Breaking through the Consensus: The Case for Liberalism in Welsh Politics

“Breaking through the Consensus: The Case for Liberalism in Welsh Politics”

The Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Kirsty Williams will deliver the 2007 Institute of Welsh Politics Annual Lecture at Aberystwyth University on Monday 12 November. The title of her lecture will be “Breaking through the Consensus: The Case for Liberalism in Welsh Politics”


This year's lecture takes place in the Main Hall of the Department of International Politics at 7.00 p.m. and will be the Institute's 9th annual lecture.

Kirsty Williams is one of the Liberal Democrats’ leading figures in Wales. She joined the Liberal Party at the age of 15, and since that time she has held a variety of posts within the party including Deputy President of the Welsh Liberal Democrats 1998-2000. 

Following the Assembly Referendum in 1997 she was appointed to the National Assembly Advisory Group by the then Secretary of State for Wales Ron Davies and was selected to fight the Brecon & Radnorshire Constituency for the Welsh Liberal Democrats in 1998.

She won the seat in 1999 and has successfully defended Brecon & Radnorshire in 2003 and 2007, on each occasion increasing her share of the vote. Kirsty is currently the Welsh Liberal Democrats spokesperson on Enterprise, Transport and Education and is also the Group Business Manager.

Kirsty lives with her husband and 3 young daughters, Angharad, Carys and Rachel on the family farm just outside Brecon, and outside of politics Kirsty enjoys spending time with her family and helping on the farm.


Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director of the Institute of Welsh Politics, said:
“Kirsty Williams is a rising star among Welsh Liberal Democrats and widely tipped as a future party leader. Given the Liberal Democrats disappointing Assembly election results and damaging post-election divisions, her views on the future direction of the party are of great interest - not only for Liberal Democrat supporters but for everyone interested in Welsh politics. We are delighted that she has agreed to present those views as the Annual Lecture of the Institute of Welsh Politics at Aberystwyth University.”
The Institute of Welsh Politics
The Institute of Welsh Politics is an independent and non-partisan research centre within the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University. It was established to promote the academic study and analysis of all aspects of Welsh politics. Reflecting its institutional home within the oldest Department of International Relations in the world, the work of the Institute focuses not only on the political process within Wales, but also on Wales' political and political-economic relations within Britain, Europe and the wider world.
This is the ninth Institute of Welsh Politics Annual Lecture.  Previous speakers include two First Ministers of the National Assembly of Wales, Alun Michael MP and Rhodri Morgan AM, Ieuan Wyn Jones, Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, Simon Jenkins of The Times, Professor Tom Nairn, Professor Robert Hazell and Professor Michael Keating.
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Further information:
Gwenan Creunant, Institute of Welsh Politics, Aberystwyth University
Tel: (01970) 622336, e-mail: gwc@aber.ac.uk  
Arthur Dafis, Public Relations Officer, Aberystwyth University,
01970 621763 / 07841 979 452 / aid@aber.ac.uk