Richard Edwards (born 25 August 1956 in

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's llan (placename element), Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of ...

) is a former

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

Labour politician who was a

Member of the National Assembly for Wales A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd c ...

for

Preseli Pembrokeshire Preseli Pembrokeshire (, ; cy, Preseli Sir Benfro) was one of six local government districts of Dyfed in West Wales from 1974 to 1996. Until 1987 the name of the district was Preseli. The district took its name from the Preseli Hills. Creation Th ...

from 1999 to 2003. Before politics he worked in local government and was a political researcher.

Background

He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Carmarthen and holds a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators and a member of

Unison In music, unison is two or more musical parts that sound either the same pitch or pitches separated by intervals of one or more octaves, usually at the same time. ''Rhythmic unison'' is another term for homorhythm. Definition Unison or pe ...

. He is a cousin of BBC Newsreader

Huw Edwards Huw Edwards (; born 18 August 1961) is a Welsh journalist, presenter, and newsreader. Edwards presents '' BBC News at Ten'', the corporation's flagship news broadcast. Edwards also presents BBC coverage of state events, international events, t ...

Political career

He was Mayor of

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...

in 1997.

for

from 1999 to 2003. Shortly after being selected as a candidate he was diagnosed with

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

, he was elected in 1999 and stood down at the 2003 election. In the First Assembly, he was Chair of the Local Government and Environment Committee, then the Environment, Planning and Transport Committee from March 2000.

References

Profile on BBC Website September 1999

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Richard 1956 births Living people Wales AMs 1999–2003 Councillors in Wales Welsh Labour members of the Senedd Alumni of the University of Birmingham People educated at Queen Elizabeth High School, Carmarthen Mayors of places in Wales