0:00:24 > 0:00:29It's 1997 and Wales is going to the polls to vote on devolution.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32The mood of the country is hard to gauge,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34it's going to be too close to call.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Peter Snow, what do you reckon?
0:00:37 > 0:00:40We reckon it's going to be too close to call.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Can't tell you when those boxes are going to stop. Too close to call.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47We can safely say it's too close to call.
0:00:47 > 0:00:5126,000. So I think that is a Yes all round.
0:00:51 > 0:00:56You just cannot believe that result. It's there on the scoreboard.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01Just to have more than half by a bare whisker voting.
0:01:01 > 0:01:04Slightly more than that voting Yes as a percentage
0:01:04 > 0:01:06is an extraordinary result.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09Who could have predicted these scenes?
0:01:09 > 0:01:14Good morning, and it is a very good morning in Wales.
0:01:16 > 0:01:22The date is September 18th 1997 and Wales says Yes to devolution.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24It's Red Letter Day.
0:01:38 > 0:01:43The last time Wales had a parliament was under Owain Glyndwr
0:01:43 > 0:01:45in the 14th century.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Since Tudor times, it had been ruled from London.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50It wasn't until the 20th century
0:01:50 > 0:01:52that home rule came back onto the political agenda.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05Well to the fore, was a fighting Welsh Liberal, David Lloyd George.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08It was to be an unsuccessful crusade for Lloyd George.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12The road to devolution would be long and hard.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19When I was growing up and getting interested in politics,
0:02:19 > 0:02:24I don't remember anybody discussing devolution.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28If you think of the three major figures in Labour
0:02:28 > 0:02:31during that period, in the 50s and 60s,
0:02:31 > 0:02:37Cledwyn Hughes and Goronwy Roberts were north west Wales Labour giants.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41They were in favour of an elected council for Wales.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43Jim Griffiths was in the middle.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47He didn't want an elected council for Wales or devolution
0:02:47 > 0:02:50but wanted a Welsh Secretary and a Welsh Office
0:02:50 > 0:02:52to be a separate department of state.
0:02:52 > 0:02:54Nye Bevan didn't want anything at all
0:02:54 > 0:02:59because as far as he was concerned, he would never have had the NHS
0:02:59 > 0:03:02for Great Britain if we'd had devolution.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06You would have had it in Wales but private health care in England.
0:03:08 > 0:03:14After 13 years in opposition, Labour won the election in 1964.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17The party had promised to deliver a Welsh Office.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22A year later, they kept that promise.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Good morning, the Welsh Office. One moment. Connecting you now.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32For the first time, a Welsh flag flew on a ministerial car.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35A Labour government created a Welsh Office
0:03:35 > 0:03:39with Jim Griffith as Secretary of State for Wales.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42He had administrative powers over housing, local government and roads.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47This seat of the Welsh government, not so much a seat as a stool,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49was based in Cathays Park, Cardiff
0:03:49 > 0:03:52which would become the Welsh equivalent of Whitehall.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57# Dwr
0:03:57 > 0:04:01# Dwr
0:04:01 > 0:04:03# Dwr... #
0:04:03 > 0:04:06In 1965, a year after setting up the Welsh Office,
0:04:06 > 0:04:11Westminster allowed Liverpool Corporation to flood Tryweryn valley
0:04:11 > 0:04:15to create a reservoir to supply water to Liverpool.
0:04:15 > 0:04:19This was despite an unanimous opposition of Welsh MPs.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Some people believed a Welsh Office was not enough
0:04:23 > 0:04:25to protect Welsh interests.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29It was a time of international protest by young people.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33In Wales, the focus was the preservation of the Welsh language.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37The campaign would get a boost with the election of a new MP.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Gwynfor Richard Evans - 16,179.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:04:46 > 0:04:50It was 1966 and in a by-election held in Carmarthen,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54Gwynfor Evans became Plaid Cymru's very first MP
0:04:54 > 0:04:58beating the Labour candidate by nearly 2,500 votes.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01It was a result that nobody had expected.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06The party was starting to be seen as a threat in Labour's heartlands.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12Deep in the bowels of Labour, probably,
0:05:12 > 0:05:17it did mean some might have tended towards thinking
0:05:17 > 0:05:23what to do to take ourselves beyond just having a Welsh Office.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27In 1976, Jim Callaghan headed a new Labour government.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Following reports recommending the decentralisation of power,
0:05:31 > 0:05:33he promised Wales a referendum
0:05:33 > 0:05:36giving some powers over health and education.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39It gave him the support of the Scottish and Welsh nationalists,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42which he needed to prop up his majority.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50But Callaghan's government was in trouble
0:05:50 > 0:05:52and at the end of '78 and into '79,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56the UK saw some of the worst industrial unrest in its history.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58It was the winter of discontent.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03My wage is £68 and I've been here over 15 years.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06You will get over £74.
