Dafydd Elis-Thomas

The Right Honourable The Lord Elis-Thomas PC
Official portrait, 2019
Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism
In office 3 November 2017 – 13 May 2021
First Minister	Carwyn Jones Mark Drakeford
Preceded by	Ken Skates
Succeeded by	Dawn Bowden
1st Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales
In office 12 May 1999 – 11 May 2011
Monarch	Elizabeth II
First Minister	Alun Michael Rhodri Morgan Carwyn Jones
Deputy Presiding Officer	Jane Davidson John Marek Rosemary Butler
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Rosemary Butler
Assembly Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (1999–2007)
In office 6 May 1999 – 29 April 2021
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Mabon ap Gwynfor
UK Parliamentary representation Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Incumbent Assumed office 18 September 1992 Life peerage Member of Parliament for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Merioneth, 1974–1983) In office 28 February 1974 – 16 March 1992 Preceded by William Edwards Succeeded by Elfyn Llwyd
Personal details
Born	Dafydd Elis Thomas (1946-10-18) 18 October 1946 (age 77) Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Political party	Independent (2016–present)
Other political affiliations	Plaid Cymru (1970–2016)
Spouse(s)	Elen Williams Mair Parry Jones (present)
Children	3

Dafydd Elis Elis-Thomas, Baron Elis-Thomas, PC (né Thomas; born 18 October 1946), is a Welsh politician who served as the leader of Plaid Cymru from 1984 to 1991 and represented the Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021.

Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was raised in Ceredigion and the Conwy Valley. He represented Merioneth and later Meirionnydd Nant Conwy as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1992, and was Presiding Officer of the National Assembly for Wales from the office's inception in 1999 to 2011. Elis-Thomas has been a member of the House of Lords since 1992 and a privy counsellor since 2004. In 2016, he left Plaid Cymru to support Carwyn Jones's government in the Senedd, sitting as an independent. He joined the Welsh government in November 2017 and was Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism until May 2021. Elis-Thomas applied to rejoin Plaid Cymru in August 2023,^[1] but withdrew his application later in the year.^[2]