Only three votes

Ion 7, 2021

It was a period of Welsh politics that has become etched in the collective memory. The rise of a Welsh independence movement and the first Plaid Cymru Member of Parliament. The Labour Party searching for a way forward in a political climate that was riven with dissension and eventual rancour. It was a fight for social democracy against the centralised power of the British state.

The first battlefield was Carmarthen and the protagonists were Gwynfor Evans, the leader of Plaid Cymru and the young Labour hopeful Gwynoro Jones. Their rivalry lasted throughout the Seventies. They fought three elections and on one occasion the result was decided by just three votes.

This book tells the story of a political rivalry which was also very personal. It was a local confrontation that drew on national battlelines. It was about Carmarthen and Wales. Both men had their vision of the Wales they wanted to fight for. These pages unfold the story from Gwynoro Jones’ perspective for the first time, in an attempt to redress the imbalance of Gwynfor Evans’ story dominating the narrative for so long.

Drawing on an extensive archive, collected at the time, Gwynoro shows how the two fought their politics in the newspapers of the day and through speeches on constituency public platforms, where they argue about the Welsh language and devolution, Europe and agriculture. But they only ever actually met once. Gwynoro also reflects on how he views those turbulent years today.

Through their wranglings, a picture is also painted of Welsh politics in the decade that led up to the referendum on devolution in 1979, as Plaid and Labour searched for a way forward. And ultimately, a generation later, to the creation of a parliament for Wales.

REVIEW

Gwynoro Jones, at 27 years of age, captured Carmarthenshire for the Labour Party in the June 1970 general election, thereby defeating Plaid Cymru president Gwynfor Evans who had sensationally won the seat in a by-election in July 1966, his party’s first success ever in a parliamentary election. He held on to the seat in February 1974 by three votes after five recounts – hence the title of the present volume. Evans was then to re-gain the division in the general election of the following October.

An intense political and personal rivalry persisted between the two over a long period. Beyond the starkness of the bare election statistics, there were highly passionate feelings on both sides. In his book Gwynoro Jones makes clear his feelings of contempt towards Gwynfor, whom he regarded as a deeply flawed politician. Yet in his final, retrospective chapter in the book, Gwynoro offers grudging praise to his rival for the first time ever.

Throughout these years Jones, who remains politically active (mainly now as a fervent advocate of an independent Wales), amassed a substantial personal archive which has been quarried during the research for the present volume. It was also used for his previous works Gwynoro a Gwynfor (Gwasg y Lolfa, 2019), and Whose Wales?: The Battle for Welsh Devolution and Nationhood, 1880-2020 (published by the author, 2021). All three works have been prepared with the extensive support of Alun Gibbard.

The contents of this volume places the focus firmly on Gwynoro Jones rather than Gwynfor Evans and thus redresses a previous imbalance. It delineates how the two politicians fought their battle in the newspapers of the day and on scores of public platforms. The central themes are the Welsh language and devolution, portraying the long build-up to the first devolution referendum of March 1979, agriculture and Europe. Strangely, the two men met in person on only one occasion.

There is also a fascinating introductory section by Mark Drakeford, the First Minister of State from 2018 until 2024. Mark Drakeford praises Only Three Votes, stating, ‘In this book … you will find the vivid eyewitness account of one protagonist’s participation in some of the most memorable events in recent Welsh history, told by a man whose understanding of their significance was, and is, both instinctive and persuasive.’

Gwynoro Jones also reflects on those exciting, turbulent years from the perspective of today and the benefit of hindsight and mature reflection decades later.

Among the many themes covered in the compelling text are the Vietnam war and the build-up to the 1969 Investiture at Caernarfon Castle, an event which caused massive political tensions and upheaval in Wales; the various, closely fought general election campaigns; and Gwynoro’s period as a serving Labour MP, when he became parliamentary secretary to Roy Jenkins, the Home Secretary under Harold Wilson, and an active secretary of the Council of Europe. Devolutionary impulses and debate dominated Welsh political life throughout these frenzied years. Jones was also the Campaign Organiser in mid/west Wales for a ‘Yes’ vote in the 1975 referendum on British membership of the European Economic Community.

Later on the text includes material on Jones’ contribution to the formation of the SDP in 1981, and on his new party’s candidature in the 1982 Gower by-election. He was Chair of the SDP in Wales for two three-year periods before the merger of the SDP with the Liberals. After that, Jones concentrated on his business activities, and from 1993 until 2012 was head of EPPC-Severn Crossing Ltd, a school inspection and conferencing business.

J. Graham Jones