Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Nation Builder

Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Lord Elis-Thomas of Nant Conwy, was one of the outstanding Welsh public figures of the last fifty years. His political career spanned from first election to Westminster as a Plaid Cymru MP in 1974, to his retirement from the Senedd in Cardiff in 2021, having served as a minister in the Welsh Government. He was the first Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales, stabilising the new institution and embedding devolution during its first tentative decade, and was described as a ‘true giant’ and the ‘founding father’ of Welsh devolution following his death in 2025. Elis-Thomas was also a controversial and magnetic character, whose life and work is captured in this biography – branded a ‘maverick’, an ‘intellectual acrobat’ and a ‘political chameleon’, he was labelled a ‘terrorist’ for his interventions in Northern Ireland, and a ‘traitor’ for oppositional stances adopted towards nationalism. Despite a career often marked by controversy and fearless passion, his unique vision and perseverance was central to the creation of Wales’s first legislative parliament.