0:06:06 > 0:06:12Mr Callaghan, we are surely due the average wage which is £78.
0:06:14 > 0:06:20What we've got to do is to save the future of Ebbw Vale and many towns.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24SCREAMING AND SHOUTING
0:06:24 > 0:06:28The referendum was held on St David's Day, 1979.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32In the months leading up to it rubbish had not been cleared,
0:06:32 > 0:06:36corpses not buried and patients not treated because of strikes.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39How much of a priority was a Welsh Assembly?
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Give a massive No to the Welsh Assembly.
0:06:43 > 0:06:44If we're really going...
0:06:44 > 0:06:49If we want extra resources... If we want extra resources...
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Labour itself was split on the issue
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and the campaign for a Yes vote was half-hearted.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57We've got the final result.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Just to make that clear, 243,048 voted Yes
0:07:01 > 0:07:07and nearly a million No - 956,330.
0:07:07 > 0:07:12Confirms the things we thought, the things that have been happening.
0:07:12 > 0:07:17It is a crushing defeat for the campaigners for a Welsh Assembly.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22'Were you disappointed when the 1979 referendum led to nothing?'
0:07:22 > 0:07:25Hugely disappointed.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29We didn't know the Conservatives would be in for 18 years
0:07:29 > 0:07:32a couple of months later.
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Out went Labour and in came the Tories
0:07:36 > 0:07:40with Margaret Thatcher the new Prime Minister.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Where there is discord, may we bring harmony.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Where there is error, may we bring truth.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Where there is doubt, may we bring faith.
0:07:50 > 0:07:53Where there is despair, may we bring hope.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It took a very long period of Conservative rule
0:07:56 > 0:08:00to make the case for devolution in Wales.
0:08:00 > 0:08:01# I predict a riot
0:08:01 > 0:08:04# I predict a riot
0:08:06 > 0:08:08# I predict a riot
0:08:08 > 0:08:10# I predict a riot... #
0:08:10 > 0:08:14They've seen the assault on the steel industry in the early 80s,
0:08:14 > 0:08:19the coal industry in the middle part of the 80s and there was nothing anybody could do.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22We didn't have that muscle power to stop the Government
0:08:22 > 0:08:25from rolling the tanks over us and saying, "That's what's happening."
0:08:28 > 0:08:31Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Out, out, out!
0:08:31 > 0:08:33Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Out, out, out!
0:08:33 > 0:08:36It was a turning point for the mining industry
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and also the Welsh language
0:08:38 > 0:08:41with the creation of a new Welsh language TV channel.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45It's a tremendous victory. It's the biggest victory in Wales.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49The Government has been humiliated and defeated
0:08:49 > 0:08:52and that by a comparatively small people.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58Apart from Nicholas Edwards,
0:08:58 > 0:09:01all Mrs Thatcher's Welsh Secretaries were English.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04How can you have the credibility of a Welsh Secretary
0:09:04 > 0:09:07when most didn't come from Wales?
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Wouldn't it be better to have a devolved set-up in Wales
0:09:11 > 0:09:13elected by the people of Wales?
0:09:13 > 0:09:17You wouldn't have the problem that when the Conservatives are in,
0:09:17 > 0:09:21they don't find somebody from Wales to take the job.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24It was the lack of logic that made people think
0:09:24 > 0:09:28it would be better to have an elected Assembly for Wales.
0:09:29 > 0:09:31In the 1992 election,
0:09:31 > 0:09:35unexpectedly, John Major led the Conservative Party to victory.
0:09:35 > 0:09:37But not in Wales.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42Here, the Tories fell from their highest point of 14 seats to six.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47COMMENTARY: The strong showing of Labour and Plaid Cymru in Wales
0:09:47 > 0:09:50has revived arguments over devolution.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53It is the election result in England that determines
0:09:53 > 0:09:54what we'll have in Wales.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57Welsh Secretary David Hunt has no mandate
0:09:57 > 0:10:00but he has the free hand to get on with it in Wales.
