The most important contribution to Welsh nationalism made by Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Lord Elis-Thomas, who has died aged 78, was his understanding of the need to work within the existing institutions of government in order to secure political progress towards the cause that was his lifetime’s ambition.
The former leader of Plaid Cymru had been a Westminster MP and a member of the House of Lords before becoming in 1999 the first presiding officer of the Welsh assembly. In this post during the 12 years of the first three terms after devolution, he used his own sensitive political antennae to powerful effect, guiding its members towards the development of an effective national parliament, which is today the Senedd Cymru.
He was a mercurial character who was never afraid to speak his mind or to test the boundaries of what might be politically acceptable. While he could often cause controversy, his intellectual agility kept him ahead of the game and his tactics ensured that the progress of the nationalist cause was always at the forefront of public debate. He became one of the most influential Welsh politicians of his generation, who made an outstanding impact on the civic life of Wales.
His unwavering love of his country and its culture was never in question, but he invited criticism for the risks he took to advance his own career. This was notably the case when he stood down as the Plaid Cymru MP for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy in 1992 and accepted a seat in the House of Lords. This was against the policy of the party he himself had been leading since 1984 until just the previous year, bringing suggestions that he enjoyed the perks of being a peer and hanging out with aristocrats. He had a penchant for sharp dressing, including Armani suits, yet paid little regard to such criticism.
Towards the end of his career, in 2016, he showed the same streak of defiance when he left Plaid Cymru, claiming that it was failing to work constructively with Labour in the interests of a stable Welsh government. He subsequently accepted a job as minister in the Labour-led governments of Carwyn Jones and Mark Drakeford.
He sat then as an Independent in the national assembly in Cardiff (which became the Senedd in 2020), successfully resisted demands for a byelection in his constituency, and was deputy minister for culture, sport and tourism from 2018 until he stood down in the Welsh election of 2021.
His underlying belief was in the need for proper governance for Wales, a target he was prepared to put above what he described as “dreamy romantic” notions of independence while these were unlikely to be achieved. Throughout his life, he cast about widely for political inspiration: describing himself as a Marxist in his early political years; pursuing “communitarian socialism” for a period and finding fellow cause with the (Tony) Bennite left in the Labour party in the 1980s, while also establishing links with Scottish and Irish nationalists.
He learned, however, to become a pragmatist, using differing tactics for different circumstances and thus simultaneously advanced his own career and that of the many political and cultural causes he espoused. This led him also to become an enthusiastic European. He voted against continuing membership of the then EEC in the 1975 referendum but stood for the North Wales seat in the 1989 elections to the European parliament, coming a respectable third with 25% of the vote. He told an ITV1 Wales programme (Tin Gods: Will the Real Dafydd Elis-Thomas Stand Up?) in 2003: “I have dedicated my life to undermining the British state because I believe the UK has to be transformed into a proper federation which is a part of Europe.”
Dafydd Elis Thomas (who changed his name by deed poll to Elis-Thomas on joining the Lords) was born in Carmarthen, the son of a Presbyterian minister, William Ellis Thomas, and his wife, Eirlys (nee James). He was raised in Llandysul, Ceredigion, and then Llanrwst in the Conwy Valley and educated at Llanrwst primary school, Ysgol Dyffryn, Conwy.
The family was Welsh-speaking with a mixed political background of Plaid, Independent Labour and the Liberal parties, and young Dafydd joined CND in 1965, the Labour party in 1966 and Plaid in 1967.
He went to Bangor University to read Welsh (subsequently acquiring a PhD in eulogies in medieval Welsh literature, in 1988), and after a short spell as a journalist took a post as a research worker with the Board of Celtic Studies in 1970. By this time he had already embarked on his political career, standing unsuccessfully as the Plaid Cymru candidate for Conwy in the general election of that year. In 1971 he became a tutor in Welsh studies at Coleg Harlech and also at the Open University, and in 1974 he became a lecturer in the English department at Bangor.
He had helped with Plaid Cymru’s policy programme before he was selected as candidate for Merioneth and his election for that seat to Westminster in February 1974, as the youngest MP in the Commons, was one of the sensations of the general election in Wales. He remained the MP there until 1983, when the seat was redesignated as Merionnydd Nant Conwy. He made a big impact in parliament as an assiduous MP, one of the most prolific in tabling parliamentary questions and a man who secured results for his constituents.
He harried the Labour government of those years and as a result, among other successes, won economic help for Wales and the Welsh language, compensation for slate quarry workers and salvation for the Cambrian coastal railway. His campaigns were assisted by the government’s increasingly perilous majority and its need for Plaid support in the voting lobbies.
On joining the Lords, he took a step back from his previous high profile in national politics and chaired the Welsh Language Board from 1993 to 1999.
With the creation of the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 he became the presiding officer, above the political fray, but returned to playing a full part as the Plaid member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd from 2007 until his formal break with the party in 2016. He did seek to rejoin in 2023 – as often, personal relationships with other leading party members were a factor – but this failed to materialise.
As an AM (assembly member) he chaired the environment and sustainability committee (2011-14); he was a member of the enterprise and business committee (2012-13, 2014–16) and the constitutional and legislative affairs committee (2015, 2016-2021). He was made a member of the Privy Council in 2004.
Elis-Thomas was an enthusiastic member of the Arts Council for Wales, a governor of the British Film Institute and involved with the Wales Film Council. He was a freelance journalist and broadcaster, chancellor of Bangor University (2001–17) and a member of the Church in Wales.
In 2008 he received the white bardic robe at the National Eisteddfod in recognition of his “brightness, his ability and penetration of his vision”. He published three books on issues of nationalism and liked running and hill-walking near his family’s stone-built cottage in Betws-y-Coed, Snowdonia.
His first marriage, in 1970, to Elen Williams ended in divorce. After a nine-year relationship with the political activist Marjorie Thompson in the 1980s, in 1993 he married Mair Parry Jones, the head of the translation department in the assembly. He is survived by her and by the three sons, Rolant, Meilyr and Cai, from his first marriage.
• Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Lord Elis-Thomas, politician, born 18 October 1946; died 7 February 2025
• This article was amended on 14 February 2025, to include reference to Dafydd Elis-Thomas’s PhD, and to correct the name of one of his sons.
