elephant on the doorstep you can't ignore it".
Sir Tony appointed the barrister as attorney general after his landslide victory in 1997, a post he held for two years at the time of the Kosovo conflict.
The former prime minister said: "John Morris lived a life of exemplary public service. His extraordinary career, being a minister under three different Labour leaders, was unprecedented.
"But the reason prime ministers like myself chose him so regularly was because of his character and demeanour. He was immensely capable, could always be relied upon and never deviated from having the interests of the country at heart.
"I personally was hugely grateful to him particularly through the difficult times of the Kosovo conflict. I pay fond and heartfelt tribute to him."
Welsh health minister Eluned Morgan said she was "very sad" to hear of his death and noted that he was "the last living member of Harold Wilson's cabinet".
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