0:10:00 > 0:10:02This second defeat in a general election
0:10:02 > 0:10:06left no option for Neil Kinnock but to resign as Labour leader,
0:10:06 > 0:10:08to be replaced by John Smith.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11After Neil Kinnock resigned as Labour leader,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14after his second defeat in the '92 election
0:10:14 > 0:10:21which was shattering to him, for me, to a whole generation of Labour MPs,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26John Smith took over, his attitude to devolution was reverse to Neil.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Neil was suspicious, certainly about Welsh devolution,
0:10:29 > 0:10:34and Robin Cook was suspicious about Scottish devolution.
0:10:34 > 0:10:40And he made the Caerphilly MP, Ron Davies, his Shadow Welsh Secretary.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44The night I was elected, I had a conversation with John Smith
0:10:44 > 0:10:46and he gave me my marching orders
0:10:46 > 0:10:48that I was to be Shadow Secretary for Wales.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53I was to deliver for Wales the same parliament
0:10:53 > 0:10:55that he wanted delivered for Scotland.
0:10:55 > 0:11:00Then the question became, well, what sort of powers should it have?
0:11:00 > 0:11:02I think if John Smith had lived
0:11:02 > 0:11:05the model of Welsh devolution would have been stronger.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12COMMENTARY: Smith's successor as Labour leader
0:11:12 > 0:11:14was a young and unknown MP called Tony Blair.
0:11:14 > 0:11:20He let Ron Davies know he had doubts about the whole devolution thing.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23It's fair to say that Tony Blair was cool.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27He wasn't against but he wasn't an enthusiast as John Smith was.
0:11:27 > 0:11:33There was some of his shadow cabinet who weren't keen on devolution -
0:11:33 > 0:11:37Jack Straw, David Blunkett, whispering in Tony Blair's ear,
0:11:37 > 0:11:41"Find a way of dropping this idea.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44"Constitutional changes are not what Labour voters are interested in.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48"They are interested in bread and butter issues."
0:11:48 > 0:11:51While Labour was still working out its policies,
0:11:51 > 0:11:54the Tories carried on running Wales.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58In 1993, John Redwood was appointed Welsh Secretary.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01Two years later, it was William Hague.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09By the '97 election, the Major government
0:12:09 > 0:12:11had suffered from a series of scandals.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Voters had had enough of it.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Labour, rebranded New Labour, was elected in a landslide victory.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24# Things can only get better... #
0:12:25 > 0:12:28Now, we seem to have a victory on a scale
0:12:28 > 0:12:33which has never been seen before in the history of Labour.
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Ron Davies was appointed Welsh Secretary
0:12:36 > 0:12:39and set about implementing the sixth pledge Labour had made
0:12:39 > 0:12:41during the election - devolution.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44Part of his job was to make sure the public understood
0:12:44 > 0:12:46why this was still a key priority.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49They thought Tony Blair walked on water.
0:12:49 > 0:12:55Therefore, if you've got a government you voted for,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58why would you want something separate for Wales,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01when you've got everything you want from a Labour government?
0:13:01 > 0:13:04You had to remind people we'd had Labour landslides before
0:13:04 > 0:13:07in 1945 and 1966, and they don't last long
0:13:07 > 0:13:09and then the Conservatives come back.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Although you've got a landslide Labour government
0:13:12 > 0:13:16and a Prime Minister who appears to walk on water, fantastic,
0:13:16 > 0:13:19but you need an insurance policy against the fact it won't last.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22MUSIC
0:13:24 > 0:13:28A date was set for the referendum to make the most of the honeymoon period
0:13:28 > 0:13:32that newly elected governments enjoy with the electorate.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39This is BBC Wales on One, watching history in the making.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50For the second time in 18 years, the Welsh are being offered
0:13:50 > 0:13:53a modest measure of self government, but will they take it?
0:13:53 > 0:13:56The Scots said Yes again last week.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Tonight, we'll bring you the Welsh story as it unfolds
0:13:59 > 0:14:01and not just the Welsh story.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04What's happening in Wales tonight has big implications
0:14:04 > 0:14:08for the future shape of government across the UK.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Over here on the left, the piles will be totting up for Yes and No.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14Green for Yes, red for No.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19- 'On the night of the referendum, where were you?'- I was in a studio.
0:14:19 > 0:14:25It was the S4C programme, locked in with Rod Richards for about seven hours.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29I'd never been in a studio for so long - from 11pm until 6am.
