Geraint Howells

Geraint Wyn Howells, Baron Geraint ( born April 15, 1925 in Ponterwyd in Cardiganshire; † 17 April 2004) was a leading Welsh politician of the Liberal Democrats.

Education

Howells was the son of peasants David John and Mary Blodwen Howells. He attended the Ponterwyd Primary School and the Ardwyn Grammar School, Aberystwyth. He would later close contacts with the universities of Aberystwyth and Lampeter Universities.

Career

Howells was a farmer in Glennydd, Ponterwyd in Cardiganshire. He owned about 750 acres with about 3,000 sheep in particular Speckled Faces. Howells was a champion as sheep shearers. He had high functions in the British Wool Marketing Board and was 1977-1983 Chairman of the Wool Producers of Wales. He was elected in 1952 as a member of the Independent Party in the Cardiganshire County Council, as it was common at this time that members of the Liberal Party as candidates as independents in rural areas.

Parliamentary career

Howells was nominated in 1968 as the parliamentary candidate for Brecon and Radnor. He was the first Liberal postwar who competed as a Liberal for a seat in Parliament. He lay with 18.9% of the votes cast at No. 3 During this time he became one of the main players in the Welsh Liberal Party.

Howells was nominated in 1972 as a parliamentary candidate for Cardiganshire, a constituency with a long Liberal tradition. The seat had there the liberal MPs Roderic Bowen until he lost it in 1966 to Elystan Morgan of the Labour Party. In the elections of February 1974 Howells won against Morgan and held the constituency in various forms until 1992. Therefore he was Member of Parliament for Cardigan from 1974 to 1983 as well as changes to the electoral boundaries from 1983 to 1992 for Ceredigion and Pembroke North. Howells was 1979-1987 spokesman for the Liberal Party for Welsh Affairs and 1987-1992 for agriculture. His secretary and Agenti in Westminster was Judi Lewis ( Chief Executive from 1992 to 1997 the Welsh Liberal Democrats ) and one of its researchers was Mark Williams, who won the seat for the Liberal Democrats in 2005. In 1992 Howells lost his parliamentary seat unexpectedly at Plaid Cymru (which had come from fourth to first place ) and was appointed as Baron Geraint, of Ponterwyd in the County of Dyfed to Life Peer.

He was a close friend of Richard Livsey and Emlyn Hooson, with those in the House of Commons and the House of Lords he.

Howells was a passierter supporters of devolution. He played a leading role in the 1979 Devolutionskampagne in Wales. He also received recognition from the Farmers Union of Wales ( FUW ) as a leading trade unionist for negotiations with the government during the Liberal - Labour coalition in the 1970s.

Private life

Howells married Mary Olwen Hughes on September 7, 1957 They had two children: . Gaenor, a news anchor for BBC World Service was born in 1961 and Mari 1965.