Interim Morgan administration

Status in legislatureMinority Opposition partyOpposition leaderDafydd Wigley
Ieuan Wyn JonesHistoryLegislature term(s)1st National Assembly for WalesPredecessorMichael administrationSuccessorFirst Morgan government

The Interim Morgan administration of Wales was formed on 9 February 2000 by Rhodri Morgan following the resignation of Alun Michael as First Secretary,^[1] which was pre-empted by a vote of no-confidence by Plaid Cymru.

Rhodri Morgan was named as Acting First Secretary on 9 February and confirmed as the permanent First Secretary on 15 February 2000.^[2] This Ministry ran until Morgan formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats in October 2000.

This administration was always viewed as temporary and Labour had mooted looking for a coalition partner following their persevered poor showing in the 1999 election.^[3]

Cabinet

Office	Portrait	Name		Term	Party
First Secretary of Wales and Secretary for Economic Development			Rhodri Morgan*	9 February - 16 October	Labour
Minister for Assembly Business			Andrew Davies*	22 February - 16 October	Labour
Finance Secretary			Edwina Hart**	22 February - 16 October	Labour
Secretary for Post 16 Education and Training			Tom Middlehurst***	22 February - 9 October	Labour
Minister for Health and Social Services			Jane Hutt*	22 February - 16 October	Labour
Secretary for Education and Children			Rosemary Butler***	22 February - 16 October	Labour
Secretary for Agriculture and Rural Development			Christine Gwyther	22 February - 23 July	Labour
			Carwyn Jones**	23 July - 16 October	Labour
Secretary for Local Government and Housing			Peter Law***	22 February - 16 October	Labour
Secretary for Environment, Planning and Transport			Sue Essex**	22 February - 16 October	Labour
Office holders given special provisions to attend Cabinet:
Chief Whip			Karen Sinclair	22 February - 16 October	Labour

* Indicates that the individual kept the same or similar job in the next government.
** Indicates that the individual was moved to a new job in the next government.
*** Indicates that the individual was either sacked or quit and held no ministerial role in the next government.

Deputy Secretaries

Deputy Secretaries prior to the enactment of the Government of Wales Act 2006 were not officially part of the Government, were not paid and received limited official support.

Office	Portrait	Name		Term	Party
Deputy Secretary for Health and Social Services			Alun Pugh**	23 February 2000 - 17 October 2000	Labour
Deputy Secretary for Agriculture, Local Government and Environment			Carwyn Jones	23 February 2000 - 23 July 2000	Labour
			Delyth Evans*	24 July 2000 - 17 October 2000	Labour
Deputy Secretary for Education and the Economy			Christine Chapman***	23 February 2000 - 17 October 2000	Labour

* Indicates that the individual kept the same or similar job in the next government.
** Indicates that the individual was moved to a new job in the next government.
*** Indicates that the individual was either sacked or quit and held no ministerial role in the next government.

All job titles and dates are taken from the History of The National Assembly section of their website^[2]

Aftermath

Between February and October 2000 Rhodri Morgan's Labour Party had 28 of the Assembly's 60 seats. The six Liberal Democrat seats would provided a comfortable working majority.

Developments quickly occurred during the autumn of 2000 culminating in Tom Middlehurst resigning as Secretary for post-16 education on 9 October claiming he could not “contemplate sitting down at the Cabinet table with the Liberal Democrats”.^[4]

A new coalition government (the coalition used the term government rather than administration; officially referred to as the Coalition Partnership) was officially announced on 5 October 2000 with policy details emerging the day later. Cabinet Ministers (the coalition replaced the title of Secretary with Minister) were then appointed on 16 October and Deputies on 17 October. That government lasted until the 2003 election.

References