0:14:30 > 0:14:33The votes started to come in.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36First, from the counties near the English border,
0:14:36 > 0:14:38giving No an early lead.'
0:14:38 > 0:14:42So far so good. We are cautiously optimistic,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45based upon the results that have come in so far.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Tony Blair will be exceedingly nervous
0:14:48 > 0:14:51and Ron Davies doesn't exactly carry a lot of hair
0:14:51 > 0:14:54but what he does will probably be standing up on end.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58But then counties further west started to declare,
0:14:58 > 0:15:00kick-starting the Yes vote.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02That is the Yes party celebrating.
0:15:02 > 0:15:08It had been a switch-back of emotion of quite an extraordinary kind.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10Things are improving.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15Ann would say that. The fact is it's not been a very good night for Ann or the Yes campaign.
0:15:15 > 0:15:17Then the Anglesey vote came in.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22Yes, they wanted devolution, but by a surprisingly narrow margin.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26A Welsh nationalist seat in Westminster, only marginally Yes to a Welsh Assembly.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29If they have only scraped in by saying Yes,
0:15:29 > 0:15:33this is boding better than we thought for the No campaign.
0:15:33 > 0:15:36It's extraordinary, the way they're bouncing around.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40But then, finally, it all depended on Powys and Carmarthenshire
0:15:40 > 0:15:46and whether the No vote in Powys would be more than knocked out
0:15:46 > 0:15:48by the Yes vote in Carmarthen.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52It is still very tight, though. 23,038.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55'Were you sitting there doing mental arithmetic?'
0:15:55 > 0:16:00I think, by five in the morning, when the Carmarthenshire result came out,
0:16:00 > 0:16:02I wouldn't say I was past caring,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07but after you've been on switch-backs of emotion like that,
0:16:07 > 0:16:11you've developed a, kind of, slightly tougher skin.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14Instead of biting your nails, you're saying,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17"Well, we're going to lose", "We're going to win",
0:16:17 > 0:16:19"We're going to lose", "We're going to win."
0:16:19 > 0:16:22I was quite philosophical by 5am.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Dauddeg chwech mil...
0:16:24 > 0:16:29Twenty six thousand. I think that's a Yes all round.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32The final finishing post.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Well, look at that.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39It was just like a football match.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43Imagine at half time you're losing 9-0,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47and then in the second half, the other counties came in
0:16:47 > 0:16:51and slowly it went up, 9-8, 9-9,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53and in the last kick of the match,
0:16:53 > 0:16:58the final result comes through from Carmarthenshire and it's a Yes vote.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01The emotion at that time was just incredible.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Good morning.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12And it is a very good morning in Wales.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19It was fantastic to be there because Rod Richards would have been over the moon
0:17:19 > 0:17:22if Carmarthenshire had not done it,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25as the last big result coming our way.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27I would have been sick as a parrot.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30As it was, he was sick as a parrot and I was over the moon.
0:17:30 > 0:17:34The objective was to get a majority and we've got a majority.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Obviously, last night and this morning has been very tense,
0:17:38 > 0:17:40and the result was very close.
0:17:40 > 0:17:46But the rules were set, we had to get a simple majority, we've got a simple majority, and that's it.
0:17:46 > 0:17:51'The vote - very, very close. Why do you think it was so close?'
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Well, psychology.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Erm, I think, as a people...
0:17:58 > 0:18:03..we are modest to a fairly extreme degree.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07The No campaign's central allegations
0:18:07 > 0:18:10that we were incapable of running our own affairs
0:18:10 > 0:18:12without squabbling between north and south,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15between Welsh-speakers, monoglot English-speakers...
0:18:16 > 0:18:20..between the Valleys and the coastal belt.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24There was this fear that we were not able to hack it.
0:18:24 > 0:18:28But it would be two years before the first Assembly elections,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30and they would be eventful.
0:18:30 > 0:18:33The first problem was where to put the Assembly.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36It should be in Wales, but north Wales or south Wales,
0:18:36 > 0:18:39or have it somewhere in the middle?
0:18:39 > 0:18:42Cardiff, despite voting against devolution,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45was an obvious favourite. But where in Cardiff?
0:18:45 > 0:18:50City Hall? Or what about a brand new building in Cardiff Bay?
0:18:51 > 0:18:57There were people who thought that Wales needed a symbol of its history
0:18:57 > 0:19:00and they were very pro the City Hall, as I was indeed.
0:19:00 > 0:19:05If you were a history boy or girl, you wanted the City Hall.
