Hywel Francis

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox officeholder David Hywel Francis<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> (6 June 1946 – 14 February 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberavon from 2001 to 2015. A member of the Labour Party, he chaired the Welsh Affairs Committee from 2005 to 2010 and the Joint Committee on Human Rights from 2010 to 2015.<ref name=parliament>Template:Cite web</ref>

Background

Hywel Francis attended Whitchurch Grammar School and Llangatwg Secondary School.<ref name="theguardian" /> He studied at the University of Wales, Swansea, where he earned a doctorate in history. Francis continued to work at the University of Wales as a professor in Adult Continuing Education before being elected in 2001.<ref name="a" /> At the University of Wales, he founded the South Wales Miners' Library. He also was the chair of the Wales Congress in Support of Mining Communities.<ref name="b">Template:Cite web</ref> Francis was a speaker of the Welsh language.<ref name="b" />

Francis was a member of the Gorsedd Cymru from 1986. He was made vice-president of Carers UK and honorary parliamentary patron of the adult learners' body, NIACE. He was a trustee of the Paul Robeson Wales Trust and the Bevan Foundation he founded. He was the South Wales Miners' Museum president. He authored many peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and several books. His books include: Template:Citeref (co-author, Dai Smith) in 1980 (reprinted in 1998<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>); Template:Citeref in 1984; Template:Citeref in 1999; Template:Citeref in 2009; and Template:Citeref (co-author, Siân Williams) in 2013.<ref name="a" /><ref name="b" /> Francis is featured in the documentary film After Coal.Template:Citation needed

He was the son of Dai Francis, who led the South Wales NUM during the industrial unrest of the 1970s. Like his father, he had been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain.Template:Cn

Political career

In 1999, Francis became a special adviser to Paul Murphy, the Secretary of State for Wales; Murphy worked in this position until 2000.<ref name="b" /> The following year, he was elected to the House of Commons.<ref name="a">Template:Cite web</ref> He was re-elected in May 2005. He was the chair of the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010;<ref name=parliament/> chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Archives and History, formerly chair of the APPG on Steel and Cast Metal; and chair of the All-Party Carers Group.<ref name="a" />

Francis voted in favour of a bill that banned smoking in restaurants in April 2003.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In December 2004 and October 2005, he voted in favour of the Identity Cards Bill.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In March 2002, he voted to ban the hunting of wild mammals with dogs.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He voted in favour of the NHS foundation trust proposal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He also voted in favour of allowing unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples to adopt,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in favour of the Civil Partnership Bill.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Francis voted in favour of the replacement of the Trident system.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He voted in favour of adding clauses to a bill that allow the Secretary of State to detain indefinitely, pending deportation, anyone he or she suspects is a terrorist, even if the law forbids that person's deportation from ever taking place.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He voted against only allowing people detained at a police station to be fingerprinted and searched for an identifying birthmark if it is in connection with a terrorism investigation.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He voted against changing the text in the Prevention of Terrorism Bill from "The Secretary of State may make a control order against an individual" to "The Secretary of State may Template:Em for a control order [...]".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2003, he voted that the case had not yet been made for war against Iraq.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2003, he voted against a motion that would have recalled the Prime Minister's assertion that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that could be used at 45 minutes' notice, and against launching an independent inquiry into the intelligence received and the decisions that were based on it.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In June 2007, he voted against a motion calling for an independent inquiry by a committee of privy counsellors into the Iraq War.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Francis fought against the closing of Port Talbot Magistrates' Court and the moving of administrative posts to other locations, saying, "Local justice needs to take place in a local setting."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> He suggested that Wales could have a carers' commissioner based on the Children's Commissioner for Wales.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In February 2011, it was reported that Francis had been quoted in a leaked US diplomatic cable. The cable by a US embassy political officer dated from 2008 and discussed the upcoming Welsh Labour leadership election to choose a successor to the retiring Rhodri Morgan. Francis was quoted as claiming that all of the prospective candidates who were already members of the Welsh Assembly were seen as flawed by the Welsh Labour Party and suggesting that many in the party were hoping for a "white knight" to be "parachute[d] in" from outside the Assembly. However, Francis claimed that he could not recall the conversation, suggesting that "it sounds as if the diplomat suffers from poor shorthand" and stating that "it is on the record that I was an early supporter of Template:Interp Carwyn Jones [...] I would certainly not have supported such an absurd suggestion as parachuting anyone into the assembly".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On 22 November 2013, Francis announced he would be standing down as MP for Aberavon at the 2015 general election.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Stephen Kinnock, son of former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, was selected to succeed Francis as the Labour candidate for Aberavon.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Personal life

Francis married Mair Price in 1968.<ref name=theguardian /> They had a son with Down syndrome, who died aged 16 in 1997 of a heart condition.<ref name=theguardian />

He died aged 74 from cancer on 14 February 2021,<ref name=theguardian /> at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, Wales.<ref name=bbc>Template:Cite news</ref> Francis is survived by his wife and two children.<ref name=theguardian>Template:Cite news</ref>

Publications

• Template:Cite book
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External links

• Hywel Francis MP official constituency website
• Hywel Francis MPTemplate:Dead link Welsh Labour Party profileTemplate:UK MP links
• South Wales Miners' Library