Hywel Gruffydd Edward "Huw" Thomas (14 September 1927 – 12 March 2009) was a Welsh broadcaster, barrister and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

politician.

Family and education

Huw Thomas was born in Pen-bre, near Llanelli, and was a fluent Welsh speaker.Liberal Democrat News, 24 April 2009 p6 He was educated at Ellesmere College in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, at

Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

, where he read law, and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

, where he obtained honours in law

Tripos TRIPOS (''TRIvial Portable Operating System'') is a computer operating system. Development started in 1976 at the Computer Laboratory of Cambridge University and it was headed by Dr. Martin Richards. The first version appeared in January 1978 a ...

. At Cambridge he was vice-president of the Cambridge University Liberal Society and president of the Queen’s College Law Society. While at Aberystwyth he volunteered for RAF aircrew duties and served for four years.''The Who’s Who of 475 Liberal Candidates Fighting the 1950 General Election;'' Liberal Party Publications, 1950 pp65-66 He later became a commissioned officer at the

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

. He married his wife Anne in 1960. They had three children.

Career

Thomas was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

and practised as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

in London and on the Wales and Chester Circuit. In 1955 he returned to London as an assistant director at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...

office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. in 1956 he switched careers and became a newscaster with Independent Television News (ITN), like fellow Liberals

Ludovic Kennedy Sir Ludovic Henry Coverley Kennedy, (3 November 191918 October 2009) was a Scottish journalist, broadcaster, humanist and author. As well as his wartime service in the Royal Navy, he is known for presenting many current affairs programmes and ...

and

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

. Like these contemporary interviewers, Thomas gained a reputation for a penetrating style of questioning when it came to public figures, drawing on his courtroom experience of cross-examination. He also did other sorts of television, for example his collaboration with

Bernard Braden Bernard Chastey Braden (16 May 1916 – 2 February 1993) was a Canadian-born British actor and comedian, who is best known for his appearances in UK television and radio shows. Life Braden was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, and educated ...

on the Saturday afternoon sports and current affairs round-up programme, Let’s Go. Thomas later set up his own media consultancy firm, doing PR, producing documentaries and training programmes.

Politics

At the 1950 general election Thomas, aged only 22 years, fought his home seat of

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

. He came second in a four-cornered contest, albeit more than 30,000 votes behind the successful Labour candidate and sitting MP Jim Griffiths but he was one of the few Liberal candidates in 1950 who managed to save his deposit. In

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Thomas fought the Welsh seat of

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

. This was Lady

Megan Lloyd George Lady Megan Arvon Lloyd George, (22 April 1902 – 14 May 1966) was a Welsh politician and the first female Member of Parliament (MP) for a Welsh constituency. She also served as Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, before later becoming a L ...

’s old seat after she had defected from the Liberals to Labour but in the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

which followed her death in 1966 the seat had been gained by

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

candidate

Gwynfor Evans Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first member of Parliament to represent it at West ...

. Labour regained the seat at the 1970 general election but Thomas came a creditable third in a four-cornered contest, gaining over 21% of the poll. Thomas also used his television persona and experience for the Liberals 1970 by presenting election broadcasts. He performed a similar role during the February 1974 general election on the election broadcasts ''News from the Liberals'' and ''Radio Report'' and again in October 1974.David Butler & Dennis Kavanagh, ''The British general election of October 1974''; Macmillan, 1975 pp 90, 158, 159

Death

Huw Thomas died on 12 March 2009 aged 81 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Huw 1927 births 2009 deaths Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People from Llanelli British reporters and correspondents ITN newsreaders and journalists Welsh barristers Welsh television presenters People educated at Ellesmere College Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Members of Gray's Inn