By: Maggie Z

On July 24, 2024, Eluned Morgan was elected as the leader of the Welsh Labour Party, which is a political party mainly found in Europe. But everybody has supporters and critics, and Eluned Morgan is no exception.

Eluned Morgan was born on February 16, 1967. She was born and brought up in Ely, Cardiff, and is the daughter of Revd Canon Bob Morgan and Elaine Morgan. Eluned Morgan was educated at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, as well as the independent United World College of the Atlantic, after which, with a full scholarship, she earned a degree in European Studies from the University of Hull. She is married to Rev Dr. Rhys Jenkins, who is a general practitioner (sort of like a physician) and a priest.

Eluned Morgan was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 2009, has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2011, and has served as a Member of the Senedd (Wales state parliament) since 2016. She was elected the Minister for the Welsh Language from 2017 to 2021. Following that career, she was Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing from 2020 to 2021 and the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2024.

Eluned Morgan became leader of the Labour Party after its former leader, Vaughan Gething, declared his intention to resign on July 16, 2024. The Labour Party’s main goals are to make Wales a clean-energy country by 2030 and cutting down crime rates.

Following Morgan’s election, the leader of Wales’s Conservative Party, Andrew Davies, posted on social media, “I firstly congratulate Eluned Morgan on becoming the first female leader of Welsh Labour and, if supported by the Senedd, Wales’ first ever female first minister.” He then proceeded to criticize her career as health minister, saying that Wales would be “a lot worse in the future.”

That statement sounds kind of ominous, doesn’t it? The future of Eluned Morgan’s career is still uncertain, so we won’t know whether this prediction will hold true or not until we find out.