About Dafydd Elis-Thomas
Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas, (né Thomas; 18 October 1946 – 7 February 2025) was a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1984 to 1991 and represented the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021. Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was raised in Ceredigion and the Conwy Valley. He represented Merioneth and later Meirionnydd Nant Conwy as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1992, and was Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales from the office's inception in 1999 to 2011. Elis-Thomas was a member of the House of Lords and a privy counsellor from 1992 and 2004, respectively, until his death. From 2007 to 2017 he was the Chancellor of Bangor University. In 2016, he left Plaid Cymru to support Carwyn Jones's government in the Senedd, sitting as an independent. He joined the Welsh government in November 2017 and was Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism until May 2021. Elis-Thomas applied to rejoin Plaid Cymru in August 2023, but withdrew his application later in the year. He was created a life peer on 18 September 1992 as Baron Elis-Thomas, of Nant Conwy in the County of Gwynedd, with a change of his surname from Thomas to Elis-Thomas. On entering the House of Commons after the February 1974 election, he became one of the first MPs to be allowed to take the oath of allegiance in Welsh as well as in English.
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