Lord John Morris, ex-Welsh secretary and Blair attorney general dies

Lord Morris, as John Morris, became the longest serving MP in Wales

The former Cabinet minister and Welsh Labour MP Lord Morris of Aberavon has died at the age of 91.

John Morris served in the cabinets of three Labour prime ministers - Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan and Tony Blair.

A former Welsh secretary and attorney general, he became Wales' longest-serving MP after representing Aberavon from 1959 to 2001.

Paying tribute, Sir Tony Blair said he was "immensely capable" and "could always be relied upon".

Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said Wales had "lost one of its most faithful and effective voices".

BBC broadcaster Huw Edwards described Lord Morris as "one of the most distinguished Welshmen of his time" and "one of the fathers of devolution".

Lord Morris entered government as parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Power between 1964 and 1966 in the Wilson administration, later moving to the Ministry of Transport and becoming minister of defence (equipment) in 1968.

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.

'Elephant on the doorstep'

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".

The Labour government, led by Jim Callaghan for the previous three years, was soon swept from power.

Lord Morris, a barrister, QC and Welsh speaker, returned to high office as government attorney general, or chief legal adviser, in 1997, following Tony Blair's first landslide victory.

He held that post for two years.

One of the main issues he faced as attorney general was the involvement of UK forces in Nato airstrikes against Serb forces in 1999.

Looking back on the period, Lord Morris said: "I had to authorise air attacks in Kosovo on a daily basis according to what I thought was the right way of doing it without UN Security Council approval.

"We were breaking new ground. But when you have ethnic cleansing on the scale you had in Kosovo, when thousands and thousands of people are moved from their homes because of their background, religion and ethnicity, then something has to be done.

'You've got to do something'

"I took a very simple view.

"If there's a burglar attacking your home and raping members of your family, and the police constable won't intervene, there's no time to go to the chief constable, or to the standing joint committee, you've got to do something otherwise it's too late.

"And some of us, although we were only children, remember the Holocaust and the background of ethnic cleansing in the past, it still haunts us even though we were not there, to realise what was happening."

Paying "fond and heartfelt tribute" to his former attorney general, Sir Tony Blair said he "personally was hugely grateful to him, particularly through the difficult times of the Kosovo conflict".

"John Morris lived a life of exemplary public service," said the former prime minister.

"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."

Lord Morris with eight other former Welsh secretaries at a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the post in 2014

In the early months of the new Blair government a second devolution referendum paved the way for the creation of a Welsh assembly, which later became the more powerful Senedd Cymru.

In 2015, Lord Morris told a television documentary that there had been "very little difference" between the law that established the assembly and the one he steered through Westminster in 1978.

"New work wasn't needed and that's how the measure was prepared so quickly," he said.

"My fingers were on the strings of that harp from beginning to end."

'Unstinting' support for Wales

At the start of Tuesday's proceedings in the Welsh Parliament, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford told Senedd members that Lord Morris had been the last surviving person elected as an MP in the 1950s and to have attended Harold Wilson's resignation dinner at Downing Street,

"Our nation has lost one of its most faithful and effective voices", said Welsh Labour's leader.

Mr Drakeford said Lord Morris had written to him from his hospital bed the last few days "anxious as ever that a matter of concern to Wales should be probably scrutinised at the House of Lords".

"His support for Wales, and for devolution, was unstinting. My party has lost a direct link far back into the first half of the Labour century in Wales, our nation has lost one of its most faithful and effective voices.

"How proud he always was that a parliament now exists in Wales, and how fitting that we are able to pay our tributes to him and to pay our respects to his family on the floor of this Senedd today."

Senedd presiding officer Elin Jones thanked John Morris "for a lifetime of service to its people, to his language and to the nation".

"It's on his shoulders there this Cardi [someone from Cardiganshire] and all of us elected to the Senedd sit today," she said.

"We send our deepest condolences to Margaret, his wife, his family and friends."

John Morris represented Aberavon as MP from 1959-2001 before entering the House of Lords

Ex-Labour prime minister, Gordon Brown, called John Morris "not only a distinguished lawyer" but also a "popular and effective political leader serving three prime ministers over five decades".

"John will be remembered as a great humanitarian who saw the law - whether in helping Holocaust survivors or defending human rights in Kosovo - as the greatest protection for the vulnerable," he said.

Conservative Welsh Secretary David TC Davies said he was "saddened to learn of the passing of one of my distinguished predecessors".

"My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

Lord David Wolfson of Tredegar KC said he was "deeply sorry" to hear the news.

"We discussed the history of Jews in south Wales and especially Tredegar - and he kindly gave me a volume on the topic," said Lord Wolfson.

On Twitter, Aberavon Labour added that the news had been met with "great sadness" by the group.

Pedr ap Llwyd, chief executive of the National Library of Wales, said Lord Morris was a "true friend" of the library.

"Our heartfelt condolences go out to Lady Morris and her family. We will surely miss his presence at the library."