Алан Уильямс: Ұлыбритания саяхатшысы (1930-2014)

British politician (1930–2014)

Alan John Williams (14 October 1930 – 21 December 2014) was a British Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Swansea West for over 45 years, from 1964 to 2010. He was the longest serving MP for a Welsh constituency since David Lloyd George and built a reputation for his detailed scrutiny of the ways in which public money was spent.

Williams was born in Caerphilly, the son of Emlyn, a former miner who became a local government officer, and Violet (née Ross). He was educated at Cardiff High School for Boys (a state grammar school) then Cardiff College of Technology and Commerce when he gained a BSc in economics in 1954 (awarded by the University of London). At University College, Oxford, he studied PPE. He became an economics lecturer at the Welsh College of Advanced Technology then a broadcaster and journalist.

He unsuccessfully contested Poole in 1959, coming second to Conservative incumbent Richard Pilkington. Shortly afterwards he was selected as the candidate for Swansea West, which the Conservatives had won by a narrow majority of 403 votes. He was a Eurosceptic and was opposed to the devolution settlement that established the National Assembly for Wales. In 2003, he abstained on the parliamentary approval for the invasion of Iraq.

Following the retirement of Tam Dalyell at the 2005 general election, Williams became the MP with the longest continuous service in the House, earning him the title of Father of the House. He was the last MP to question Prime Minister Tony Blair at Prime Minister's Questions on 27 June 2007. He congratulated Blair for giving the Labour Party ten years of government, called him one of the outstanding prime ministers of his time, and thanked him for making the Labour Party once again the "natural party of government". Williams was the last parliamentary survivor of those who were elected in Wilson's 1964 election win. As Father of the House, Williams presided over the Commons Speaker election on 22 June 2009, in which MPs chose John Bercow as Speaker. He stood down from the Commons at the 2010 general election.

He married Mary Patricia Rees, who used her middle name in everyday life, in June 1957 in Bedwellty. They had two sons and a daughter, Sian.

He died at the age of 84 on 21 December 2014. He was in a nursing home in London after having a stroke six months prior to his death.