0:19:05 > 0:19:09If you were a modernity, sustainability and green sort of school,
0:19:09 > 0:19:13you wanted a new building that could be an advertisement
0:19:13 > 0:19:16for Welsh commitment to sustainable development.
0:19:16 > 0:19:22The biggest advantage of City Hall was the fact that Cathays Park,
0:19:22 > 0:19:26where all the civil servants were, was only 150 yards away.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29I thought it was the ideal distance.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32It's the Whitehall of Westminster of Wales.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36One would have been one end and the other would have been the other end
0:19:36 > 0:19:40and you could go back and forth at no expense to anybody.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42That would have been ideal.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46We did lose that by coming here and having this three mile gap.
0:19:46 > 0:19:51Negotiations had been held with the Labour county council,
0:19:51 > 0:19:53but these had failed.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57The decision was made to take over an empty building in the bay.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03But finding a building turned out to be the least of their worries.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15The Secretary of State for Wales, Ron Davies, has resigned
0:20:15 > 0:20:18after what he's described as a serious lapse of judgement.
0:20:18 > 0:20:24Mr Davies has told of an encounter with a man on Clapham Common in London.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28I was the victim of a crime. I've given a full statement to the police.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32What I want to do is minimise any embarrassment to myself,
0:20:32 > 0:20:34my family or the government.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38In the Prime Minister's letter to the former Welsh Secretary, Mr Blair said -
0:20:53 > 0:20:59Tony Blair picked a rising star in his government, Alun Michael, as his new Welsh Secretary.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02He wanted him to get the new Assembly job too.
0:21:02 > 0:21:08I make no apology for being a strong supporter of Alun Michael. I think he's a great guy.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10But not everyone was convinced.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15There was a leadership contest between Alun Michael and Rhodri Morgan.
0:21:16 > 0:21:20And I therefore declare that Alun Michael was elected.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28The party members protested that it was a Millbank fix
0:21:28 > 0:21:32because local union bosses like the transport workers' leader
0:21:32 > 0:21:35could cast their union's vote without holding a ballot.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37It's a fix up!
0:21:37 > 0:21:41The first Assembly Members for Wales were elected in 1999.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46The first time in more than 400 years that Wales was running its own affairs.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53Labour did badly and didn't get a majority,
0:21:53 > 0:21:57but Alun Michael did get the job as First Secretary.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02He then confounded everyone by not seeking a coalition,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06making his administration extremely vulnerable.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08He also got to meet the Queen
0:22:08 > 0:22:12when she officially opened the first Assembly Government.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17The first debating chamber was in Crickhowell House in Cardiff Bay.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21It was later replaced by the purpose-built Assembly building.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24But only a few months later
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Alun Michael's position was becoming untenable.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32Opposition parties organised a vote of no confidence in him as leader
0:22:32 > 0:22:35but Alun decided to go before he was pushed.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38And that is why, Mr Llywydd,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41I formally and in writing, as required by standing orders,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44present you with my resignation as First Secretary.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47But nobody had told Tony.
0:22:47 > 0:22:52I believe the First Secretary is doing an excellent job and so do the Labour Party.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55He not only has forgotten why he imposed the First Secretary,
0:22:55 > 0:23:00he doesn't even know whether the First Secretary is in office.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04When Alun decided that he had to resign
0:23:04 > 0:23:07rather than face the vote of no confidence
0:23:07 > 0:23:11in the February of 2000, the rest of the Cabinet said,
0:23:11 > 0:23:16"Rhodri, you're the one who has to take over as caretaker person."
0:23:16 > 0:23:21That rapidly transformed itself into becoming the First Secretary.
0:23:22 > 0:23:29Everybody seemed to regard that as, kind of, a very quick process
0:23:29 > 0:23:33because I had stood twice, once against Ron, once against Alun,
0:23:33 > 0:23:37although I'd lost twice, you could say I was a loser,
0:23:37 > 0:23:41but they said, "Rhodri, you are the natural person to take over. Just get on with it."
0:23:41 > 0:23:46The birth pangs of devolution had been horrendous in Wales.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49And the low esteem of the institution,
0:23:49 > 0:23:55for fractiousness, for meaningless motions of procedure,
0:23:55 > 0:23:57plus all the, you know,
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Ron's famous walk on Clapham Common and on the M4 and so forth.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05The way most people inside Wales, let alone outside Wales,
0:24:05 > 0:24:09thought of Welsh politicians running their own affairs
0:24:09 > 0:24:14was big thumbs down and I felt I had to stabilise the ship
0:24:14 > 0:24:20to get that respect back up to somewhere near normality.
