Gareth Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn

Gareth Wyn Williams, Baron Williams of Mostyn, Template:Post-nominals (5 February 1941 – 20 September 2003), was a Welsh barrister and Labour politician who was Leader of the House of Lords, Lord President of the Council and a member of the Cabinet from 2001 until his sudden death in 2003.

Early life

Williams was born near Prestatyn, in North Wales, a son of Albert Thomas Williams and his wife Selina, née Evans.<ref name="Independent Obituary">Template:Cite news</ref> He was educated at Rhyl Grammar School and at Queens' College, Cambridge.<ref name="Independent Obituary"/>

Legal career

He was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1965,<ref name="Independent Obituary"/> he became Queen's Counsel in 1978,<ref name="Independent Obituary"/> was a Recorder from 1978,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> a Deputy High Court Judge, 1986–92, the Leader of the Wales and Chester Circuit, 1987–89,<ref name="Independent Obituary"/> and a Member of the Bar Council, 1986–92<ref name="Independent Obituary"/> (Chairman, 1992).<ref name="Independent Obituary"/>

Political career

He was created a life peer on 20 July 1992 as Baron Williams of Mostyn, of Great Tew in the County of Oxfordshire,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and became an opposition spokesman in the House of Lords on Legal Affairs, and later Northern Ireland. After Labour's election victory he was appointed a Home Office minister, and in 1999 became Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland. He was appointed Leader of the House of Lords in 2001, initially with the sinecure office of Lord Privy Seal, for which Lord President of the Council was substituted in 2003.

Reputation among his colleagues

As part of the celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Life Peerages Act, Lord Williams was voted by the current members of the House of Lords as the outstanding life peer since the creation of the life peerage.<ref name="grtstpeer">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In his book A View from the Foothills Chris Mullin wrote that he thought that Gareth Williams was most likely to succeed Derry Irvine as Lord Chancellor; in the event the position was next filled by Charles Falconer.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

Williams married Pauline Clarke in 1962, and they had three children. They divorced, and he then married Veena M. Russell in 1994, and by her had one daughter, Imogen.<ref name="Independent Obituary"/> He died from a heart attack at his home in Evenlode, Gloucestershire on 20 September 2003, aged 62, and was buried at St Michael and all Angels Church in Great Tew, Oxfordshire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

• Burke's Peerage & Baronetage (106th edition, 1999) edited by Charles Mosley

External links

• "Interview: Lord Williams" – Guardian Unlimited Politics interview with Lord Williams by Julian Glover, dated Friday, 28 June 2002, giving the peer's views on reform of the House of Lords
• Profile, Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Accessed 30 January 2023.

Template:S-start Template:S-off Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-ttl |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl |- Template:S-ppo Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-aca Template:Succession box Template:S-end