Lord Williams
The late Leader of the Lords.
- Born:
-
1941
- Died:
-
20
SEP
2003
- Place of Birth:
- Prestatyn
- School:
- Rhyl Grammar School
 - 'His dry wit and sharp mind made him a popular figure' - Jonathan Beale, BBC
- Biography:
-
Born Gareth Wyn Williams in Mostyn, Prestatyn, in 1941, the future peer was the son of a village schoolmaster.
He was educated at Rhyl Grammar School and Queens' College, Cambridge, before being called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1965, and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1978. Lord Williams was appointed Leader of the Lords in June 2001, having been Attorney General and Deputy Leader of the Lords since 1998. At one point a deputy High Court judge, Lord Williams was chairman of the Bar Council in the early 1990s and was made a life peer in 1992. A Welsh-speaking lawyer, he first held political office in 1992 when he became Opposition spokesman on legal affairs. He believed strongly in reform of the legal profession, and had argued for the separation of elected officials and the law, and particularly the setting up of a supreme court and legal appointments commission. He held honorary posts at the University College of Wales in Aberystwyth, the University College of North Wales and was pro-Chancellor at the University of Wales and president of the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Lord Williams was married and had three daughters and one son. He died on September 20 2003. Prime Minister Tony Blair was among those to pay tribute.
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