0:24:20 > 0:24:26But stabilising the ship was going to be more difficult than anyone had thought.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28In 2000, one year after devolution,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32we had this succession of crises, like the trials of Job.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36"I'm going to chuck this at you, see how you handle that."
0:24:36 > 0:24:39We had the flooding.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43Local residents making futile efforts to keep the torrent at bay.
0:24:43 > 0:24:49These were horrendous floods. And then the freight tanker drivers' crisis in September.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Cut the duty on fuel or we will blockade the refineries.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56That was the message they took to the people
0:24:56 > 0:25:00as they began their long journey from Cross Hands to Cardiff.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04They wanted to see me and Sue Essex, the Transport Minister,
0:25:04 > 0:25:09not the Prime Minister and the Transport Minister in London.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14Unless we do something, half of us won't be here by the end of the year.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18Then we had huge job losses in the steel industry in December.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20And in February, foot and mouth starts.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25Disaster struck again in 2001 when foot and mouth arrived in Wales.
0:25:25 > 0:25:30For the whole of 2001, until about October, Wales was like a war zone,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34rural Wales, with these funeral pyres of these millions of sheep.
0:25:34 > 0:25:38It was meant to try us and ask us, could we prove ourselves
0:25:38 > 0:25:43as capable of standing up to these massive problems
0:25:43 > 0:25:45that hit different parts of Wales.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Nearly three inches of rain have fallen since yesterday
0:25:49 > 0:25:53and the lower stretches of the River Dee are dangerously high.
0:25:53 > 0:25:54In Bangor-on Dee...
0:25:54 > 0:25:57I remember going to Bangor-on-Dee.
0:25:57 > 0:26:02If ten people in Bangor-on-Dee had voted for devolution, I'd be surprised.
0:26:02 > 0:26:06But they wanted the Welsh First Minister standing on that bank
0:26:06 > 0:26:08to see if they were going to get flooded.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11When you're in a crisis, who do you turn to?
0:26:11 > 0:26:14Westminster or the Assembly?
0:26:14 > 0:26:18Everybody, during those crises, they all turned to the Assembly.
0:26:19 > 0:26:24It wasn't until after the second Assembly elections that they got a purpose-built chamber.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29On St David's Day in 2006, the Queen was back to open it,
0:26:29 > 0:26:32this time in a splendid tangerine outfit.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Lord Elis-Thomas, the Presiding Officer,
0:26:35 > 0:26:40leads the Queen into the new Senedd building.
0:26:40 > 0:26:44Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister also there, shaking hands with Her Majesty.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47He's flanked by the Duke of Edinburgh.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49Presiding Officer, ladies and gentlemen,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52I am pleased to declare this building open
0:26:52 > 0:26:57and I wish you success in your future deliberations.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02The following year, Labour entered a coalition with Plaid Cymru.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06In 2010, the Conservatives were back in power in Westminster,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10also in a coalition government, with the Liberal Democrats.
0:27:10 > 0:27:16But all four parties were united in March 2011 for the next step along the road to devolution.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21A referendum in Wales brought about full law-making powers.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29Welcome to Wales Today live from Cardiff Bay
0:27:29 > 0:27:32on the day the country votes Yes in the referendum
0:27:32 > 0:27:36on more law-making powers for the National Assembly.
0:27:36 > 0:27:38Wales has spoken.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41Wales has said Yes!
0:27:41 > 0:27:43CHEERING
0:27:44 > 0:27:48I actually feel very relieved. I don't feel triumphalist.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51I'm just enormously relieved.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54We've now got a powerful Welsh Assembly
0:27:54 > 0:27:58with the ability to initiate laws in the 20 devolved areas.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03The end of 24 years in public life, either as an MP or an AM,
0:28:03 > 0:28:05I can say, "OK, job done."
0:28:08 > 0:28:10Good evening and welcome to Wales Today.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15The Assembly election results are in and it's a good day for Labour.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18We already have 30 seats.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22Given the disarray in other parties, we know that's enough to govern.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25All these newly elected AMs will, for the first time,
0:28:25 > 0:28:29be able to pass Welsh laws without having Westminster interfere.
0:28:29 > 0:28:35Only time will tell whether this new Assembly will use these new powers wisely.
0:28:40 > 0:28:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:44 > 0:28:46E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk