Goronwy Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts

Goronwy Owen Goronwy-Roberts, Baron Goronwy-Roberts, (20 September 1913 – 23 July 1981), was a Welsh Labour member of Parliament.

Early life Goronwy Roberts was the younger son of Edward and Amelia Roberts from Bethesda, Gwynedd, where his father was an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Later he attended the University of London and was appointed a Fellow of the University of Wales in 1938. While at Bangor, Goronwy Roberts, together with Harri Gwynn, was one of the founders of Mudiad Gwerin, a nationalist left-wing pressure group.

He served in the army in 1940–41 and in the army reserve until 1944. From 1941 until 1944 he worked as Youth Education Officer for Caernarfonshire and in 1944 was appointed lecturer in youth leadership at the University College of Swansea.

Member of Parliament Goronwy Roberts was elected Labour MP for Caernarvonshire in 1945, when he defeated the sitting Liberal MP Goronwy Owen, who had held the seat since 1923.

He sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords and returned to government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs 1974-75 and as Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1975–79. He was Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, 1975–79.

Personal life Goronwy Roberts was a Member of the Court of Governors of the National Library of Wales, the National Museum of Wales and the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (now Aberystwyth University). He was Chairman of the Welsh publishing house, Hughes a'i fab, from 1955 to 1959. He was appointed a FRSA in 1968 and an Honorary Freeman of the Royal Borough of Caernarfon in 1972. and a number of books in Welsh,

Assessment Goronwy Roberts was a strong supporter of devolution and of Welsh culture but was also a fierce critic of what he regarded as the nationalistic excess of Plaid Cymru. His own roots were in the Labour tradition of the quarry working communities of his constituency. His Welsh was fluent and attractive ("swynol, dawel, gerddorol"). He was greatly troubled by his defeat at the general election of February 1974.